This work explores the origin and evolution of living things, the changing environments in which they have developed, and the challenges we now face on an increasingly crowded and polluted planet. Rhodes argues that the future well-being of our burgeoning population depends in no small part on our understadning of life's past, its long and slow development, and its intricate interdependencies.

Defrosting the mammoth -- Terrestrial timepieces -- From so simple a beginning -- Classification : the diversity of life -- Spineless wonders -- Bones, scales, and fins -- The greening of the land -- The amphibian foothold -- The reign of the reptiles -- The air -- The blossoming earth -- Rise of the mammals -- The mammalian explosion -- The Leakeys' legacy -- Endless forms, most beautiful and most wonderful -- On extinction -- Have been and are being evolved : the development of life.