Major Transitions in Evolution

By: Anthony Martin, John Hawks, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Anthony Martin, John Hawks

Imagine a world without bees, butterflies, and flowering plants. That was Earth 125 million years ago. Turn back the clock 400 million years, and there were no trees. At 450 million years in the past, even the earliest insects had not yet developed. And looking back 500 million years, the land was devoid of life, which at that time flourished in a profusion of strange forms in the oceans.

These and other major turning points are the amazing story of evolution. Given the broad scope of the subject, this course is taught by two professors: Anthony Martin, a paleontologist and geologist at Emory University, and John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Each is an outstanding teacher in his field, adept at making the subject interesting and accessible no matter what your background in science.

In 24 lavishly illustrated lectures, you will learn about Earth’s major transitions, each of which brought forth new possibilities for life. You will study the conditions that led to the first complex cells, flying insects, flowering plants, mammals, modern humans, and many other breakthroughs. And in the process of studying the past, you will gain a powerful understanding of the present world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2010 The Great Courses (P)2010 The Teaching Company, LLC

Excellent Course!

I love the evolution courses, especially anything with John Hawks in it. If there were two recommendations I could make to the Great Courses, they would be 1) make more of these available through Amazon’s Signature Collection, so that more people can afford to stream the visuals, which is rather important when the professors are describing fossils. The other would be to add more period-specific courses, such as a course just on the Mesozoic or Cenozoic. I would love to get some Deep History Courses that are more in-depth!

Exceptional Instructors

This Great Course material along with Drs. Martin and Hawks is extraordinary. Twelve hours plus of content may seem long, but the story of the evolution of life on Earth including human evolution is the greatest epic known to humanity (save for maybe the origins of our Universe).

Great

Very much enjoyed lectures, both instructors seemed genuinely interested in subject and eager to share information.

Thorough and Engrossing

it is a very interesting and informative series of lectures. An easy listen on stuff that has a habit of getting dull and laborious

great course

I enjoyed the breadth and explanations of of the interconnectedness of the fossil record. Great book to listen to.