Halliday spins us with dizzying clarity to the deeply distant past, to observe the flora and fauna, our early ancestors, the changing climate and the movement of land masses, lakes, oceans and glaciers. The writing is absolutely beautiful and deeply evocative, with a light and humorous touch. I would recommend this to anyone with even the slightest interest in the world around us.

Fascinating read, written by a paleobiologist. An exploration of the fauna and flora of our pre-history. He uses 16 sites around the world as a handle to what happened in epochs from 20,000 years ago to over 500 milllion years ago. Well written in none academic language - easy enough for someone who knows next to nothing (like me) of the times.

Interesting read. I found it more for dipping in than trying to read it cover to cover. I soon got bogged down if I tried to read too much at once.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Otherlands presents our current understanding of Earth’s pre-history, taking sixteen fossil sites as a starting point.

It covers the evolution of life, a range of ecosystems, extinction events, climate change, and ends with a conjecture of what the future holds for our planet.

Palaeobiologist Halliday is skilled at delivering what can be complex information in an engaging and accessible way. Using the present tense and factional writing techniques, he places the reader in time and place.

With thanks to NetGallery and Penguin Press UK for the ARC.

Fascinating.

This is one of the most fascinating and well written book about the story of flora and fauna through the ages I've ever read.
I found it riveting and gripping, informative and well researched. It's full of descriptions that made me feel like I was watching a movie, and food for thought as there's references to our current climate crisis.
It was like travelling in time and seeing how the planet and its inhabitants evolved.
I loved it and it's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A very insightful and fascinating book about the geological history of our world.
Well researched and beautifully written, it has beautiful descriptions and you don't need to know anything about geology to enjoy and appreciate the book.

Recommended if you like the subject.

Thank you NetGallery and Penguin Press UK for an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

A book to delve into. A fascinating account of the geological history of the world, ending with a look forward to how things might be in the future. The descriptions are so vivid you feel you are walking on ancient glaciers or high mountains watching the ocean below. A masterpiece.

I found this book to be absolutely mesmerising and an incredible insight into our world and the way in which the course of nature progresses. A beautiful read.

Thought this book would be a bit dry and academic but was very surprised. Think it will take me a long time to read this book as it is quite academic in the respect it is a big educational read but it is so engaging. It reads like an engaging immersive novel. You can almost imagine yourself there. A big read but we'll worth it !

'Otherlands' takes the reader on a journey back through time, introducing them to the environment of various epochs, from Alaska 20,000 years ago through to Australia 550 million years ago.

The descriptions are vivid and well written and I could imagine myself standing in each of the locations described, looking around and seeing the creatures, hearing the sounds they make and smelling the smells. This is science book and the language is technical, and at times I could feel myself drifting off, although I feel this is lack of my own knowledge on my own part rather than due to the writing skills of the author. Each time I felt myself drifting off, I was pulled very soon back in with another vivid and beautiful description.

Although technical, the almost poetic style of writing meant that this was very informative and subjects that I knew nothing about were explained clearly and concisely, in a way that I feel other science books would have struggled to do, for example, when the lineage of the human species was compared with the thought experiment of the Ship of Theseus.

The book effectively expressed how new the human species is in the history of the world, and left me feeling like we are just a page in a very large book. The Epilogue effectively transports the reader back to the modern day, and brings into sharp focus the consequences for the planet and the human race if human consumption and our current behaviour continues. The book is both terrifying and reassuring at the same time - showing the real catastrophic possibility that the whole world as we know it would be wiped out, and yet clearly demonstrating that nature will find a way to heal itself and continue in some way - even if that would take millions of years with humans around to see it.