Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth

Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth is a book about natural history by British paleontologist Richard A. Fortey. It was originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers, under the title Life: An Unauthorised Biography. Fortey used this book to explain how life has evolved over the last four billion years. He discusses evolution, biology, the origin of life, and paleontology. Under its various titles Fortey's book has become a best-seller; according to WorldCat, it is in over a thousand public libraries in the United States alone.

Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth
Cover of the first edition
AuthorRichard Fortey
Original titleLife: An Unauthorised Biography
IllustratorCassandra J. Pappas (design)
Jerry Bauer (photos)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectNatural history
Published1997 (HarperCollins)
Media typePrint (hardcover · paperback)
Pages346 (paperback edition)
ISBN0-375-40119-9
576.8 21
LC ClassQH366.2 .F69 1998