What a fascinating book this was. I loved the descriptions, my imagination went in to overdrive. It's a dip in -dip out of type of read, so it took me a while to get through it.

I found this a fascinating read, one that I can see myself dipping into many times over rather than reading the entire content in one long session. Written in layman terms which makes it more easily understandable it is an exploration of the fauna and flora of our pre-history.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free advance review copy.

This review is based on an E-ARC from @penguinukbooks @penguinpress and @netgalley

This book starts with a description of what once was, and what lies beneath, the views that Halliday has from his window.
And it immediately captures your interest with the tales of crocodiles and sea turtles that are captured underneath layers of gravel, dirt and stone, deep beneath the streets of London.

The earths climate, flora and fauna has drastically changed, and it is currently undergoing a similar metamorphosis, but this time it seems to be for the worse.

This book tells a cinematic tale of ancient landscapes.
As Halliday guides you through vivid depictions of a variety of continents and areas, where the moon was brighter, camels were roaming across America and the penguins were gigantic, one can’t help but be amazed!
Reading this really brought back the feeling of utter awe I felt visiting the dinosaur exhibition at the Oslo natural history museum as a child, or the first time I saw “Jurassic Park”.
It’s the feeling of genuine exitement over walking the same earth as diplodocus and giant sloths once did, while simultaneously mourning all the things we will never experience.

And this serves as a constant reminder of the fact that we must all do our part right now to make sure that our children won’t feel that way about blue whales, lions, the grey wolf or even snow!

When Halliday tells us about things long gone, he does it so vividly an detailed that you can hear the pterosaurs flap their giant wings or feel the pressure from oxygen levels so high that it allowed megafauna to develop.

It’s an adventure you don’t want to miss out on if you are interested in the earths history❤️

What a strange, interesting and fascinating read this was. Telling the story of earths extinct ecosystems, this is so beautifully written that it is accessible for everyone.
The illustrations are lovely and add to the description of various settings. The language is beautifully detailed, almost poetic at times so that it is easy to forget you are not reading a work of fiction. This might not be the sort of book you would normally read, but I would recommend giving it a go, you may well be surprised.

Otherlands is an absolutely fascinating book taking us back through deep time, past mass extinction events to dinosaurs to trilobites to extremophile bacteria. The reader is given a vivid picture of our world in different eras, teeming with life and variety, experiencing wildly different climates and conditions.

I found it very comforting to think that even if humans make ourselves extinct through climate change, life will likely continue onwards in a different form, adapted to the different conditions. A highly recommended read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

Dazzling, evocative and thought provoking. Finally a book that got my head around what evolved when, and how, and what led to their sad demise. So immersive, and by travelling back in time, all the weirdness feels almost normal by the time you reach it, this is a fascinating unraveling of all that has gone before, and a warning of what’s likely around the corner if humans don’t get our act together. One of the best reads for getting some perspective of our utter insignificance in the history of this enigmatic planet.

I've never read world geography or history quite like this, and I adored it. Otherlands explores the world right back to the beginning of time, letting us look at eras we know the names of but would struggle to express any genuine information about. His descriptions of the bright moon over Ediacaran Australia and the highest waterfall the earth has ever known legitimately filled me with wonder. This is a staggering work of imagination and presentation. I'm so grateful I read it.

I enjoyed this book and felt that there was so much to take in that one reading does not do it justice. I did struggle with the style of writing somewhat, partly because I was expecting more of a textbook style and this was more difficult to navigate. I think that the best way to approach this is as a wonderfully intriguing story that just happens, as far as we understand it, to be true. The author obviously has a great passion for his subject and this comes through in the writing.

There is so much in this book that I had not known. It's too much to read it in one go cover to cover without time to reflect. I do find the style of writing not the easiest. Unfortunately a lot of the illustrations do not appear on my Kindle which is a loss. This is one book to read in hard copy.

I was offered this book as an ARC through NetGalley and was immediately gripped. Otherlands is reminiscent of Jean M. Auel's 'Clan of the Cave Bear' in that it transports you back to earlier eras of our own planet. This book is a fascinating insight into the natural history of our planet at times when it would have been unrecognisable to us. This is far more technical than Auel's fantasy series and transports the reader much further back. Be prepared for the fact that this book works backwards in time so the surroundings move from the more to less familiar. I would have devoured the book much quicker but couldn't help looking non-illustrated creatures up.

I would say that the best chapter was in fact the Epilogue which put the relevance of this scientific research in a modern perspective. I found it to be unbiased and well reasoned. There are also extensive notes for those who want to read in more depth research.

“After travelling so far back in time, it is only by turning and looking back down the road to the present that we begin to classify those that exist in the deep past.”

My thanks to Penguin Press U.K. Allen Lane for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Otherlands: A World in the Making’ by Thomas Halliday in exchange for an honest review.

Award winning palaeobiologist Thomas Halliday takes his readers on an epic journey through half a billion years of time and across all seven continents to encounter the Earth as it used to be.

He writes in the Introduction: “This book is an exploration of the Earth as it used to exist, the changes that have occurred during its history, and the ways that life has found to adapt, or not. In each chapter, guided by the fossil record, we will visit a site from the geological past to observe the plants and animals, immerse ourselves in the landscape, and learn what we can about our own world from these extinct ecosystems.”

This could have been quite a dry tome but Halliday writes in an accessible and immersive style that vividly recreates these ancient landscapes. He draws on poetry and folklore and while there are scientific names and copious notes, I felt that the text flowed well and it was easy to recreate in the mind’s eye landscapes and flora and fauna of these epochs

There are maps, illustrations of various plants and creatures, notes and an index.

Overall, a fascinating work of scientific nonfiction.

‘Otherlands’ by Thomas Halliday is the story of our planet. Halliday is a paleobiologist who explains the history of our world in a way that has opened my eyes. He goes back in time, showing how Earth has changed and developed over millions of years. Using ecosystems and creatures we may or may not be familiar with, he makes us realise that we are but a tiny part of it all.

Halliday writes in a very accessible style. It is not just dry facts, but imaginative and truly fascinating. I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was given this Arc for review.

I thought this would be an interesting book to read but I was not able to get very far with it as I did not enjoy the language and writing style.

An entrancing and interesting read. The scope of this book is breathtaking, from the arrival humanoid species on the planet, all the way back through the fossil record to the dawn of time. It revived my interest in Geology and made links between rocks, flora and fauna that I had never made before. The writing is beautiful. At first I thought it fanciful but then realised each chapter is based on detailed surveys of findings in the field, meticulously recorded. Reading this book has enhanced my understanding of many aspects of the physical landscape, for example, why it is important to study plant and animal evolution and ecology, and how it can help us to look after our current landscapes.

An interesting read about the world over the many millions of years earth has existed. It took me a while to read but it was very interesting and well worth the read. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of our planet and what existed long before our time. I can see a lot of research went into this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest views.

This is a natural history book with a twist - it is about the flora, fauna and landscapes of the Earth as they were millions of years ago. It begins in Alaska, 20,000 years ago, then each chapter goes further back in time until chapter 16, when we find ourselves in Australia, 550 million years ago; a time before Orion and Polaris, a time when the land was barren of life, yet a time when the sea became oxygenated and multicellular life began to form.

A truly fascinating book, it is written in the present tense to give events more immediacy, with references to evidence found in the fossil record scattered casually throughout. It does not read like an academic text; in fact, the language is very easy to understand and is perfect for anyone who does not have any previous knowledge of paleobiology. Even for people well-versed in the topic, I suspect there is something new to be learned from this deeply researched book.

Landscapes and life are vividly described, enabling the reader to picture the world as it was so long ago. Even though each chapter is accompanied by one map and one beautifully rendered illustration, I personally would have liked many more illustrations, to complement the descriptions given in the book.

Although this book is an accessible, entertaining read, it is incredibly rich with detail meaning it is not a book to try and read in one sitting. But if you love reading natural history books and fancy something a little different, I heartily recommend this unique look at how life was once on Earth.

With thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Press UK for an advance copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you for providing me with an advance review copy of this book. Enjoyed reading, would recommend....

Otherlands takes the reader on a journey back through time 500 million years to the Cambrian age, calling in at different places/times along the way. 500 million years is a staggering amount of time to think about, & yet the earth goes back even further to 4.5 billion (4500 million!) years ago. It's something that is mind-blowing to even try to comprehend the sheer scale of that time. It hammered home the fleeting impermanence of life & even considered what history could tell us about the climate change issues facing us today.

The amount of detail in describing the ecosystems is amazing, it really brings the text to life. The reader feels as if they have been whisked away in time machine & deposited in the different time periods, I swear I could hear the chirping of the insects, the splash of the huge marine creatures, feel the heat & the extreme cold weather, & see the shadow of a pterodactyl as it flew overhead. It could get very academic in parts, & I was glad I read it on an e-reader as it was very handy to be able to instantly look up the many terms that I was unfamiliar with. It was also an interesting choice to work backwards, rather than start in the Cambrian & work forwards in time - I'm not sure if it would have worked better that way or not. Anyway, it was a fascinating read & one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Allen Lane / Penguin Press UK, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

This is a very well-researched book about the evolution of plant and animal life on Earth from pre-Cambrian times to the present day, ending with a consideration of contemporary evidence of climate change. It is very well-written, accessible for those with no knowledge of the topic as well as readers who already have relevant learning. The format is engaging, with a chapter dedicated to each of the main geologic periods, each one in the form of a discrete case study taken from a part of the world whose geology demonstrates typical features of that period. As such, it is an ideal book to dip into chapter by chapter, and not necessarily in geologic order.

With thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me a copy of this very interesting book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a truly wonderful book. The author brings vividly to life the landscape and inhabitants, with a lyrical style that makes one forget the scholarship needed to give the detailed accuracy involved. Each different landscape and era is carefully chosen and conjured up. The illustrations are also wonderful.

Even if this is not normally something you would be interested in, give it a look, and prepare to be surprised, as you are drawn into a day to day life both familiar and utterly strange.

It’s a book to linger over, and enjoy. And to give as a gift to others for the same reason.