The Great Extinctions: What Causes Them and How They Shape Life
MacLeod takes readers on an interesting 500 million year excursion through the history of life and death on Earth. The first five chapters provide definitions, context, and historical perspective for the current understanding of stratigraphy, the fossil record, and the classification of life within an evolutionary framework. The book concisely offers insight into the limits of knowledge within these fields, and these insights give non-experts some basis to evaluate competing opinions. Macleod also provides a window into the to-and-fro of the scientific process where theories can migrate from the lunatic fringe to scientific orthodoxy as new observations come to light. MacLeod analyses eight extinction events beginning in the Precambrian Eon and working towards the near past. Each chapter follows a format that allows readers to compare key elements from each event. Scientific terminology from the geological timescale and biological classification can be daunting but excellent graphs,             pictures, and diagrams help to clarify and enliven difficult subject matter. Overall, it is a good introduction to the great puzzle that is extinction study, impressive in its presentation of the scope of work already done and tantalizing to the curious with countless mysteries still unsolved. (Publishers Weekly Web Exclusive2013-03-13)There have been many theories as to why certain species are no longer with us. The Great Extinctions does an excellent job of scientifically assessing what may have contributed to this... For some readers, the book may be too technical, but for those who enjoy a challenging read, the book is an eye-opener. It may show what is to come for the human race. (Shelf Life2013-08-01)This book straddles an awkward boundary between being a colorful popular work and a scientific literature review. MacLeod has written a workmanlike text covering all major and many minor extinctions in Earth's history... He describes their settings, the organisms affected, the timing of the extinctions, and their causes. The strength of the book is in MacLeod's lining up of evidence that supports the "multiple interacting causes" scenario for major extinctions... This sufficiently informative book is profusely and beautifully illustrated with figures, maps, charts, and period reconstructions. Recommended. (W. L. Cressler III, West Chester University of PenChoice Vol 51 No 92014-05-01)