Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Distant Future

Jeff Luce, a friend I met while working abroad in Japan, is a big nerd. Don't believe me? Just ask him to tell you his ROYGBIV joke.

Every now and again, he'll send me a link to something unusual and always awesome. Like this book...


Well, actually he just sent me some images from it. I immediately found a cheap first print on Amazon, no small feat considering most copies are going for 75.00 and up. May have something to do with this -



That's right. It's been "weeded" from an Naval Base library. Already enough to make it worth the $30 I dropped.






Then there's the illustrations -

I'm hoping to post each page eventually, with descriptions or clear enough scans so the text is legible.



One of the reasons it really works is the author's background in paleontology. I haven't gotten too far in the book yet (so I'm not sure exactly why rabbits develop hooves) but he does delve into evolution, explaining how environment can effect an animal's genealogy through mutation and natural selection.


And give us what might be 50 million years in their (not our) future.

5 comments:

Elliot Cowan said...

I was obsessed by this book when I was a kid.

Liesje said...

I knew you would be the one person who had heard about this book already.

Elliot Cowan said...

I wouldn't have remember it if it weren't for the penuiny whaley things.

Liesje said...

My favorites!

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