{"product_id":"the-variety-of-life-a-survey-and-a-celebration-of-all-the-creatures-that-have-ever-lived-9780198503118","title":"The Variety of Life: A Survey and a Celebration of All the Creatures that Have Ever Lived","description":"\u003cp\u003eHere  between the covers of one capacious book  is an illustrated summary of all the creatures that have ever lived  a vast compendium of earths current and former inhabitants in all their dazzling and infinite diversity. Colin Tudge argues that we are entering a new phase of biology in which  for the first time  biologists are achieving profound insight into lifes true diversity and developing the tools to keep track of it. The Variety of Life heralds this new phase. The first part of the book describes why biologists now feel that there could have been as many as 4 000 billion species on Earth since life began. It then discusses the need for classification  beginning with the most basic principles--the strictly practical classification of fishmongers and foresters  who speak of \"shellfish\" and differentiate \"hardwood\" from \"softwood\"--and moves on to explore the intriguing deliberations of the modern \"transformed cladists\" and the novel contributions of molecular genetics. Part II describes the creatures themselves. It is divided into 24 sections  each describing a different group  illustrated by nearly 50 double-page spreads which present genealogical \"trees\" that summarize the evolutionary relationships between the creatures in each group. Some sections describe large  comprehensive groups such as the kingdoms of the Animals or the Plants. Others treat similar sub-groups in more detail  such as the Mammals  a class  or the Hominids  a family. In lively and accessible prose  all the significant groups of creatures--both alive and extinct--are described and their relationships clarified. For general readers and serious biologists alike  The Variety of Life offers an unprecedented storehouse of knowledge of life on earth.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648088825909,"sku":"ByrdShop_0198503113","price":33.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780198503118.jpg?v=1781709072","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-variety-of-life-a-survey-and-a-celebration-of-all-the-creatures-that-have-ever-lived-9780198503118","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}