"The Variety of Life achieves in one volume what most people would think impossible. It introduces all the principal groups of creatures that are now believed to have existed in the history of the Earth. It reveals their astonishing range of form and lifestyle, showing in passing that animals and plants are really very similar, compared to many (or most) of the rest. Yet it shows how all earthly creatures are related to all the others, despite the vast differences between them. The Variety of Life also explains how biologists have arrived at their present understanding of life's diversity, describing and assessing the state of our knowledge as the new millennium begins." "The Variety of Life is for everyone who is interested in living things: professionals, casual naturalists, and indeed anyone with any curiosity at all."--Jacket.

PART I: THE CRAFT AND SCIENCE OF CLASSIFICATION: 'So many goodly creatures' -- Classification and the search for order -- The natural order: Darwin's dream and Hennig's solution -- Data -- Clades, grades and the naming of parts: a plea for Neolinnaean impressionism -- PART II: A SURVEY OF ALL LIVING CREATURES: From two kingdoms to three domains -- The domains of the Prokaryotes: Bacteria and Archaea -- The realm of the nucleus: domain Eucarya -- Mushrooms, moulds, and lichens; rusts, smut and rot: kingdom Fungi -- The animals: kingdom Animalia -- Anemones, corals, jellyfish, and sea pens: phylum Cnidaria -- Clams and cockles, snails and slugs, octopuses and squids: phylum Mollusca -- Animals with jointed legs: phylum Anthropoda -- Lobsters, crabs, shrimps, barnacles, and many more besides: subphylum Crustacea -- The insects: subphylum Insecta -- Spiders, scorpions, mites, eurypterids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders: subphylum Chelicerata and subphylum Pycnogonida -- Starfish and brittle stars, sea urchins and sand dollars, sea lilies, sea daisies, and sea cucumbers: phylum Echinodermata -- Sea squirts, lancelets, and vertebrates: phylum Chordata -- Sharks, rays, and chimaeras: class Chondrichthyes -- The ray-finned fish: class Actinopterygii -- Lobefins and tetrapods: the Sarcopterygii -- The reptiles: class Reptilia -- The mammals: class Mammalia -- Lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes: order Primates -- Human beings and our immediate relatives: family Hominidae -- The birds: class Aves -- The modern birds: subclass Neornithes -- The plants: kingdom Plantae -- The flowering plants: class Angiospermae -- Daisies, artichokes, thistles, and lettuce: family Compositae (or Asteraceae) -- PART III: EPILOGUE: Saving what is left.