Niles Eldredge — Fossils: The Evolution and Extinction of Species

Harry N Abrams Inc. 1991, hardcover with dust jacket, good copy. Paleontologist Eldredge (curator, Dept. of Invertebrates, American Museum of Natural History, NYC) overturns the traditional view of evolution. Instead of a slow and inevitable process, he shows that life forms, generally, do not evolve to any significant degree until after a massive extinction. Still-life nature photographer Murray Alcosser provides 160 luminous colorplates illustrating some 250 different fossil specimens. The introduction is by Stephen J. Gould. A lovely volume. 11x10". Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.