Amount of trash thrown out by average person annually: 1,500 pounds.

Amount of trash thrown out by person who composts: 375 pounds.

1) The Cambrian explosion -- this section provides a brief introduction to the "explosion" of shelled animal fossils in Cambrian rock formations, following the Precambrian rocks that lack such fossils, and leaves off talking a bit about the Ediacaran fauna -- a fauna that is found in Precambrian rock strata.

2) Aliens here on earth? -- this section deals with the issue of trace fossils vs body fossils, and continues discussing the relevance and significance of the Ediacaran fauna as evidence of Precambrian (animal?) life. The authors also provide a helpful overview of Ediacaran fauna including photos and illustrations of them.

3) The mudeaters -- this section deals with psuedofossils (apparently disturbances in ancient mud/sediment layers), misidentifications of those as being fossils when they are not, etc. The authors then go on to discuss possibilities of animal life that were real makers or Precambrian trace fossils.

4) Small shelly fossils -- this section presents ideas about the earliest assemblages of shelly fossils at the Precambrian - Cambrian boundary, including the "Tommotian fauna."

5) The golden spike -- this section addresses the process and uncertainty of identifying a definitive boundary marker that hails the beginning of the Cambrian era. (This is no small issue, and the beginning time mark of this era has shifted farther and farther back in time as we learn more about the history of life.)

6) Rifting of Rodinia -- this section addresses the possibility that the emergence of animal life may well have been associated with a period of glaciation, as well as other pieces of evidence that help to unravel the sticky problem of describing the emergence of metazoan animal life.

7) The garden of Ediacara -- this section addresses trophic strategies for acquiring energy and nutrients anomg early animal life on earth.

8) Ecological feedback and intelligence -- this section addresses the effects of feedback mechanisms on the emergence of life. For example, the emergence of grazing herbivores led to the demise of previously ungrazed stromatolite beds...nothing had eaten them before. That consequently opened up more open space on the substrate, and in ecological and evolutionary space for other kinds of autotrophs to gain a toe-hold in new community structures. This section also addressed the significance of symmetrical animals bearing eyes and better developed nervous systems than ever before.

9) Precambrian oxygen -- this section provides an overview of the development of an atmosphere on earth that is suitable for sustaining animals that rely on respiration. By the Cambrian, the atmosphere attained an O2 level of about 2%...apparently a critical level needed to sustain respiring life.

10) Ecological chaos and innovation -- this section addresses ideas about the nature of the emergence of life on earth...was it a gradual or a fast process of emergence...as the authors put it, "did the Cambrian come in with a whimper or a bang?" In either case, the consequence of an apparent age of chaotic ecological activities, extinctions and emergences of many kinds of animals (and presumably other forms of life, too) led to a fossil record that includes evidence of rapid and wide-spread innovation. Thus, the emergence of animal life that gave rise to the kinds of animal diversity we have today.

Though now 10 years old, this is still a good book. Evolutionary biologists and paleontologists will nod in agreement at some points, shake their fists at others. But, all in all, this is an excellent book if you are interested in ideas and information describing possible scenarios about the emergence of life on earth. There are good photos and abundant illustrations that help the reader see and start to understand the forms of animals being discussed.

Give it a look.

5 stars for the informed lay-naturalist as well as for the professional biologist/paleontologist!

Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN

Sincerely,

As my one word description of the casebook makes clear, it is a very thorough book. Each step of the employment process is covered. The book does not bore you, as they have searched for the most up to date and/or interesting cases.

As a casebook for employment law class, I feel that it is excellent. The key is that one could read the book without even having a professor to facilitate and still learn a great deal.

Employment law is a fast changing, hot subject in current American law today, and this book reflects the newest trends and cases.