"This work by Novacek, a paleontologist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History, examines the potential environmental crisis differently from other books of this genre. Novacek presents a sweeping review of the evolution of Earth's terrestrial ecosystems that began 100 million years ago. He follows ecosystem birth, death, and replacement through the Permian and Cretaceous extinctions up to the arrival of human species 50,000 years ago. As humans multiplied and spread over the globe, they began a major transformation of Earth's ecosystems refined over those 100 million years. Rapidly developing technology allowed growing and spreading human populations to exterminate many species, spread invasive ones, deplete fisheries, destroy habitats, reduce biodiversity, pollute air and water, and alter the global landscape. The author warns that unless we abandon our cavalier attitude toward our planet, we endanger both the entire global ecosystem and our future. Although this book is written for the general reader, evolutionary and environmental biologists will find much to ponder here. The work includes a wealth of references buried in the page notations, which are placed in the back of the book . . . Recommended . . . Lower- and upper-divisions undergraduates through professionals."—R. L. Smith, emeritus, West Virginia University, Choice 

"Terra is a much-needed book on the human condition that could have been written only by a paleontologist with a thorough, field-based knowledge of evolutionary and environmental biology. Starting with the birth of Earth’s modern ecosystems in the age of dinosaurs, Novacek explains how the living environment came together in a way that yielded humanity and why our careless destruction of it is a profound and eternal loss."—Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University

"This beautifully written volume draws on a lifetime of experience with fossil organisms to place the challenges of the present in context.  Clearly written, and filled with wisdom and hope, Terra should be read by everyone who cares about the future of our planet and wants to do something about it."—Peter H. Raven,  President, Missouri Botanical Garden, and George Engelmann Professor of Botany, Washington University in St. Louis

"This is a great read. Novacek’s book vividly portrays the human folly and cavalier disregard for Terra, our only home, and he puts the environmental crisis in its most profound context. This is a masterful hundred-million-year biography of our unique planet of life—how it came to be, how it works."—Thomas Lovejoy, President, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

"Terra is one of the important books of our time—and it will change the way you think about the world around you. Novacek’s coup is not only to bring the past to life but also to show how it holds the keys to our future. The extraordinary breadth of his accomplishments as a scientist gives his book a powerful combination of authority, wit, and humanity. Reading Terra, it is hard not to feel humbled being a steward of a planet so ancient, wondrous, and fragile as our own."—Neil Shubin, Provost, Field Museum of Natural History, and Associate Dean, University of Chicago

"An authoritative history of our planet’s evolution . . . Drawing on his own field work and recent discoveries in the fossil record, he describes in rich detail the biological processes that gave rise to the lush biota of the modern world . . . Useful and up-to-date.”—Kirkus Reviews

"The natural world known to humans is the result of evolutionary forces that have expanded and contracted for nearly 100 million years. Bursts of evolutionary variety have given way to extinction events, some of which have been more catastrophic than others. But never has our planet been more in danger of extinction than it is right now. Paleontologist Novacek takes an unflinching look at what humans have done over time and in more recent years. Combining paleontology, evolutionary biology, and environmental science, he shows how these three perspectives can bring us to a better understanding of the 'mass extinction event' that threatens this planet if changes aren't implemented now. Among the causes explored are consumption patterns, pollution caused by humans, land usage, and activities that contribute to global warming. The rate at which our world is degrading is alarming, according to Novacek, but the situation is not hopeless. The question is whether humankind will do the hard work needed."—Gloria Maxwell, Library Journal

"Paleontologist Novacek tells the story of our ecosystem and warns that humans are transforming it so drastically that it may not be habitable in the future. Discussing the evolutionary processes that led to the diversification of all life, he asserts that people who reject the theory of evolution impede efforts to preserve the ecosystem because they ignore the importance of biological diversity. To demonstrate biodiversity's crucial role, he considers the evolution of flowering plants and the myriad insect species that pollinate them, stressing that as we decimate these insect populations, we interfere with 'the very core of what has been built by evolution.' Extinction is normal during the course of evolution, but studies cited by the author show that every year tens of thousands of species may now be going extinct, thousands of times faster than they would naturally do so, as humans exploit the ecosystem by cutting forests, exhausting sources of fresh water, polluting the air, destroying habitats, depleting the ocean and introducing invasive species to new habitats. We can avoid this, Novacek contends, if we learn to appreciate the history of our ecosystem in all its beauty and complexity, and have the will to reverse our destructive course. His timely book, with its wealth of lucidly presented information, should go a long way toward promoting this appreciation."—Publishers Weekly