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Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution
With Trilobite , Richard Fortey, paleontologist and author of the acclaimed Life, offers a marvelously written, smart and compelling, accessible and witty scientific narrative of the most ubiquitous of fossil creatures.
Trilobites were shelled animals that lived in the oceans over five hundred million years ago. As bewilderingly diverse then as the beetle is today, they survived in the arctic or the tropics, were spiky or smooth, were large as lobsters or small as fleas. And because they flourished for three hundred million years, they can be used to glimpse a less evolved world of ancient continents and vanished oceans. Erudite and entertaining, this book is a uniquely exuberant homage to a fabulously singular species.
Trilobites were shelled animals that lived in the oceans over five hundred million years ago. As bewilderingly diverse then as the beetle is today, they survived in the arctic or the tropics, were spiky or smooth, were large as lobsters or small as fleas. And because they flourished for three hundred million years, they can be used to glimpse a less evolved world of ancient continents and vanished oceans. Erudite and entertaining, this book is a uniquely exuberant homage to a fabulously singular species.
284 pages, Paperback
First published June 19, 2000
About the author
Richard Fortey
33 books293 followersRichard Fortey is a senior paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was Collier Professor in the Public Understanding of Science and Technology at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Bristol in 2002. His books have been widely acclaimed: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth (Knopf) was short-listed for the Rhône-Poulenc Prize in 1998, and Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution (Knopf) was short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2001. His latest book, Earth: An Intimate History (Knopf, 2004), has been called "dazzling," "remarkable," "splendid," and "important and timely."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
August 2, 2015
Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution covers all aspects of trilobites, from the numerous subspecies to fossils and all points in between.
Confession time: I love fossil hunting and I've stooped so far as to buy a small trilobite fossil at a rock swap. I've found trilobites fascinating since I was a little fossil hunter back in the day so I was pretty stoked to read this.
I had no idea there were so many subspecies of trilobite and how widespread the species was. The fossil photos were pretty cool. This may have been a case of too much of a good thing. I love trilobites but not enough to make our relationship Facebook-official. Fortey's obsession with trilobites rivals Gusse Fink-Nottle's newt obsession. An entire chapter was devoted to how the trilobite's eyes worked.
Richard Fortey is a pretty witty writer, which makes the painstaking detail of some of the chapters much more palatable. His stories took the edge off of what could have been a much drier book. Still, I have to wonder how much of what he reveals is speculation, considering the trilobite has been extinct for millennia. On a side note, I don't see why there couldn't be a small relict population of trilobites on the ocean floor someplace. It worked for the coelocanth.
While I was tired of Trilobites near the end, I can't deny that it was a pretty enjoyable book. Three out of five stars.
Confession time: I love fossil hunting and I've stooped so far as to buy a small trilobite fossil at a rock swap. I've found trilobites fascinating since I was a little fossil hunter back in the day so I was pretty stoked to read this.
I had no idea there were so many subspecies of trilobite and how widespread the species was. The fossil photos were pretty cool. This may have been a case of too much of a good thing. I love trilobites but not enough to make our relationship Facebook-official. Fortey's obsession with trilobites rivals Gusse Fink-Nottle's newt obsession. An entire chapter was devoted to how the trilobite's eyes worked.
Richard Fortey is a pretty witty writer, which makes the painstaking detail of some of the chapters much more palatable. His stories took the edge off of what could have been a much drier book. Still, I have to wonder how much of what he reveals is speculation, considering the trilobite has been extinct for millennia. On a side note, I don't see why there couldn't be a small relict population of trilobites on the ocean floor someplace. It worked for the coelocanth.
While I was tired of Trilobites near the end, I can't deny that it was a pretty enjoyable book. Three out of five stars.
January 16, 2012
Reading the other reviews here, it appears a lot of other people don't agree with me, but I found the author's chatty, self-satisfied style extremely annoying. At times it seemed like he'd written the book more to impress us with how clever he was, and how well-educated in the English classic canon, than to teach us about trilobites.
The prose is overly florid, filled with unnecessary words and phrases that the author clearly thought were clever and which might have worked in the context of an informal lecture but which, written, struck me as clichés that added nothing to the narrative.
I did manage to pick up a bit of information about trilobites, but it was hard going to pick it out of the matrix of the author's dense, and overwritten prose. I skipped a lot more than is usual for me.
But then, unlike many reviewers here, I enjoy reading science books that don't assume that the subject has to be sugar coated to go down.
The prose is overly florid, filled with unnecessary words and phrases that the author clearly thought were clever and which might have worked in the context of an informal lecture but which, written, struck me as clichés that added nothing to the narrative.
I did manage to pick up a bit of information about trilobites, but it was hard going to pick it out of the matrix of the author's dense, and overwritten prose. I skipped a lot more than is usual for me.
But then, unlike many reviewers here, I enjoy reading science books that don't assume that the subject has to be sugar coated to go down.
June 10, 2012
This book taught me all I need to know and more about trilobites, the arthropod that's 300-million existence is so impressively preserved in the fossil record. The subject itself doesn't necessarily speak to me, but I appreciate anyone who is passionate and interested in a subject as author Richard Fortey is in his.
Here's one lyrical passage I underscored, about fossil-rich Cornwall in England:
"How can we conceive of the time needed to wear away these cliffs to nothing, to convert all the massed slates into fine silt, quartz veins into pebbles -- at first angular, then worn by the constant shuffling of the sea rounder and rounder, until they acquire the contours and colours of a hen's egg? Millenia are irrelevant, species come and go, and still the cliffs stand obstinate against the inroads of time."
Here's one lyrical passage I underscored, about fossil-rich Cornwall in England:
"How can we conceive of the time needed to wear away these cliffs to nothing, to convert all the massed slates into fine silt, quartz veins into pebbles -- at first angular, then worn by the constant shuffling of the sea rounder and rounder, until they acquire the contours and colours of a hen's egg? Millenia are irrelevant, species come and go, and still the cliffs stand obstinate against the inroads of time."
June 4, 2014
Normally I quite like Richard Fortey's chatty style, but I think maybe there was a bit too much of it, here. He got me interested in geology, so he should've been able to keep me interested in trilobites, but sadly my interest did start to flag. The slight self-deprecating note of some of his other books isn't as much in evidence here, and he definitely came across as more British and more stuck up without that to mitigate it a bit and make him a bit less of a cliché.
Trilobites are still interesting, and I'd love to go hunting for them in old shale, but I wanted more focus on the trilobites and less on Richard Fortey.
Trilobites are still interesting, and I'd love to go hunting for them in old shale, but I wanted more focus on the trilobites and less on Richard Fortey.
May 19, 2012
While mostly good, it was so terribly terribly BRITISH. Dry borderline unfunny anecdotes about some forgotten aspect of English culture went on for far too long when he could have been talking more about his theories of trilobite interactions with their ecology or their particular curiosities of morphology (of which there is never ever enough discussion for my satisfaction).
There is a hell of a lot of good and interesting information in here, but the too fluffy emphasis on POP in an admittedly pop-sci book knocks a star or so off. Maybe I'm just too much of a nerd.
There is a hell of a lot of good and interesting information in here, but the too fluffy emphasis on POP in an admittedly pop-sci book knocks a star or so off. Maybe I'm just too much of a nerd.
December 11, 2020
Wow this expanded my scientific and non-scientific vocabulary
December 27, 2012
I've been disappointed by Richard Fortey's book before, I felt that both Life: An Unauthorised Biography and Earth An Intimate History tried to cover too much ground and ended up being unsatisfying reads.
However, despite this and the fact that on his otherwise interesting TV programme on prehistoric animals he seemed almost obsessed with eating the nearest relative of every extinct creature, I do have a lot of respect for Fortey as a scientist. Given also that Trilobites are his specialism I expected great things from this book. And I was not disappointed.
'Trilobite!' is a wonderfully engaging, fascinating and beautifully illustrated history of that mysterious and incredibly varied prehistoric group of animals that were the dominant type of life on earth for roughly six times as long as the reign of the dinosaurs.
Fortey is not just interested in Trilobites for their own sakes either (though he fills us in on fascinating details about their natural history and habits) but is interested too in what they can tell us about the prehistoric earth and the movement of the continents and the evolution of life in general. He also muses on the creativity involved in paleontology and the false split that many see between science and arts, he suggests for example that trilobites offer great inspiration for poetry.
Even his insistence on finding and eating a horseshoe crab (the closest living relative to the trilobites) couldn't put me off this brilliant book.
However, despite this and the fact that on his otherwise interesting TV programme on prehistoric animals he seemed almost obsessed with eating the nearest relative of every extinct creature, I do have a lot of respect for Fortey as a scientist. Given also that Trilobites are his specialism I expected great things from this book. And I was not disappointed.
'Trilobite!' is a wonderfully engaging, fascinating and beautifully illustrated history of that mysterious and incredibly varied prehistoric group of animals that were the dominant type of life on earth for roughly six times as long as the reign of the dinosaurs.
Fortey is not just interested in Trilobites for their own sakes either (though he fills us in on fascinating details about their natural history and habits) but is interested too in what they can tell us about the prehistoric earth and the movement of the continents and the evolution of life in general. He also muses on the creativity involved in paleontology and the false split that many see between science and arts, he suggests for example that trilobites offer great inspiration for poetry.
Even his insistence on finding and eating a horseshoe crab (the closest living relative to the trilobites) couldn't put me off this brilliant book.
June 23, 2017
This is a recreation of these creatures which used to roam the sea floors in prehistoric times, explained by an expert. The basic pattern of body, head and tail in segments, with legs allowed for astonishing variations as some creatures adapted to shallow or deep waters, mud floors, rocky or sandy. The trilobites (three lobes) had two eyes made of a solid crystal, amazingly.
While all palaeontologists study no-longer living creatures, some have left descendants such as modern sharks or crocodiles and it seems the trilobites have not. The author admits that for years he silently hoped that one day deep sea searches would turn up a colony, but he has now given up on that hope. We still don't know what's down there of course.
I enjoyed this book which is well written and presented, and quite accessible.
While all palaeontologists study no-longer living creatures, some have left descendants such as modern sharks or crocodiles and it seems the trilobites have not. The author admits that for years he silently hoped that one day deep sea searches would turn up a colony, but he has now given up on that hope. We still don't know what's down there of course.
I enjoyed this book which is well written and presented, and quite accessible.
December 23, 2017
I recently read Trilobite, Eyewitness to Evolution by Richard Fortey, 2001. I found it to be a delightful read and I learned all sorts of new things about these fascinating fossil creatures and the worlds they inhabited for 300 million years. Many thousands of species have been described and more are being discovered every year.
Trilobites have played a major role in paleontology and have been used as index fossils correlating the ages of geological layers around the globe.
They range in size from larger than lobsters to only a couple millimeters in length. As would be expected in a group that lasted that long the amount of variation is staggering; all the way from blind to calcium carbonate crystal for lenses in the faceted eyes, from plain and unadorned to covered with all sorts and shapes of spines.
Fortey writes as much about the world they live in as about the trilobites themselves, the other sorts of life they shared the seas with. He uses his own experiences on expeditions of discovery around the world to tell the stories of the fossils and the types and locations of geological formations they are found in today and what those habitats were like when these creatures lived.
He was a contemporary with Gould and Eldredge and describes how Eldredge's study of trilobites led him to the concept of Punctuated Equilibrium. He also explains Gould's errors in Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History in a way I had never understood before.
Fortey tells an engrossing tale and describes the same excitement of discovery that I have experienced and observed in my colleagues in the study of dragonflies.
I can recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting read this winter.
Trilobites have played a major role in paleontology and have been used as index fossils correlating the ages of geological layers around the globe.
They range in size from larger than lobsters to only a couple millimeters in length. As would be expected in a group that lasted that long the amount of variation is staggering; all the way from blind to calcium carbonate crystal for lenses in the faceted eyes, from plain and unadorned to covered with all sorts and shapes of spines.
Fortey writes as much about the world they live in as about the trilobites themselves, the other sorts of life they shared the seas with. He uses his own experiences on expeditions of discovery around the world to tell the stories of the fossils and the types and locations of geological formations they are found in today and what those habitats were like when these creatures lived.
He was a contemporary with Gould and Eldredge and describes how Eldredge's study of trilobites led him to the concept of Punctuated Equilibrium. He also explains Gould's errors in Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History in a way I had never understood before.
Fortey tells an engrossing tale and describes the same excitement of discovery that I have experienced and observed in my colleagues in the study of dragonflies.
I can recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting read this winter.
August 22, 2007
If you’ve ever tried to read a science book, especially one written by a respected expert in a given field, then you know that the books can be a bit…dry. All that material, all of those facts, all of those tables and charts and graphs can be overwhelming to a general reader. But every once in a while, a scientist comes along who is so enthusiastic, so passionate, so giddy in love with his subject that you get swept away in the ensuing rush.
Trilobites are some of the earliest creatures in existence captured in fossil form, and Richard Fortey is gaga over them. This book is ostensibly a study of the trilobite fossil record and what that changing record can tell us about the prehistoric world. But what it really is is Fortey’s love letter to the trilobite. He marvels over the fossils; he waxes rhapsodic about the rocks and shales the fossils can be found in; he even dotes on the other scientists, past and present, who have studied trilobites.
And you know what? It works. I found myself totally caught up in Fortey’s world o’ trilobites. I shared his pride in identifying new trilobites. I chuckled as he rolled his eyes and poked fun at some of his huffier scientific brethren. And I even began to understand and share his awe at how much can be learned from these ancient creatures.
Richard Fortey is proof positive that anything can be interesting with the right teacher.
Trilobites are some of the earliest creatures in existence captured in fossil form, and Richard Fortey is gaga over them. This book is ostensibly a study of the trilobite fossil record and what that changing record can tell us about the prehistoric world. But what it really is is Fortey’s love letter to the trilobite. He marvels over the fossils; he waxes rhapsodic about the rocks and shales the fossils can be found in; he even dotes on the other scientists, past and present, who have studied trilobites.
And you know what? It works. I found myself totally caught up in Fortey’s world o’ trilobites. I shared his pride in identifying new trilobites. I chuckled as he rolled his eyes and poked fun at some of his huffier scientific brethren. And I even began to understand and share his awe at how much can be learned from these ancient creatures.
Richard Fortey is proof positive that anything can be interesting with the right teacher.
November 19, 2009
Great book with plenty of fine illustrations in line and photographs. When I was studying this sort of thing the textbooks were dull and thick and the writing far too small. I would have loved to have had this book then by way of an exciting introduction. I used to be mad about dinosaurs, as are most kids, but trilobites took over later on and I actually dug up a few myself on the Yorkshire coast.
October 9, 2016
_Trilobite_ by Richard Fortey is a wonderful, witty, charming, very well-written, and very richly illustrated homage to the trilobite, an arthropod that teemed in the millions in the seas of the ancient earth for 300 million years before becoming extinct. Fortey is an enthusiastic expert on all things trilobite - having studied them for over 30 years - and did an excellent job in conveying his passion for these long extinct creatures in a very readable format with many dozens of excellent photographs and sketches.
Early on Fortey introduced basic concepts of trilobite anatomy (he said eight technical names is all anyone needs to describe any species). With the help of a diagram of a representative species, we learn for instance that the head is properly termed the cephalon while the other end -the tail - is called the pygidium. Between the cephalon and the pygidium is the thorax, which is subdivided into segments (thoracic segments). A central convex portion or lobe running down the thorax and pygidium is called the axis, while to either side are the lateral or pleural parts.
Reading about trilobite eyes was particular fascinating; they were made of calcite (the same substance that makes up the white cliffs of Dover and was popular in classical architecture), something unique in the entire animal kingdom. Fortey discussed the physics and chemistry of the crystal eyes of trilobites, how they enabled the animal to see, how the lenses on trilobite eyes were arranged and how they functioned, the unique optical properties of calcite, even experiments replicating the vision of individual trilobite species (in particular the experiments relating to the vision of _Phacops_ were extremely interesting; I never knew that physics had such a place in paleontology).
We learn also that while whole trilobites are certainly found in the fossil record (or more accurately the carapace of the animal, as the soft and delicate parts such as the legs only rarely fossilize) much of what is found are only bits and pieces, often shed when molting. Thoracic segments, pygidium, and other parts litter the fossil record like puzzle pieces and it is often the job of the trilobite expert to reassemble them, much like a jigsaw puzzle. Some fossils sites - such as Beecher's Trilobite Bed, an Ordovician fossil site in New York - have preserved through unusual circumstances such delicate trilobite parts as their legs (long a mystery to researchers) and even antennae. The details about the life of the trilobite found there - genus _Triarthus_- was fascinating; apparently they lived in a very low oxygen, high sulfur seafloor environment and may have perished during a fatal drop of dissolved oxygen (and were thus preserved) but otherwise lived symbiotically with bacteria that derived energy from sulfur.
Fortey introduced the reader to a wonderful parade of trilobite species, relating the history of the group from the Cambrian to its final days in the Permian (the true Age of Trilobites he wrote ranged from the middle of the Cambrian to the Ordovician). We find that trilobites lived in diverse habitats, from the shallowest "sands to the deepest-water shales; in sunlit reefs and in gloomy abysses." _Olenellus_ for instance is the commonest of the earliest Cambrian trilobites, a creature the size of a large lobster that was a voracious predator 535 million years ago. _Agnostus_ was a tiny, millimeters long trilobite that swarmed in the millions, odd creatures that only had two thoracic segments and was so abundant that some late Cambrian limestones are made of nothing but this tiny trilobite. _Elrathia kingi_ is the commonest of the "rock shop" Cambrian trilobites, a "middle-of-the road" typical trilobite, one of many dozens of very broadly similar trilobites that make specialists gnash their teeth. This species has been known to leave tracks that have been fossilized, one of the true "mud-grubbers" that plowed furrows in seafloor sediment in its quest for food. _Parabarrandia_ was a streamlined, torpedo shaped Ordovician trilobite, a species that Fortey had performed experiments on in a water tank with dye to prove that it was well suited to a free-swimming role (I never thought one could do experiments on a trilobites; that was fascinating to read). Another free-swimmer was the giant-eyed _Opipeuter_ (Greek for "one who gazes") from the Ordovician, with eyes oriented to see forwards and backwards and a body plan designed to house powerful swimming muscles. Also from the Ordovician was _Isotelus_, an unusual animal which completely lacked eyes and had a head surrounded by a border full of perforations, not unlike a colander. This pitted fringe lay about the front of the head sort of like a halo, a rather complicated bit of Paleozoic engineering, the function of which has remained an enigma. The Devonian abounded in trilobites covered in prickles and spines (possibly related to the dominance of fish); one, _Dicranurus_, among its spines appeared to have had great curling ram horns originating at the neck.
As fascinating as trilobites are, Fortey had encountered those that question why he has devoted his life to their study. The author made an excellent case that knowledge of trilobites has played vital roles in the debates over the origins of new species and the nature of evolution itself (researches have been able to track changes in trilobite species over time thanks to their great abundance in the fossil record) and in the study of the positioning of ancient continents (as it has been discovered that trilobites make excellent index fossils, not only for marking intervals of geologic time but also to mark the shores of ancient continents, enabling or aiding in the mapping of the ancient world; indeed Fortey himself named an Ordovician ocean, Tornquist's Sea, which separated the continents of Avalonia and Baltica, thanks to trilobites). Fortey weighed in also in such divisive concepts in evolution as gradualism versus punctuated equilibria, the nature of the Cambrian explosion (and what trilobites tell us about that), the origin of eyes in animals, and the importance (and proper interpretation) of the weird Burgess Shale fauna.
Early on Fortey introduced basic concepts of trilobite anatomy (he said eight technical names is all anyone needs to describe any species). With the help of a diagram of a representative species, we learn for instance that the head is properly termed the cephalon while the other end -the tail - is called the pygidium. Between the cephalon and the pygidium is the thorax, which is subdivided into segments (thoracic segments). A central convex portion or lobe running down the thorax and pygidium is called the axis, while to either side are the lateral or pleural parts.
Reading about trilobite eyes was particular fascinating; they were made of calcite (the same substance that makes up the white cliffs of Dover and was popular in classical architecture), something unique in the entire animal kingdom. Fortey discussed the physics and chemistry of the crystal eyes of trilobites, how they enabled the animal to see, how the lenses on trilobite eyes were arranged and how they functioned, the unique optical properties of calcite, even experiments replicating the vision of individual trilobite species (in particular the experiments relating to the vision of _Phacops_ were extremely interesting; I never knew that physics had such a place in paleontology).
We learn also that while whole trilobites are certainly found in the fossil record (or more accurately the carapace of the animal, as the soft and delicate parts such as the legs only rarely fossilize) much of what is found are only bits and pieces, often shed when molting. Thoracic segments, pygidium, and other parts litter the fossil record like puzzle pieces and it is often the job of the trilobite expert to reassemble them, much like a jigsaw puzzle. Some fossils sites - such as Beecher's Trilobite Bed, an Ordovician fossil site in New York - have preserved through unusual circumstances such delicate trilobite parts as their legs (long a mystery to researchers) and even antennae. The details about the life of the trilobite found there - genus _Triarthus_- was fascinating; apparently they lived in a very low oxygen, high sulfur seafloor environment and may have perished during a fatal drop of dissolved oxygen (and were thus preserved) but otherwise lived symbiotically with bacteria that derived energy from sulfur.
Fortey introduced the reader to a wonderful parade of trilobite species, relating the history of the group from the Cambrian to its final days in the Permian (the true Age of Trilobites he wrote ranged from the middle of the Cambrian to the Ordovician). We find that trilobites lived in diverse habitats, from the shallowest "sands to the deepest-water shales; in sunlit reefs and in gloomy abysses." _Olenellus_ for instance is the commonest of the earliest Cambrian trilobites, a creature the size of a large lobster that was a voracious predator 535 million years ago. _Agnostus_ was a tiny, millimeters long trilobite that swarmed in the millions, odd creatures that only had two thoracic segments and was so abundant that some late Cambrian limestones are made of nothing but this tiny trilobite. _Elrathia kingi_ is the commonest of the "rock shop" Cambrian trilobites, a "middle-of-the road" typical trilobite, one of many dozens of very broadly similar trilobites that make specialists gnash their teeth. This species has been known to leave tracks that have been fossilized, one of the true "mud-grubbers" that plowed furrows in seafloor sediment in its quest for food. _Parabarrandia_ was a streamlined, torpedo shaped Ordovician trilobite, a species that Fortey had performed experiments on in a water tank with dye to prove that it was well suited to a free-swimming role (I never thought one could do experiments on a trilobites; that was fascinating to read). Another free-swimmer was the giant-eyed _Opipeuter_ (Greek for "one who gazes") from the Ordovician, with eyes oriented to see forwards and backwards and a body plan designed to house powerful swimming muscles. Also from the Ordovician was _Isotelus_, an unusual animal which completely lacked eyes and had a head surrounded by a border full of perforations, not unlike a colander. This pitted fringe lay about the front of the head sort of like a halo, a rather complicated bit of Paleozoic engineering, the function of which has remained an enigma. The Devonian abounded in trilobites covered in prickles and spines (possibly related to the dominance of fish); one, _Dicranurus_, among its spines appeared to have had great curling ram horns originating at the neck.
As fascinating as trilobites are, Fortey had encountered those that question why he has devoted his life to their study. The author made an excellent case that knowledge of trilobites has played vital roles in the debates over the origins of new species and the nature of evolution itself (researches have been able to track changes in trilobite species over time thanks to their great abundance in the fossil record) and in the study of the positioning of ancient continents (as it has been discovered that trilobites make excellent index fossils, not only for marking intervals of geologic time but also to mark the shores of ancient continents, enabling or aiding in the mapping of the ancient world; indeed Fortey himself named an Ordovician ocean, Tornquist's Sea, which separated the continents of Avalonia and Baltica, thanks to trilobites). Fortey weighed in also in such divisive concepts in evolution as gradualism versus punctuated equilibria, the nature of the Cambrian explosion (and what trilobites tell us about that), the origin of eyes in animals, and the importance (and proper interpretation) of the weird Burgess Shale fauna.
November 1, 2023
Hats off to Mr. Fortey, as always. In a book about trilobites, his specialty, he works in pubs and Hardy...at the very beginning.
"During games of cricket he preferred to be 'far out on the pitch where the ball rarely came, and where I could identify wildflowers and take an interest in passing insects.'"
"He cherished a field guide to flowers in which he could tick off those he had seen. He took pleasure in the charm of their names — wood goldilocks, Venus's looking-glass, ploughman's spikenard — which are 'often only a short step away from poetry.'"
"During games of cricket he preferred to be 'far out on the pitch where the ball rarely came, and where I could identify wildflowers and take an interest in passing insects.'"
"He cherished a field guide to flowers in which he could tick off those he had seen. He took pleasure in the charm of their names — wood goldilocks, Venus's looking-glass, ploughman's spikenard — which are 'often only a short step away from poetry.'"
May 20, 2014
Absolutely amazing. I've read Fortey before, and always been impressed, but I'd grown tired of pop sci type stuff, and it had been a while. One of my problems with this type of scientific-story-for-the-masses book is that they generally seem to be a three hundred page book for a fifty or one hundred page story. What starts out really grabbing my attention tends to lose steam about half way through. Fortey doesn't have that problem, because he's not a writer who's found an interesting scientific story. Instead, he's a life-long, professional trilobite expert who also happens to be a great writer. That means that he never runs out of things to say about trilobites (and because he's such a great writer, it's always a pleasure to read).
The abundance of scientific terms in Trilobite! could be a little daunting, I think. There is a parade of trilobites at one point, where Fortey introduces a dozen or so genuses with brief descriptions, and scientific names are scattered on all pages. He also throws out about half a dozen anatomical terms (after briefly describing them with a diagram) and whips the reader back and forth through all six periods of the Paleozoic (without any description or diagram). It's a little denser than in most writing for a popular audience, but it's definitely worth it. The major pluses are that, again, Fortey's a great writer, that he has an obvious passion and very deep knowledge and familiarity with the subject, and that it turns out that trilobites are cute and interesting little bugs about which it is worth writing a whole book. You should go read it now!
The abundance of scientific terms in Trilobite! could be a little daunting, I think. There is a parade of trilobites at one point, where Fortey introduces a dozen or so genuses with brief descriptions, and scientific names are scattered on all pages. He also throws out about half a dozen anatomical terms (after briefly describing them with a diagram) and whips the reader back and forth through all six periods of the Paleozoic (without any description or diagram). It's a little denser than in most writing for a popular audience, but it's definitely worth it. The major pluses are that, again, Fortey's a great writer, that he has an obvious passion and very deep knowledge and familiarity with the subject, and that it turns out that trilobites are cute and interesting little bugs about which it is worth writing a whole book. You should go read it now!
November 19, 2019
Это очень странный научпоп. Ощущение, как будто читаешь какую-то древнюю эпическую поэму, которая в оригинале, наверное, была в стихах, но на русский пересказали прозой. Эпос этот воспевает самую бесполезную из бесполезных наук - палеонтологию и труд фанатиков, которые посвятили ей жизнь и не жалеют об этом. Стиль изложения рваный, множество эпитетов, гипербол, метафор, цитат из поэзии, романов, философов и Библии. Вот автор рассказывает про линьку трилобитов или про их личинок или про их ножки с тоннами мистических латинизмов вроде «шизохроальные», «пигидий», «факопиды», а потом совершенно внезапно посредине этих выкладок вставляет историю о том, как они с коллегой искали окаменелости где-то в Китае/в Тунисе/за Полярным кругом/в компании скорпионов/собак Динго/гремучих змей/каких-то шершней/бухих шахтеров... Или с объяснения технических деталей эволюции Olenus внезапно перепрыгивает на историю еврея палеонтолога-трилобитчика Кауфмана, которого осудили в нацистской Германии за [тут мог бы быть спойлер]. Короче, если вы любите эпос древних народов, то никого древнее «трилов» вы точно не найдете.
July 23, 2020
An amazing book that tells you not only a lot about trilobites, but also offers interesting insights into several evolutionairy theories and scientific thinking. (Though for beginners in this, this is not the book to read).
Fortey tells us this all with a passion that is undeniable, and some whit and style to boot.
What is both a blessing and a curse, I find, is that this book was published in '99, and thus lacks a lot recent studies, and especially genetic studies. A bless because this book tells the stories of Trilobites mostly through the old fashioned way, the trilobite (fossils) themselves.
This is unfortunately also a negative in that some mentions or theories may not be entirely up to date, of which I recognised at least one example.
Yet this hardly deminishes the reading of the book.
Fortey tells us this all with a passion that is undeniable, and some whit and style to boot.
What is both a blessing and a curse, I find, is that this book was published in '99, and thus lacks a lot recent studies, and especially genetic studies. A bless because this book tells the stories of Trilobites mostly through the old fashioned way, the trilobite (fossils) themselves.
This is unfortunately also a negative in that some mentions or theories may not be entirely up to date, of which I recognised at least one example.
Yet this hardly deminishes the reading of the book.
January 27, 2015
Engaging popular science writing about Trilobites, including Fortney's eccentric professor mentor, digging for Trilobites in Norway and Kazakhstan, Trilobite pioneer Rudolph Kauffmann's death in the Holocaust, Thomas Hardy's use of a Trilobite in A Pair of Blue Eyes, speculation on Trilobite eyes and articulated movement and adventures searching for and hoarding the steel phonograph needles best suited to painstakingly dig the fossils out of rock.
March 2, 2014
This is my partner Bill's favourite book in the whole world. After he'd read it for the fourth time in a row, I gave it a go. Although I wouldn't put it at the top of my desert island books, it is a wonderful read. He is a funny and engaging writer and he draws fascinating insights into evolution from his vast expertise of these long-extinct creatures. Highly recommended.
September 24, 2012
I really wanted to love this book, but sorry, trilobites don't interest me that much.
December 27, 2023
Alright so I think before anything else is said with regards to this book is that it is written by a British Person. While being born in that area may well be the biggest crime against humanity, it is also something you must take into account when reading this book. The author noted British Paleontologist Richard Fortey will often go on these long plodding stories and anecdotes. Now to defend the man the vast majority of times these are rather engaging and help get one hooked in the book and naturally go into the information on Trilobites that he discusses and you really get a sense that he loves these now extinct arthropods. However, I would be lying if it did become bad at points. One notable insistence is when he is discussing the difference between authority and authoritarian. He discusses a Senior with a fictional German accent having a preferred chair which trying to invoke the iconography of the holocaust which seems like a very strange exaggeration for one to make when it comes to seating arrangements but I won't go further.
But as for the subject of the Trilobites themselves his coverage of the group is really amazing. He discusses their contextual origins within the Cambrian explosion and the hot debate between the analysis of the many strange animals that lived during that time. You learn about their diversity (Though the Trinucleioidea superfamily of bizarrely fringed and mostly blind Trilobites has been elevated to their own order Trinucleida) in large detail both their morphological and evolutionary diversity. You will see their explosive origins and gradual decline though something I deeply enjoy is that this book does not sink into the old trop so saying they are inferior to more modern crustaceans doomed to extinction. More so just a group that got unlucky and was bottlenecked at the worst of times.
I wish I could give this book a 3.5 instead of a 3 or a four as that seems like the best ranking.
But as for the subject of the Trilobites themselves his coverage of the group is really amazing. He discusses their contextual origins within the Cambrian explosion and the hot debate between the analysis of the many strange animals that lived during that time. You learn about their diversity (Though the Trinucleioidea superfamily of bizarrely fringed and mostly blind Trilobites has been elevated to their own order Trinucleida) in large detail both their morphological and evolutionary diversity. You will see their explosive origins and gradual decline though something I deeply enjoy is that this book does not sink into the old trop so saying they are inferior to more modern crustaceans doomed to extinction. More so just a group that got unlucky and was bottlenecked at the worst of times.
I wish I could give this book a 3.5 instead of a 3 or a four as that seems like the best ranking.
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November 13, 2023Trilobit, günümüzden 500 milyon yıl önce -ve 200 milyon yıl boyunca- yaşamış bir eklem bacaklı (anthropod) hayvan. Zamanında bir çok alt trilobit türüne evrimleşiyor, günümüzde ise (görünüş ve genetik olarak) en yakın akrabası At Nalı Yengeci...
Kabuklu yapısıyla trilobitler, hayatta kalmak konusunda çok başarılılar. Yaşadıkları dönemde kıtalar bildiğimizden çok alakasız yerlerde, hatta daha pangea yaşanmamış, bu sebeple dünyanın her yerinde fosilleri bulunabiliyor. Bu açıdan bulunan fosiller jeolojik yorumların yapılmasına da yardımcı oluyor. Yani trilobitler bilim alanlarının birbirini desteklemesini sağlayan türlerden.
Kitap paleontolog ve doğa tarihçisi Richard Alan Fortey tarafından yazılmış, fikrimce Fortey, eserlerine, televizyondaki programlarına ve yaptığı konuşmalara rağmen yeterince ismi duyulmamış bir entelektüel.
Bu kitabı trilobitler üzerinden daha geniş bir paleontoloji olarak bekliyordum, ancak tam tamına konuya sadık kalmış. Esprili bir dili var. Türkçe tercümesi ise bulunmuyor. Alıntılar kendi tercümelerim.
Doğa tarihi konusu gerçekten zevkli, umarım bu konuda böyle insanların eserleri tercüme edilir ve daha sık okunur.
Kabuklu yapısıyla trilobitler, hayatta kalmak konusunda çok başarılılar. Yaşadıkları dönemde kıtalar bildiğimizden çok alakasız yerlerde, hatta daha pangea yaşanmamış, bu sebeple dünyanın her yerinde fosilleri bulunabiliyor. Bu açıdan bulunan fosiller jeolojik yorumların yapılmasına da yardımcı oluyor. Yani trilobitler bilim alanlarının birbirini desteklemesini sağlayan türlerden.
Kitap paleontolog ve doğa tarihçisi Richard Alan Fortey tarafından yazılmış, fikrimce Fortey, eserlerine, televizyondaki programlarına ve yaptığı konuşmalara rağmen yeterince ismi duyulmamış bir entelektüel.
Bu kitabı trilobitler üzerinden daha geniş bir paleontoloji olarak bekliyordum, ancak tam tamına konuya sadık kalmış. Esprili bir dili var. Türkçe tercümesi ise bulunmuyor. Alıntılar kendi tercümelerim.
Doğa tarihi konusu gerçekten zevkli, umarım bu konuda böyle insanların eserleri tercüme edilir ve daha sık okunur.
July 6, 2023
Este libro viene precedido del slogan "seleccionado por amazon.com como uno de los diez mejores libros y divulgación científica publicados en la primera decada del siglo XXI" y esto es, por decirlo de alguna forma, publicidad engañosa. No es un mal libro, es desde un punto de vista científico, un buen libro, pero desde no es tan divulgativo. Fortey ama a los trilobites con verdadera pasión, y aunque logra evidenciar esto firmemente, no logra contagiar esto, y la razón es que es difícil amar a un trilobites. Discúlpame Richard pero es difícil compartir tu pasión.
Hay otro detalle que hace que el libro sea difícil de leer: es muy inglés, muy británico. El sentido del humor es difícil de captar y aunque es claro que la traducción es muy buena, trasladar este humor ha sido difícil. El texto, además, está lleno de términos técnicos, además de ser un texto con un lenguaje muy preciso (nunca he estado expuesto a tantas obras nuevas!).
Es un buen libro, pero uno de los mejores libros de divulgación... No.
Hay otro detalle que hace que el libro sea difícil de leer: es muy inglés, muy británico. El sentido del humor es difícil de captar y aunque es claro que la traducción es muy buena, trasladar este humor ha sido difícil. El texto, además, está lleno de términos técnicos, además de ser un texto con un lenguaje muy preciso (nunca he estado expuesto a tantas obras nuevas!).
Es un buen libro, pero uno de los mejores libros de divulgación... No.
May 4, 2017
The lack of illustrations has a bigger impact than I anticipated. I'm not sure why the eBook version couldn't have them? I had to pause reading often to look up the species and places Mr Fortey referred to, and as they lacked his annotations I still didn't get the full experience.
I like Fortey's writing style - readable, dotted with humour, not pompous. I didn't feel patronised OR out of my depth, as someone who knew very little about trilobites before I began reading.
It was a little drawn out and I think it could have been structured more clearly - from the beginning we're told that the book will show us the trilobites' worlds through their eyes, but this doesn't really happen. A chronological structure, beginning with the first trilobites and working up through the eras, may have worked better.
Overall, a good introduction to trilobites. It probably would have been 4*s with the illustrations, but as it is I don't think I'll be re-reading.
I like Fortey's writing style - readable, dotted with humour, not pompous. I didn't feel patronised OR out of my depth, as someone who knew very little about trilobites before I began reading.
It was a little drawn out and I think it could have been structured more clearly - from the beginning we're told that the book will show us the trilobites' worlds through their eyes, but this doesn't really happen. A chronological structure, beginning with the first trilobites and working up through the eras, may have worked better.
Overall, a good introduction to trilobites. It probably would have been 4*s with the illustrations, but as it is I don't think I'll be re-reading.
December 27, 2022
Wonderful book by Richard Fortey that I read a few years ago when we went on a fossil hunting trip to Morocco. Really helped me get my head around all the different stages of Trilobite evolution and lots of other aspects of Paeleo environments.
As a geology student over 40 years ago I hated trilobites, possibly because of having to count numerous variations of thoracic segments and spines on legs etc. to try and identify them and the age or rocks they were found in; that is the only reason geologists have to learn about fossils, to age rocks, and the more quick and numerous a fossil family’s evolution the more useful they are for deciphering the age of the rocks you are looking at. That is why we don’t study Dinosaurs at all in a normal geology degree, much to the disappointment of my children! But Richard Fortey reawakened the child wonder of ancient life in me and I must read it again now I have several different trilobite fossils in my collection.
As a geology student over 40 years ago I hated trilobites, possibly because of having to count numerous variations of thoracic segments and spines on legs etc. to try and identify them and the age or rocks they were found in; that is the only reason geologists have to learn about fossils, to age rocks, and the more quick and numerous a fossil family’s evolution the more useful they are for deciphering the age of the rocks you are looking at. That is why we don’t study Dinosaurs at all in a normal geology degree, much to the disappointment of my children! But Richard Fortey reawakened the child wonder of ancient life in me and I must read it again now I have several different trilobite fossils in my collection.
December 12, 2018
A mix between fascinating and flowery. I found the author's ability to pack as much metaphor, simile and asides to complicate a storyline to be as annoying as his clear ability to understand the worlds of the deep past to be inspiring, I wish he would have favored a leaner style, and really told the story of the Paleozoic with a crispness that this book lacks. It's all conversational, and you get distracted from the beauty of awakening to the science. Still, despite the density of the language, Fortey makes clear that he has spent so much time thinking about the time in which trilobites lived, and he does manage to convey his insights well, at times. If you like paleontology and the earth's history, you will find enough to like in this book.
January 1, 2021
Thousands of trilobites are afoot and here you can learn about many of them! Fortey does a superb job turning a book about ancient sea critters into a delightful read. He often waxes poetic which lends a sense of artistry to the scientific information he is sharing. While I did find the book tedious at times it was due to the subject matter and not the writing. Trilobites are pretty cool and the funnest fact I learned was that some of them had actual rocks for eyes! The final chapter was my favorite because of the way in which Fortey ruminates on science and the value of discovery. A quote that I can certainly relate to is, "I wish I could live long enough to know, and even if I did, I should never cry "enough!""
July 9, 2017
I really enjoyed many parts of the book but I think for a general reader there are parts you will want to skip. I'd still recommend this book and immersing yourself in deep history though don't chastise yourself if you don't make it all the way through. There is a lot of 5 star content in this book.
The imaginings of being on a boat sampling the mud and the diversity that you would have that appears near the end - that was gold.
The chapter about the eyes- that is one that will stay with me.
I want to see a horseshoe crab in real life now- most closest living relative.
The imaginings of being on a boat sampling the mud and the diversity that you would have that appears near the end - that was gold.
The chapter about the eyes- that is one that will stay with me.
I want to see a horseshoe crab in real life now- most closest living relative.
July 5, 2019
This is a very good book. It's a who's who in Paleontology (esp. reagarding Trilobite studies). It also takes you through the different discoveries of the various Trilobites. Trilobites happen to be one of my favorite beasties, and I didn't know that there were so many different types of them. Enjoyed reading this book, and I learned a few things. I looked up a few words, but that was just because I wanted to know exactly what those words meant. However, I was able to get the gist of those words through the context of the sentences.
March 20, 2017
Trilobite! (with the exclamation mark) is Richard Fortey's passionate account of trilobites - their physiology, their crystal eyes, legs, development, evolution and history. This book grew out of the author's love of trilobites. His stated aim is to invest the trilobites with all the glamour of the dinosaur and to see the world through the eyes of a trilobites.
This enthusiastic account of trilobites is written in a colourful narrative style that mixes science with personal anecdotes and historical stories. The chapter on trilobite eyes was especially fascinating. There are a few technical terms to be learned, but nothing excessive that would be difficult for the lay reader. The book also includes numerous black/white photographs and diagrams.
Trilobites are interesting creatures, but I wanted more focus on the trilobites and fewer anecdotes. I would also have like more information on what may have caused their extinction. However, this book is still fascinating and a joy to read.
This enthusiastic account of trilobites is written in a colourful narrative style that mixes science with personal anecdotes and historical stories. The chapter on trilobite eyes was especially fascinating. There are a few technical terms to be learned, but nothing excessive that would be difficult for the lay reader. The book also includes numerous black/white photographs and diagrams.
Trilobites are interesting creatures, but I wanted more focus on the trilobites and fewer anecdotes. I would also have like more information on what may have caused their extinction. However, this book is still fascinating and a joy to read.
July 2, 2017
Did you ever want to know absolutely everything about trilobites? This book will tell you the things you didn't even know you wanted to know. I found the writing style a tiny bit pompous at times, and the author does like to recount his own achievements (while still acknowledging the achievements of others) but I found that if you imagine it being said aloud in an upper-class British accent, it makes sense.
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