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This book offers a thorough and up-to-date treatment of the use of morphometric procedures in a wide variety of contexts. As one of the most dynamic and popular fields on the contemporary biological scene, morphometrics is gaining notice among researchers and students as a necessary complement to molecular studies in the understanding and maintenance of biodiversity. This is the first reference to meet that growing need.

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The highly fossiliferous upper Darriwilian to lower Sandbian Elnes Formation of Norway presents an interesting insight into the general responses and preferences of Lower Palaeozoic faunas belonging to a stable, mud dominated middle to outer shelf environment in connection with a major transgressive to regressive system tract. The rich trilobite fauna consisting of nearly 100 taxa is closely linked to the changes in the environment, being most abundant in a muddy and siliciclastic dominated environment just above storm wave base. The fauna is highly endemic for the region and the remainder of Baltoscania. This monograph presents a taxonomic description of the total trilobite fauna, including a new genus and seven hitherto unknown species. New and extensive biostratigraphical data is presented on the trilobites together with a study on the biogeographical and ecological aspects of the faunas. ... Read more

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'In Richard Fortey's capable hands the humble grey trilobite has been transformed into the E.T. of the Lower Palaeozoic -- a remarkable and fascinating book.' SIMON WINCHESTERRichard Fortey is one of Britain's leading popular scientists. Life: An Unauthorised Biography, was short-listed for the Rhone Poulenc prize and has been reprinted five times. In all he writes, Fortey displays extraordinary range, delight and descriptive gifts which make complicated scientific facts and concepts not only easy to understand but a delight to absorb.Trilobite! is an unashamedly trilobito-centric view of the world unravelling the history of the exotic, crustacean-like animals which dominated the seas for three hundred million years. These arthropods witnessed continents move, mountain chains elevated and eroded; they survived ice ages and volcanic eruptions, evolving and adapting exquisitely to their environment. They watched through their crystal eyes whilst life evolved. Their own evolution calibrated geological time itself.Structured like a detective story, this is a light, but highly informative account of the wonders of scientific discovery and an engaging, quirky and fascinating introduction to evolution.Amazon.com Review
With his new book Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution,Richard Fortey confirms his status as one of the best communicators ofscience around today. His hugely enjoyable previous book, Life: A Natural History ofthe First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth, was shortlistedfor the 1998 Rhone-Poulenc science book prize, but Trilobite!is sure to receive even greater acclaim. Whereas Life took thereader on a whistle-stop tour of evolution from start to present--ahuge undertaking that necessarily granted little space to each timeperiod or taxonomic group--Trilobite! sees Fortey indulging ina whole book about his overriding paleontological passion, the longextinct and enigmatic creatures of the title. The result is a joy.

Trilobites--woodlicelike creatures that dominated the world's oceans longbefore the time of the dinosaurs--are, arguably, the most beautiful animalsthat have ever been chipped out of the fossil record. Fortey certainlyseems to think so. His enthusiastic, almost loving explanations of theanatomy, ecology, and long evolutionary history of these fascinatingvanished creatures carry the reader on an inspirational journey into theEarth's distant past. But the book is much more than a technical treatiseon trilobites. We learn about Fortey himself, his formative years as anamateur then professional paleontologist, about hismuch-loved teachers and colleagues, and above all, about that strange butaddictive pastime known as science. You may not find arthropods as charmingas Fortey does, but you will not fail to be charmed by the author. Adelightful read. --Chris Lavers, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Grabs Your Attention, Educates, and also Entertains
Provides scientific details on the subject of trilobites in a very readable and sound presentation. Provides many snippets of British humor to engage the reader in anecdotes from his career at the British Museum and his numerous field trips around the globe (like when prospecting for trilobites in China and bitten by a huge Asian hornet, after medical treatment at a local hospital, his Chinese colleague remarked that he had never seen anyone so attacked by the insect, excepting 'peasants'). Fortey also discusses historical people and places in trilobite paleontology.

Provides an overall picture of his research on the Paleozoic and how trilobites fit in to the reconstruction of past continents, oceans and environments. A more comprehensive and historically complete picture of the field than the book by Riccardo Levi-SettiTrilobites which is replete with dozens of detailed trilobite photographs and scientific technical information.

Trilobite
This is a superb book well worth the reading for novice and informed alike. Fortey has a knack of expressing himself in a clear unambiguous manner that puts together all manner of facts into a whole. Would that more technical writers could do fractionally as well.

Life among the Trilobites
Fortey's wonderful book is a little gem - one of the best books on a paleontological topic in recent memory. His enthusiasm for his scientific quarry shines through on every page. Fortey manages to convey a lot of information of these fascinating denizens of the Paleozoic seas while we join his rambles in such places as Svalbard and Oman or his 'gourmet moment' involving horseshoe crab in Thailand. He is a superb science communicator, and, to my mind, this book is one of his best (along with his recent book about the Natural History Museum in London).

Very entertaining and enjoyable book
Trilobite is a really perfect example of a paleontology book for an educated layman.It is very informative, surprisingly detailed and a fun read.In many books of this type long digressions tell the biographies and anecdotes of discoverers etc...But Fortey keeps nicely on focus, and while he will discuss Thomas Hardy and some personal anecdotes they are brief and always entertaining and illuminating.

Also I have to love a book where the author talks of eating limulus (Horseshoe crab) in Thailand, not a particularly successful meal.Fortey truly loves Trilobites and his affection is infectious, I still find them creepy but I can see the fascination.

The dead come to life
On the face of it, trilobites seem a very dead subject (pun intended). That which lived such a long time ago cannot tell us a great deal about how life existed then, or indeed now, can it? If you prejudge a book by its title, cover or subject matter, you risk missing something, or disappointing yourself, depending upon whether you are pessimistic, or optimistic.

Richard Fortey is a very enthusiastic narrator, and he starts by describing the anatomy of a "standard" or typical trilobite (tri-lob-ite: three lobes, or parts). As the book progresses, you become aware that these creatures have incredible variety, just as individual humans are different, but more so. If palaeontological evidence is to be believed, these "beetles of the Palaeozoic" lived over hundreds of millions of years, and were spread over the whole earth. Their habitat was not uniform, but a whole variety. Fortey is a passionate advocate and a champion for his cause, and clearly knows his subject.

For me, I would have benefited from more diagrams. Periods of geological time, and the neo-classical names of individual trilobite species or genus are hard to put into perspective as just NAMES. Others reading this book could be very familiar with the subject matter. However, a diagram of geological time and another of rock formations, perhaps, or basic geology would have helped me. It would have perhaps been controversial, but also a tree diagram of how one species is thought to have been a successor of another. That would have helped this reader, for the subject matter, rather than being confined to the trilobites encased in stone, covers lots of other areas

I don't agree with all the inferences drawn, but if I only read what I agreed with, my diet of books would be pretty poor. What I did find is a book well written, with very good use of English prose. Read the book with a pen and paper handy, and you may find some good one-liners - certainly ones that I had not come across before, and ones that spark the imagination. Here are some: "If you wish to snare a butterfly, it is no use using a blunderbuss and a suitcase" page 48; "There is no final truth in palaeontology" page 63 and "All questions in real science are journeys towards the right answer" page 149.

The book introduces some interesting areas of current thought on how species develop, and demise. As Fortey rightly indicates, life is changing, and you cannot study life without contemplating how individual life begins and ends, and how species begin and end. Dinosaurs have fed the imagination of generations of children, but were not around for very long in comparison to the over 300 millions years of the trilobites. In talking of time, Fortey points out that it is only approximate: "In time, precision is relative" page 232. So we are introduced to Punctuated Equilibrium as a way of bridging some of the evolutionary missing links that seem evident, and the ideas for the unification of knowledge - consilience.

Fortey examines a dead subject, and brings plenty of life from it. The end chapter is rather speculative, and is not to my choice, but that said, the overall impression is very favourable. I will look more closely at remains of these tri-partite creatures that I may un-earth, or more likely see in an exhibition. However, my passion would not extent to distinguishing one genus from another, or name the body parts.

Peter Morgan, Bath, UK [...]
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Customer Reviews (1)

If You Like Trilobites, Read This Book!
This is a great primer on learning about ancient creatures known as trilobites.A trilobite is an extinct animal that belonged to the phylum of arthropods.According to the book, trilobites share traits with today's spiders, scorpions, and horseshoe crabs.

The book is easy to read and rates itself at the beginning of the book on a 3 point technical scale (general, intermediate, technical) as general level book.There are lots of pictures, drawings, and maps for the reader to study.This book is from a point of view from a person in Kentucky since it was published by the Kentucky Geological Survey.A number of experts from Kentucky and around the world are cited throughout the text.A section of the book covers trilobites found in Kentucky from five geological time periods: Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian.Once the book is read, a person can learn more by consulting the references and web site addresses at the end of the book. A number of the web site addresses do not work anymore though.

The state of Kentucky has a wide variety of trilobites to examine.Whether it be the large Isotelus trilobite from the Ordovician Period, the spiked tail of the Dalmanites existing in the Silurian Period, the large eyed multiple lenses of the Phacops living in the Devonian Period, or the blind, deep ocean Ordovician Period Cryptolithus trilobite.Their diversity and detail rich fossil remains make for great study.

All in all this is a good book to learn about trilobites especially if you are from Kentucky or interested in fossils from that state.
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