Tattersall, an anthropology curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, is a prominent interpreter of human paleontology to the public. Here he summarizes his current understanding about the diversity of the world, the rather small place of humans in it, and how it all came to be this way. Along the way he also describes how paleontologists acquire and process information about the long past and about the ecosystems from which humans cannot separate themselves however much television they watch. Among his topics are evolutionary processes, the tree of life, ancient life in the Paleozoic, the ages of dinosaurs and mammals, whales and primates, walkers and toolmakers, and a cognitive revolution. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)