The Paleozoic Era Audiobook By Charles River Editors cover art

The Paleozoic Era

The History of the Geologic and Evolutionary Changes that Began Over 500 Million Years Ago

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Paleozoic Era

By: Charles River Editors
Narrated by: Michelle Humphries
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $5.49

Buy for $5.49

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

The current view of science is that Earth is around 4.6 billion years old, and the first 4 billion years of its development are known as the Precambrian period. For the first billion years or so, there was no life in Earth. Then the first single-celled life-forms, early bacteria and algae, began to emerge. It’s unclear where they came from or even if they originated on this planet at all, but this gradual development continued until around four billion years ago when suddenly (in geological terms) more complex forms of life began to emerge.

Scientists call this time of an explosion of new forms of life the Paleozoic Era, and it stretched from around 541 to 250 million years ago. In the oceans and then on land, new creatures and plants began to appear in bewildering variety, and by the end of this period, life on Earth had diversified into a myriad of complex forms that filled virtually every habitat and niche available in the seas and on the planet’s only continent, Pangea.

The Precambrian Period is divided into three eons: the Hadean, the Archaean, and the Proterozoic. One layer of carbon in rocks that date to the Archaean Eon, found on islands west of Greenland, seems to have fossilized tracks that may have been left by some form of organic life, but scientists simply are not certain. The oldest confirmed remains of life date from the same eon and were found in rocks in Western Australia, which were found to contain fossilized bacteria estimated to be 3.46 billion years old. It seems likely that there were thousands, perhaps even millions of forms of life in these early periods, and most seem to have been microscopic in size and very simple in developmental terms.

©2022 Charles River Editors (P)2023 Charles River Editors
Ancient World Polar Region
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Paleozoic Era

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Uneven and Partial Coverage of Paleozoic Era

Coverage focuses on Cambrian and Permian periods with only minor discussion of Devonian and Carboniferous periods. This book alone is not a very useful learning resource. Reading the Wikipedia entry for the Paleozoic era and linked sections on the periods (e.g., Cambrian, Carbiniferous, Devonian) is a much better learning experience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!