Before the Dinosaurs

The first of series of 5 books, this book tells the history of life on Earth from the planet's formation 4,550 million years ago until the end of the Paleozoic Era 252 million years ago.

In this beautiful full-color illustrated book, you will learn about:

• How life began in the seas as simple single-celled organisms
• How single-celled organisms grew more complex and changed the planet
• The sudden appearance of many multicellular life forms during the Cambrian explosion
• How life colonized the land
• The evolution of the first tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates) from fish
• How tetrapods diversified to produce reptiles and our ancestors, the synapsid mammal-like reptiles
• The greatest mass extinction in history that brought the Paleozoic Era to a close
• And much more

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1: How the Earth was Formed
The Formation of the Solar System
The Formation of the Planets Including Earth.

Chapter 2: The Hadean Eon
Conditions in the Hadean Eon

Chapter 3: The Archean Eon
Conditions in the Archean Eon
Prokaryota - The First Life

Chapter 4: Proterozoic Eon
The Great Oxygenation Event and the Huronian Glaciation
More Complex Life - Eukaryota
The Cryogenian Period
The Ediacaran Period - The First Multicellular Life

Chapter 5: The Phanerozoic Eon and the Paleozoic Era
Eras of the Phanerozoic Eon
Periods of the Paleozoic Era

Chapter 6: The Cambrian Period
Paleogeography of the Cambrian Period
The Cambrian Explosion
Animals of the Cambrian Period
Plants of the Cambrian Period
Mass Extinctions of the Cambrian Period

Chapter 7: The Ordovician Period
Paleogeography of the Ordovician Period
Climate of Ordovician Period
The Ordovician Radiation
Animals of the Ordovician Period
Mass Extinctions of the Ordovician Period

Chapter 8: The Silurian Period
Paleogeography of the Silurian Period
Climate of Silurian Period
Animals of the Silurian Period
Life on Land

Chapter 9: The Devonian Period
Paleogeography of the Devonian Period
Marine Life in the Devonian Period
The First Tetrapods
The Devonian Explosion
Mass Extinctions of the Devonian Period

Chapter 10: The Carboniferous Period (including Mississippian and Pennsylvanian Subperiods)
Paleogeography of the Carboniferous Period
Climate of Carboniferous Period
Forests and Coal Deposits
Marine Life in the Carboniferous Period
Amphibians of the Carboniferous Period
The First Amniotes
Terrestrial Arthropods of the Carboniferous
The Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse
The Diversification of Amniotes - Parareptiles, Synapsids and Diapsids

Chapter 11: The Permian Period
Paleogeography of the Permian Period
Climate of the Permian Period
Plants of the Permian Period
Amphibians of the Permian Period
Parareptiles of the Permian Period
Diapsids of the Permian Period
Synapsids of the Permian Period
Insects of the Permian Period
Mass Extinctions of the Permian Period

Chapter 12: The Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras
The Mesozoic Era
The Cenozoic Era