This fascinating and awe-inspiring travel guide through our planet Earth‘s history, written by an award-winning young paleobiologist, will make ancient landscapes and their inhabitants come to life in the reader‘s mind‘s eye. I was kindly allowed to read an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This type of book isn't normally what I go for, but I was intrigued. I didn't read it all in one go but a bit at a time over a month or two. I learned a lot from this and ended up googling a lot more!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a wonderful idea for a book, going back through time and describing each era a bit like a travel guide. I did find it heavy going and whilst I'm glad it wasn't dumbed down I did struggle with unfamiliar terms.

This journey into the natural history of the world was quite literary but at the same time it also felt fresh, engaging and accessible. Thoroughly recommended.

If I had to explain the concept of Otherlands by Thomas Halliday to you in a single sentence, it would be that it’s a book that will take you as close to actual time travel as any words on a page could ever hope. Written by an award-winning young paleobiologist, the book takes readers on a voyage back through the Earth’s history, painting vivid pictures of long-gone landscapes and their inhabitants.

Each of the sixteen chapters of Otherlands takes place in a single location, or at least on the land that will one day become that location as the tectonic plates shift to eventually form the landmasses we know today. This can in fact make Otherlands rather challenging to read because even if you have a reasonable knowledge of geography, once we go back far enough countries simply aren’t in the “right place.” As we travel through the book, we also work our way back in time. We begin in the Northern Plains of Alaska in the Pleistocene just 20,000 years ago, travel to Tinguiririca in Chile during the Oligocene 32 million years ago, then on to Swabia in Germany during the Jurassic 155 million years ago, Soom in South Africa during the Ordovician 444 million years ago, and finally to the Ediacara Hills of Australia during the Ediacaran 550 million years ago. Every location and time has been selected for a reason, for example, the chapter set in Gargano Italy takes place a little over 5.3 million years ago, just as the Zanclean flood refilled the Mediterranean and changed the surrounding area unimaginably, marking the literal end of an era.

Otherlands is written in the style of a travel guide or natural history book. In every chapter, we are transported back to the chosen time and place as if in our own personal time machine. Once there, Halliday paints a detailed picture of what we might see on any ordinary day in eras long before our species even existed. Increasingly strange vegetation is picked over by creatures I’d never heard of and they themselves are hunted by the predators of the era. Insects swarm over long evaporated lakes filled with bizarre fish, and all the while, life continues trying to exist no matter how challenging the circumstances. The language is beautiful but filled with endless scientific terminology (I ended up listening to the audiobook while reading to help with the pronunciation), and the mental pictures it creates are vivid. I can still “see” many of the locations I visited in Otherlands‘ pages in my head weeks after finishing the book.

In many ways, Otherlands could be considered a depressing book from a human perspective. We tend to consider ourselves to be central to the world, a vital cog in Earth’s machinery, but here we see the countless ways in which life has gone on without us. After chapter one, none of the creatures or plants talked about here ever saw a human being, and yet these entire ecosystems evolved, flourished, and died, as no doubt many more will in the future. We often think of the Earth as static: Alaska is frozen, Brazil is tropical, France is temperate—simply because that is how things have always been for the tiny span of time in which we have existed, but things are always changing and nothing will remain as it is today.

It could also be possible to see Otherlands as an argument against the catastrophe of modern-day climate change. In its past, our planet has been significantly hotter than the temperate planet it is today—a global rainforest—and also significantly colder—a glacier-covered “snowball earth.” Life, to paraphrase Dr. Ian Malcolm, has always found a way, so why is it a problem now? Halliday addresses this by explaining how the man-made climate change of today is problematic less because of the change itself, but because of its unprecedented pace. Whenever we see evidence of those major shifts in climate occurring quickly, we also see evidence of catastrophic extinction events occurring as a result. Evolution takes time, requiring even longer for larger and more complex creatures, and so when a fast-paced climate crisis occurs, only the smallest will be able to keep up and make it through. The current climate crisis that humans are creating is the fastest ever recorded. The planet will survive it, as will life itself, but the ecosystems on the other side won’t look like the ones we know today and may well be far less suitable for human beings.

My one fault with the book was that I wish the whole thing had been illustrated. Every chapter contained a single illustration of one creature found in that location, but with dozens more in every place, there were so many more I wanted to see, not to mention all the landscapes that were at times so alien I struggled to picture them in my mind. I can easily imagine a fully-illustrated collector’s edition coming out in the future, and I know I would immediately snap up a copy if one ever came to be. I also struggled at times with the decision to have the book work its way back in time rather than forward. I realize this was a conscious choice in order to move backward from more familiar flora, fauna, and landscapes to those more alien, however, with frequent discussions about how the different species would evolve in the future, this made the book at times feel as if it were leaping about in time and seemed to make it more confusing. However, these are minor gripes.

Otherlands is a book that will not only take you on a journey through time but will help you to appreciate the amazing planet we live on and just how varied life can be.

A fascinating study of the alternate worlds which surround and lie beneath our own. In the vein of Robert MacFarlane or Robin Wall Kimmerer, Halliday elucidates with awed prose the secrets of the Otherlands.

Fascinating descent into the last eon. This book gives a sense of perspective and awe and wonder for the ancient history or Earth, cycles, and shows how we can learn from past extinctions to think about the consequences of human-induced climate change, including why we need to reduce consumption and change our mindset to avoid the worst.
Each chapter is a prehistoric slice of life snippet from ancient life forms, going deeper back in time each time. Some explanations and comparisons along the way really make the writing shine. Sometimes, naming something removes it from our direct experience. Here, the author is quite intentional in trying to make us "feel" these beings and their interactions, their environment and their fate, while still giving a lot of scientific insights and food for thought.
The amount of knowledge and work in this book is staggeringly impressive - maybe even dense at times, but always fascinating.
That said, as an animal lover, I rose my eyebrows at the mention that cattle breeding can be "mutually beneficial" and at the lack of direct mention about the impact of the meat industry / factory farming, apart from the fact that most mammals and birds on Earth are now human beings, and species bred to exploit.
I wish there were more illustrations, in fact, I even wish it was some sort of a graphic novel as even though the descriptions were mostly good, I still found myself googling every living being I didn't know to look at pics of fossils and their artistic renditions.
Overall, it was a great book and I recommend it.
I want to thank netgalley and Penguin Press UK for providing me with an ARC book for free in exchange for a fair review.

I’ve been fascinated by life and dinosaurs all my life. Thomas’s book works back through time using actual paleontological sites to paint vivid pictures of past ecosystems. Think walking with dinosaurs (and many other plants and animals) in words.

I found this book engrossing. I learned so much from it about climate change, new species that have been discovered and how our world has changed over time. While Thomas’s book looks at geological ages it is a stark reminder of the impermanence of life. The final chapter brings it all together and reminds us of the importance of understanding the past to guide our actions now and in the future to avoid climate disaster.

I loved this book, it gave me new information, recreated ancient worlds in my mind’s eye and left me thinking deeply about our world. I hope that there are other sites that will enable Thomas to recreate other eras in further volumes in the future.

This was a fascinating and well written story of deep history. Starting from the present and moving through time Halliday describes the fascinating and often alien worlds that have existed on the earth since life began 550 million years ago.

This was incredibly well written and it often felt as though you were moving through these ancient environments with Halliday as your tour guide. The only thing I think would have been an added benefit was if there was some sort of glossary, particularly for some of the animal groups. It didn’t stop me from enjoying the book but I was often a bit frustrated as I knew my understanding was being limited.

As I read this I found myself hoping the television rights have been sold to to an organisation like the BBC Natural History Team as I think it would make a fascinating and powerful documentary series.

The thing that I think will stay with me the longest about reading this book is the Epilogue. Halliday is able to bring home the consequences of climate change by referring the reader to the specific time periods that resemble the world we’re creating! Truly powerful imagery that really brings home the reality we as a species are facing!!!

*** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher ***

Otherlands read like a crash course in palaeontology. It’s packed with explanations of the history of life and how we came into being. There are many theories as to how we came to be, and I’m not sure which one I believe. The author himself likens his explanation to reading an excerpt which happens to be the last chapter of a novel. We might guess the developments of the story, the plots, and the characters, yet never get the whole picture of what the real stories might be. But at least, reconstructing the story could give us an impression of how much the world has changed since it came to be and the diverse types of creatures that inhabited it before humans.

I’m pretty sure this book was written by the author with climate change in mind. Climate change might be the most important war of the twenty-first century, to achieve a balance called “net-zero” between the greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere and those taken out by 2050. Otherlands describes factual changes in the earth’s climate and its inhabitants throughout the millions of years of its history. One thing being emphasized is that the temperature did change in the past. The author argues that change is inevitable, but never on a scale as rapidly as the change that occurred after the Industrial Revolution. However, I am under the impression that human extinction is something given, as happened to many other species that we only know now through their fossilized remains. But we, as humans, have the liberty to choose to mitigate the climate issues and prolong our existence due to our collective knowledge and ability to coordinate.

The author also makes points that the shape of the continents keeps changing through time. Even now, the continents are moving. Within those continents are the entire ecosystems within them. Different ecosystems that exist within different continents might not be easy to replicate in case of the extinction of some species, due to – let’s say – climate change. On this, the author emphasized that climate change did occur in the past and it might occur again on a rapid scale. But the changes in climate in the past always gave rise to something entirely new on top of the earth, with new ecosystems and new creatures adjusted to the new temperature. The process also occurred at a slow pace that could take thousands or millions of years. And this is why climate change is the pressing issue of today.

Otherlands could be read as an intersection between biology and history. Instead of using archives, palaeontologists use fossils and geochemical evidence to determine the trace of the earth’s history. The illustrations of now-extinct creatures included in this book are merely approximations of their physical appearance, but their fossilized remains could become a testament to the cycle of life and death throughout the ages. Perhaps humans should go extinct, perhaps humans should inhabit the earth for longer, both sides of the story are arguable. But if humans collectively want to prolong their existence, palaeontology could teach us that we need to set a condition for the earth to be habitable for our species, and that involves mitigating climate change.

An engaging and accessible journey through the history of our planet, through the exploration of sixteen different fossil sites and what they can reveal to us. The subject matter could be dry, but Halliday uses evocative descriptions and storytelling to transport us back to the places he's describing, allowing us to envisage the world as it was millions of years ago. It's absolutely fascinating stuff.

Fascinating.

Though it took me a while to get through this one, I did enjoy it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Always difficult to give a review that is not glowing but while the book had many good points it was a bit repetitive. .The rigid format made every chapter seem the samey.. It would have been a better book to be a little looser and wander a bit into the changes described and maybe a bit more speculation on why the changes occurred?

This book tells the story of our planet. Halliday is a paleobiologist who explains the history of our world in a way that has opened my eyes. Definitely a book to be read in increments.

I stated this book back in December. For me it’s not a quick read it’s a book to pick up and put down over a period of time.

For anyone with a passing interest in fossils, or in earth’s history, or in possible alien lifeforms, Otherlands is a must-read.

I can’t think of another book which really sets out the flora and fauna of a past era (or possibly epoch), in an ecosystem way. How does every lifeform depend on each other? What are the predator-prey relationships? Why are certain adaptations made, given the other life around, the climate conditions, and the genetic pathways…

To undertake this sort of detailed analysis for one specific time period would probably provide a doctoral thesis. To do it for several–sixteen–site/age combinations, is remarkable.

And then make it not only readable, but beautifully descriptive, creating an illusion of the world he is describing in breathtaking detail.

I highlighted several passages that make imagery a cliched word. The way the Atlantic poured through the Pillars of Hercules to create the western proto-Mediterranean was breath-taking… but the consequential waterfall, miles high, as the Sicilian ridge was breached so it formed the eastern Med… That was awe-inspiring.

Some of the writing is clunky, and occasionally strays into academic style (much like Stephen Hawking, so Dr Halliday is in good company). Occasionally I found the gist of his argument contradictory. He also has a habit of shifting to a different time and place to compare or contrast with the chapter in question, which confused me. But this can be forgiven. You catch on eventually (possibly faster than with Stephen Hawking).

And for readers concerned about the percent left to read in an ebook, around 25% is devoted to references, further reading, and appendices.

If you would like to know more about the world we live in (and what might happen when we leave it) read Otherlands.

This read more like an educational book than something I could sit down and read like other books, and I got really overwhelmed by all the stats and jumping around. I'm sure it's great when it gets going but unfortunately it's just not for me at the moment.

This was fascinating. I couldn't read it all in one go but it was great to dip in and read a couple of chapters.
It was easily understandable. One to enjoy.

Paleobiologist Thomas Halliday takes the reader through a tour of the ancient past in this fantastic and accessible book. Think of a safari but through the various ages of the earth, putting into perspective how very recently humans appeared and became the dominant species. It’s a balanced a sobering look at ecology, geology and palaeontology and what all of this means for humanity and our species problems. Nature constantly changes – we are not permanent fixtures as we may think. Excellent book.

I found this book so, so interesting. I went into it wondering if it would feel dry in places, but it was the opposite - a dazzling, accessible account of the history of our continents. The most unique book on world history I've ever read.
I think this book would be perfect for dipping in an out of a chapter at a time.