From the origin of life, through the age of dinosaurs stalked by the terrifying tyrannosaurus rex, to the earliest humans, this book tells the story of life on Earth. Dinosaurs may be the stars of the show, but the book is truly comprehensive, with fossil plants, invertebrates, amphibians, fish, birds, reptiles, mammals, and even early bacteria conjuring up an entire past world. To put all of these extinct species in context, the book explores geological time and the way life-forms are classified. It also looks at how fossils preserve the story of evolution, and how it can be deciphered.