When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time - Michael Benton

Like a detective story

together with the author we sift through the sientific evidence.
There is no simple solution, but the questionmarks are clear answers for themselves.

Specialized vocabulary

The author hangs on to too much specialized knowledge and vocabulary for this to be interesting enough for general readers.

I was looking forward to a being led by an expert into a new area of knowledge related to geologic timescales. But I couldn't find much of the excitement that you often find in equivalent popularized science discussions by experts in astronomy or physics for example.

I think the potential is there, but this was not the author for it. The author however is clearly capable, competent, well-informed.

If you remember the times when the neighbor kid went on for hours about his rock collection and you liked it, this book is for you.

Meanwhile, I'm still looking for the author who will open the door for me to geology and other like topics.

Your guide to the Permian extinction

This is a masterfully written book on a little-known topic, the Permian "event" that caused the extinction of perhaps 90% of terrestrial and marine metazoa 251 million years ago. And what was that "event"? The author, Michael J. Benton, comes down on the side of the "Siberian Traps" a long episode of volcanism in what is now Siberia. I was sort of cheering for the asteroid, but we must go where the evidence leads, and it leads toward the traps. This is the best and most comprehensive book I have encountered on the subject of the Permian extinction. Much of the research the author cites is very recent and the work is still being conducted. Stay tuned.

Excellent Book on Evolution, Plate Tectonics, Catastrophic Events and Scientific History

There's nothing I can really say about this book which hasn't been more elequently stated elsewhere. Suffice it to say that the reader will become familiar with many of the early scientists which formulated current theory and recent advances in theories once thought absurd but are now considered pro forma, such as plate tectonics and catastrophism. While the title does imply unique focus on the Permian extinction (still its primary focus), it actually deals with the 5 largest extinction events. The book is not technical in nature at all, and should appeal to anyone who has a lay interest in the Permian period and similar epochs.

A Masterpiece

The best book yet written on the Permian extinction, "When Life Nearly Died" explores all of the possible mechanisms, and then provides the only quantifiable theory ever put forward. Benton's description and data on a rapid global warming followed by an enormous polar methane release of multi-billion tonnage is actually supported by some math that looks sound.

The meteor theory of the Permian extinction is unequivocally dismantled and others like continental drift are given deft handling. The relevance of the Permian extinction is startling to us now. If we warm the planet too much more, a huge gaseous release could erupt from beneath the oceans and wipe out 90% of all life.