Sign-In
Cart
The Bones Beneath Us: Extinction, Evolution & The Fragile Age of Humans (Large Print Edition)
Paperback
General ScienceNature WritingPaleontology
ISBN13: 9781919358628
Publisher: Extinct Animals Facts
Published: Mar 17 2026
Pages: 350
Weight: 1.03
Height: 0.78 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The Bones Beneath Us traces four billion years of planetary history, following the physical processes that shaped life before any human record and the brief interval in which our own species appeared. The narrative moves through vanished oceans, coal forests, ice-bound continents, and ancient seas where the first food webs took form, guided by evidence preserved in rock, fossil, and chemical signature.
Each chapter descends into a different depth of deep time. Extinctions leave distinct markers in stone. Continents part and converge. Atmospheres acquire new compositions. Evolution unfolds across spans of time that exceed any human scale, leaving behind entire worlds that once sustained complex life. The book gathers these transformations into a single narrative grounded in palaeontology, evolutionary biology, and Earth system science.
The later sections turn back to the present and to the human species as a geological agent. Industrial expansion, technological growth, and ecological disruption emerge within the same long history that shaped reefs, forests, and past extinction events. Human institutions, belief systems, and scientific practices take shape as recent structures within a planetary story governed by physical limits that predate civilisation.
Written as narrative science, The Bones Beneath Us places humanity within the continuity of Earth's history. The book follows the emergence of life, the vulnerability of complex ecosystems, and the compressed span of human time when set against deep time. It situates the present world within the older layers that underlie it, where the record of past worlds remains embedded in the ground itself.
Also from
Wakeman, George
Official Proceedings Of The National Democratic Convention, Held At New York, July 4-9, 1868
Wakeman, George
Paperback
Also in
Nature Writing
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paperback
The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present
Brusatte, Steve
Hardcover
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World
Wohlleben, Peter
Paperback
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Hardcover
To Catch a Fish: Essays on the Joy, Frustration, Curiosity, and Allure of Fishing
Kurlansky, Mark
Hardcover
The Fullness of Time: Marking the Day by Birdsong, Blooms, Shadows, and Stars
Haynes, Cathy
Hardcover
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Nezhukumatathil, Aimee
Paperback
I Have This Thing for Flowers: Essays on the Roots of Relationships
Sawchyn, Alysia Li Ying
Hardcover
Exploring the Maine Woods - The Hardy Family Expedition to the Machias Lakes
Carbone, Tommy
Hardy Eckstorm, Fannie
Paperback
Outsider Animals: How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us
Zuk, Marlene
Hardcover
Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts
Syme, Patrick
Werner, Abraham Gottlob
Hardcover
The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life
Dunn, Rob
Hardcover
The Whispers of Rock: The Stories That Stone Tells about Our World and Our Lives
Khatwa, Anjana
Hardcover
We Love You: An Optimistic Guide to Life on a Rock Floating Through Space
Sullivan, Thomas
Min, Andy
Hardcover
The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas, Revised Edition
Dennis, Jerry
Paperback
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
Williams, Florence
Paperback
Braiding Sweetgrass / Una Trenza de Hierba Sagrada: Sabiduría Indígena, Conocimiento Científico Y Las Enseñanzas de Las Plantas
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paperback
First Adirondackers: 12,000 Years of Indigenous Peoples in the Adirondack Uplands
Stager, Curt
Fadden, David Kanietakeron
Paperback
What Is Intelligence?: Lessons from AI about Evolution, Computing, and Minds
Aguera Y. Arcas, Blaise
Paperback
Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts
Syme, Patrick
Hardcover
Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science
Bergland, Renée
Paperback
The California Naturalist Handbook, Second Edition
Edelman, Deborah
De Nevers, Greg
Merenlender, Adina
Paperback
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Nezhukumatathil, Aimee
Hardcover
Bonefish Dreams: Stories, Facts, and Tips from Travels to the World's Best Destinations
Foster, Frank
Paperback
Radically Wild: True Tales of Adventure, Wilderness Survival, and Hard Lessons
Sunderwald, Scott
Paperback
House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest
Childs, Craig
Paperback
Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis
Proulx, Annie
Paperback
Astonished by Beauty: A Field Guide to the Practice of Paying Attention
Fleischner, Thomas Lowe
Paperback
The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit
Kumar, Priyanka
Hardcover
Permafrost Is an Archive: And Other Inheritances from the Alaska-Yukon Borderlands
Cook, Corinna
Paperback
National Geographic Backyard Guide to Edible Wild Plants
Hernandez, Mimi Prunella
Wood Buzzard, Heather
Paperback
Kinship Medicine: Cultivating Interdependence to Heal the Earth and Ourselves
Johnson, Wendy, MD MPH
Paperback
The Shortest History of Our Universe: The Unlikely Journey from the Big Bang to Us
Baker, David
Paperback
Plants That Kill: A Natural History of the World's Most Poisonous Plants
Dauncey, Elizabeth A.
Larsson, Sonny
Hardcover
The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks
Williams, Terry Tempest
Paperback
Seabirds as Sentinels: Auklets, Puffins, Shearwaters, and the View from Destruction Island
Wagner, Eric
Hardcover
The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American Desert
Childs, Craig
Paperback
In the Range of Fire and Ice: A Human and Natural History of Washington's Cascades
Williams, David B.
Hardcover
The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion--Surprising Observations of a Hidden World
Wohlleben, Peter
Paperback