The Story of Life in 10 1/2 Species

If an alien visitor wanted to collect 10 samples to represent life on Earth, which would it choose? Science writer Taylor (How Birds Work) offers some surprising answers in her outstanding work. The proposed selections—including, in addition to humankind, the stick insect, sponge, and dusky seaside sparrow—span a wide range of time, including ferns, some of Earth’s first plants, and the long-extinct nautilus, a mollusc. Taylor’s choices also push against commonly held definitions of life, by including both the arguably nonliving category of viruses and the human-made one of artifical intelligence. Throughout, she gives lessons about evolution, noting in a chapter about Darwin’s finches that their namesake naturalist made biologists’ jobs much harder by, in part, showing there wasn’t any “finite number of kinds of organisms” to classify. Her discussion also includes an insightful look at the “finality of extinction,” and conservationists’ attempts to fight back, with a look at the threatened softshell turtle. Memorable side trips explore a variety of topics, including the several different types of giraffes and the dawdling dodo. Taylor’s writing is concise and accessible to a wide audience, while the book’s vibrant, attractive layout, filled with beautiful illustrations, adds luster to the text. This rich survey of the long evolution of life on Earth will keep readers focused and fascinated. (Oct.)