Secret Chambers

Product Description

In the follow up to Darwins Lost World Martin Brasier book introduces the quest for the missing history of life & the cell. Through a series of journeys it emerges that the modern plant cell is one of the most deeply puzzling & unlikely steps in the whole history of life. Decoding this puzzle is a great adventure that has mainly taken place over the last half century. Brasier puts the big questions into context through lively descriptions of his explorations around the world from the Caribbean Sea & the Egyptian pyramids to the shores of the great lakes in Canada andto the reefs & deserts of Australia. Covering the period from 1 to 2 billion years ago
- a period he once dubbed the boring billion
- he demonstrates how it in fact involved great evolutionary potential with the formation of the complex (eukaryotic) cell. Without this cell there would be nothing on Earth today except bacteria & the formation of this cell was a fundamental turning point in the history of life on Earth. Weaving together several threads Brasier emphasises the importance of single-celled forms to marine ecosystems; symbiosis & coral reefs; & the architecture & beauty of single-celled Foraminifera & what they tell us about evolution. From a master storyteller comes a vivid description of the earliest biological forms & a set of fascinating tales of travels & research.