A (Very) Short History Of Life On Earth (4.6 Billion Years in 12 Pithy Chapters)

Snachala Zemlya predstavlyala soboy negostepriimnoe chuzherodnoe mesto: na planetu nepreryvno obrushivalis' potoki himicheskih veshchestv, ona byla pokryta burlyashchimi okeanami, a landshaft formirovali neprekrashchayushchiesya izverzheniya vulkanov. Posredi etogo buystva stihiy i katastrof i nachalas' zhizn'. Pohozhie na myl'nye puzyr'ki pervye kletki s derzkoy otvagoy brosili vyzov bezzhiznennomu miru. ZHizn' na nashey planete sohranyalas' na protyazhenii tysyacheletiy, adaptiruyas' k lyubym, bez preuvelicheniya, usloviyam, s kotorymi mogli stolknut'sya zhivye organizmy, i procvetala, proydya put' ot samyh pervyh skromnyh form do volnuyushchey i neveroyatnoy istorii nashego sobstvennogo vida. V etoy knige, blagodarya zarazitel'nomu entuziazmu i nauchnoy tochnosti avtora, izvestnogo angliyskogo paleontologa i specialista po evolyucionnoy biologii, pered nami stremitel'no pronosyatsya poslednie 4,6 milliarda let. Opirayas' na noveyshie nauchnye dannye, Genri Dzhi yasno i dostupno rasskazyvaet pouchitel'nuyu istoriyu o vyzhivanii i stoykosti, prolivayushchuyu svet na to, kakim hrupkim bylo ravnovesie, v kotorom vsegda sushchestvovala zhizn'. «Zanimatel'naya, liricheskaya istoriya». (Nature)