An awe-inspiring journey through the eons and across the globe in search of visible traces of evolution in the living creatures that have survived from earlier times. In this groundbreaking book, prize-winning science writer Richard Fortey chronicles life's history not through the fossil record, but through the stories of organisms that have survived, almost unchanged, through geological time. Fortey takes us on a journey to ancient worlds: on a moonlit beach in Delaware where the horseshoe crab shuffles its way through a violent romance, we catch a glimpse of life 450 million years ago. Along a stretch of Australian coastline, we bear witness to the sights and sounds that would have greeted a Precambrian dawn. And, in the dense rainforests of New Zealand, where the secretive velvet worm burrows into the rotting timber of the jungle floor, we marvel at a living fossil which has survived unchanged since before the break-up of Gondwana, the ancient supercontinent, over 150 million years ago. Written with Fortey's customary sparkle and gusto, this wonderfully engrossing exploration of the world's oldest flora and fauna brilliantly combines the best science writing about the origins of life with an explorer's sense of adventure and a poet's wonder at the natural world. * Richard Fortey's BBC series 'Survivors' attracted over 750,000 viewers an episode in January and February 2012. * The hardback sold 3.

5k copies, while Dry Store Room sold just under 27,000 copies in total, just over 17,000 in paperback. * Our star popular science author, Fortey combines rigorous professional science with great literary skill. * Fortey's previous books have enjoyed worldwide recognition and have been published in several languages. * Both 'The Earth' and 'Life' were shortlisted for the Aventis (Rhone-Poulenc) Prize for Science and 'Trilobite!' was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. * Devoted fans of Fortey's writing include Bill Bryson and Simon Winchester. * 'The Earth' was a Sunday Times bestseller, has sold over 30,000 copies in the UK and was a Book of the Year in the Sunday Telegraph and The Economist.