Trilobites

They lived in the oceans over five hundred million years ago, and they were as many and myriad then as the beetle is now. Their eyes were made of calcite lenses that could number from one to a thousand. Some of them swam while some of them burrowed; some were spiky while others were smooth; some were larger than lobsters while others were smaller than fleas. They are trilobites, curious shelled creatures whose span on earth was so long -- three hundred million years -- that to study them is to glimpse a different world of ancient continents now positioned elsewhere and mighty oceans long since vanished.Richard Fortey, author of the acclaimed Life, has been enraptured by trilobites since the age of fourteen, and his passion is exuberantly evident on every page of this book. Funny and fascinating, intelligent and insightful, Trilobite is that rare book as useful for the student as it is for the teacher, as compelling for the layman as it is for the specialist.