From the acclaimed author of Life and Trilobite!, a fascinating geological exploration of the earth's distant history as revealed by its natural wonders. The face of the earth, crisscrossed by chains ...

Behind the galleries -- The naming of names -- Old worlds -- Animalia -- Theatre of plants -- Multum in parvo -- Museum rocks -- Noah's Ark in Kensington -- House of the muses Summary Richard Fortey .

Professor Richard Fortey visits China to see a fossil site that has yielded remains of feathered dinosaurs and rewritten the story of the origin of birds.