David Attenborough's First Life

About this book

The epic story of the beginning of life on Earth from the much loved and respected naturalist, writer and broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough. Spanning billions of years, First Life reveals the extraordinary story of the evolution of the first life on Earth and how it then evolved into multicellular life, the first plant, the first animal, the first predator, the first to live on land: key moments in the development of the huge diversity of life that has lived on planet Earth.

First Life travels the world, from Canada to Australia, Morocco to Scotland, to unearth the secrets hidden in prehistoric fossils and meet the palaeontologists who have harnessed new techniques to enhance greatly our understanding of the origins of life.
With an introduction by David Attenborough, and insights captured during the making of the television series, this book is a journey of discovery, showing us what these early animals would have looked like and how they would have lived, bringing them to life with the help of modern computer technology. First Life shows us how evolutionary features of the first creatures have been passed down to modern animals, including humans, giving us amazing insight into the remarkable evolutionary journey that has brought us here today.

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Biography

Sir David Attenborough is one of the world's leading naturalists and broadcasters. His distinguished career spans more than fifty years, and his multi-award winning films and series have been broadcast around the world. He joined the BBC in 1952, launching his famous Zoo Quest series before rising to become controller of BBC Two and director of programmes for BBC Television. He returned to programme making in the 1970s and among his many acclaimed series are Life on Earth, The Blue Planet and Planet Earth. First Life completes the series of programmes he has made over thirty years about animal evolution by taking us back to the beginning of life.

Matt Kaplan is a regular contributor to National Geographic, New Scientist, Nature, and The Economist. He studied palaeobiology at the University of California, Davis, and completed a thesis in palaeontology at the University of California, Berkeley. He also has a master's degree in science communication from Imperial College London. Matt has taken part in palaeontological field work in the American west and he has acted as an expedition medic on numerous expeditions around the world. Born in California, he now divides his time between London and Los Angeles.