Otherlands: A World in the Making - A Sunday Times bestseller

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inquisitivebiologist (2022-03-15). "Book review – Otherlands: A World in the Making". The Inquisitive Biologist . Retrieved 2022-08-28. Halliday’s brilliantly imaginative reconstructions, his deft marshalling of complex science, offersa thrilling experience of deep-time naturefor pop-science buffs.” — Library Journal (starred review) Immersive . . . bracingly ambitious . . . rewinds the story of life on Earth—from the mammoth steppe of the last Ice Age to the dawn of multicellular creatures over 500 million years ago.”— The Economist Emily 22813—a young woman originally thought to be a puppet who nonetheless is able to cross world boundaries. She is pregnant, and she claims that Azador is the father. The relevant references are collected paragraph by paragraph in endnotes. One minor annoyance is that Halliday omits the titles of journal articles, which I normally find the most informative bit. No doubt done to save space, I cannot imagine this will bother many people.

I wanted to avoid writing things like, “In 1974, so-and-so did this study”, which is a useful form of science communication, but when I’m trying to evoke a place, it really takes you out of it. So there are almost no references to people at all – and that includes me or the reader. You can read it as if you’re there. It’s purely descriptive of the place. I was inspired by a lot of nature and travel writing, particularly books like John Lewis-Stempel’s Meadowland, Adam Nicolson’s The Seabird’s Cry or Robert Macfarlane’s Underland – books that really give a sense of place. Halliday takes an energizing spin through Earth’s past in hismagnificent debut. . . . Thisshow-stoppingwork deserves wide readership.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) Otherlands is teeming with literary references. Do you have a favourite piece of fiction that considers the pre-human world? Disclosure: The publisher provided a review copy of this book. The opinion expressed here is my own, however.

Robert Wells (Ptah)—head of the Telemorphix Corporation and one of the wealthiest men in the world. He tries to wrest power from Jongleur.

A book of almost unimaginable riches . . .This is an utterly serious piece of work, meticulously evidence-based and epically cinematic. Or rather,beyond cinematic. The writing is so palpably alive.” — The Sunday Times (U.K.) Thomas Halliday's debut is a kaleidoscopic and evocative journey into deep time. He takes quiet fossil records and complex scientific research and brings them alive - riotous, full-coloured and three-dimensional. You'll find yourself next to giant two-metre penguins in a forested Antarctica 41 million years ago or hearing singing icebergs in South Africa some 444 million years ago. Maybe most importantly, Otherlands is a timely reminder of our planet's impermanence and what we can learn from the past This book takes us through the natural history of previous forms of life in the most beguiling way. It makes you think about the past differently and it certainly makes you think about the future differently. This is a monumental work and I suspect it will be a very important book for future generations Ray Mears, Chair of the Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing Del Ray Chiume—Renie's ex-boyfriend, an employee of the UN. Renie goes to him asking for help, unaware of what the help will cost him. The Ramesseum itself was originally known by a name that translates as ‘The House of Millions of Years’, an epithet that could easily be appropriated for the Earth. Our planet’s past also lies hidden under the dirt. It wears the scars of its formation and change in its crust, and it, too, is a mortuary, memorializing its inhabitants in stone, fossils acting as grave marker, mask and body.

Remarkable... Ingenious... A work of immense imagination [...] rooted firmly in the actual science Stuart Kelly, Scotsman This is a piece of nature writing that covers millions of years, from the very start of evolution, while capturing the almost unthinkable ways geography has shifted and changed over time. Epic in scope and executed with charming enthusiasm, Otherlands looks set to be a big talking point for fans of non-fiction in 2022 ‘The 15 New Novels And Non-Fiction Books To Read In 2022’, Mr Porter McConnachie, James (January 30, 2022). "Otherlands by Thomas Halliday review — an extraordinary history of our almost-alien Earth". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 2022-08-28.