5/18/2023 0 Comments Thomas halliday otherlands review![]() ![]() ![]() Assembling the whole set is a real achievement. Composing any one of them calls for an impressive synthesis. Otherlands offers more finely drawn vignettes of past life than either. Halliday’s effort compares well with other tales of Earth history. It has rarely been so vividly illustrated. I occasionally dip into customer reviews of Otherlands, as a way of seeing how non-book industry people are responding. It’s a commonplace idea since evolution became the accepted theory of how the biological world developed across our planet, or any planet. Both omissions align with Halliday’s main goal, which is to give a sense of past organisms framed in ways of living that are part of a complete ecosystem. I found myself reciting passages to anyone within earshot. The exposition is also mercifully light on the cliches of Attenborough-style narration, where every scene seems to be either a mating opportunity or a meal. Otherlands is an exceptional debut that can be savoured like a fine wine. There are passing hints of how particular fossils were formed, and why specific locations yielded a rich haul, but the details are passed by – if you wan that kind of thing you will have to follow up the extensive notes. A brilliant series of reconstructions of life in the deep past, richly imagined from the fine details of the fossil record. ![]()
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