A New History of Life (Transcript)
Ebook653 pages21 hours
By Stuart Sutherland
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About this ebook
A New History of Life is the companion book to the audio/video series of the same name. It contains a full transcript of the series as well as the complete course guidebook which includes lecture notes, bibliography, and more.
About this series:
Embark on an unforgettable trip into the historical glories of the past with these 24 lectures that immerse you in the history of an often overlooked region of the ancient world. With Professor Harl as your guide, you'll plunge into the history of Asia Minor's great ancient civilizations and come face to face with eye-opening historical milestones. Among these: the rise of the Hittites, the legendary Trojan War, the birth of Western philosophy, the fiery Greek and Persian Wars, the victories of Alexander the Great, the dawn of the Hellenistic Age, the spread of early Christianity, the golden age of Byzantium, the birth of the Ottoman Empire, and much more. Cultural change and continuity are the main themes of these lectures. You'll come to see how each successive civilization inherited and modified the political, social, religious, and economic institutions of its predecessor. In fact, the scope of Anatolian history can be best understood as a series of major cultural and religious rewrites: first by the Hittite emperors; then by the elites of Hellenic cities; next by their Hellenized descendants in the Roman age; then by Christian emperors and bishops in the Byzantine age; and, finally, by Turkish rulers and Muslim mystics. To give you a stronger sense of that continuity (and the various changes that are a part of it), these lectures are organized into five cultural components: Early Anatolia (from 6000 to 500 B.C.), Hellenized Anatolia (from 750 to 31 B.C.), Roman Asia Minor (from 200 B.C. to 395 A.D.), Byzantium (from 395 to 1453), and Islamic Turkey (since 1071).
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Asia
LanguageEnglish
PublisherThe Great Courses
Release dateMay 10, 2013
ISBN9781598039603
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Stuart Sutherland, Ph.D.
I love investigating life’s story and how major geological events have colored that story. I am also passionate about helping people ‘read the rocks’ so they can peel back the pages of Earth’s history for themselves.
InstitutionThe University of British Columbia
Alma materUniversity of Leicester
Learn More About This Professor
Course Overview
Life is stranger than fiction. Recent investigations hint at episodes in the history of life on Earth that rival the most imaginative movies. For example: Could our planet have been seeded with life from elsewhere? Did the development of life create conditions that threatened to poison...
36 Lectures
Average 30 minutes each
1
The Interconnected Earth
2
The Vast Depths of Earth Time
3
Fossil Clocks
4
Paleontologists as Detectives
5
The Shifting Surface of Planet Earth
6
Earliest Origins—Formation of the Planet
7
Origins of Land, Ocean, and Air
8
The Early Chemical Evolution of Life
9
Hints of the First Life Forms
10
How Life Transformed the Early Earth
11
Snowball Earth—Another Crisis
12
Metazoans—Life Grows Up
13
Incredible Variety—The Cambrian Explosion
14
Window to a Lost World—The Burgess Shale
15
The Forgotten Fossils in Earth’s Story
16
Introduction to the Great Mass Extinctions
17
The Collapse of Earth’s First Eden
18
Making the Break for Land
19
Getting a Backbone—The Story of Vertebrates
20
The Evolution of Jaws
21
These Limbs Were Made for Walking?
22
Tiktaalik—The Search for a Fishapod
23
Carboniferous Giants and Coal
24
Amniotes—The Shape of Things to Come
25
Permian Extinction—Life’s Worst Catastrophe
26
Finding the Killer—The Greenhouse Earth
27
The Dinosaurs Take Over
28
Letting the Dinosaurs Speak—Paleobehavior
29
Conquering the Air—The Evolution of Flight
30
Monsters of the Deep—Mesozoic Oceans
31
The Cretaceous Earth—A Tropical Planet
32
The Sky Is Falling—End of the Dinosaurs
33
The Collision of North and South America
34
The Rise of Mammals and the Last Ice Age
35
The Humble Origins of Human Beings
36
The Conscious Earth
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Top reviews from the United States
JoBo
5.0 out of 5 stars A detailed look at the history of this planet
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2023
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This is a terrific book/audio series. Professor Sutherland masterfully moves forward from theories of life’s early development thru it’s many faceted evolution on our planet, He artfully describes the processes occurring amidst changing atmosphere , land masses and seas. A science background is definitely helpful in understanding the evolutionary pressure and processes. Even without a science background, a curious mind can gain much by listening to this series. I listened to the audiobook twice, then bought the CD set for more listening with video.
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TX Bookhound
5.0 out of 5 stars enjoyed
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2023
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Interesting series. Very informative and a good review for old fossil hound guys. I also enjoyed how the necktie rode up with the progression of the series. LOL
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Ballet Fan
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting introductory course
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2021
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Dr. Sutherland of the Univ. of British Columbia covers the field of paleontology, from the formation of planet Earth to the present, in 36 absorbing lectures, unified under the theme of interconnectedness between the Earth's major systems: the atmosphere, the geosphere, the hydrosphere, and the biosphere. This course is so comprehensive and so thought-provoking that I intend to view it a second time. Dr. Sutherland's lecture style is direct and succinct, and although he is not shy about giving his own take on various issues, he is also careful to inform his students when the jury is still out, usually because of insufficient evidence in the geological record. The visuals are adequetae but not spectacular. The course guidebook is well-written and he provides a valuable bibliography of resources for further study, including books, articles, and web sites.
One person found this helpful
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Michael Cunningham
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting - Great professor
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2021
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This had great content and was fun to watch. Very informative.
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Featherless Biped
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb introduction to paleontology and geology!
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2016
Superb introduction to paleontology and geology! Like the other Great Courses the teacher is superb. As a senior scientist, I already knew alot about this but it exceeded my expectations. Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2017
great deal. Thank you!
One person found this helpful
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AMA
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2015
another great course from the great course people
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