The Bones Beneath Us: Extinction, Evolution & The Fragile Age of Humans

Life on Earth is the product of deep time, chance, catastrophe, and survival against impossible odds. Long before humans appeared, the planet had already been shaped by extinction events, shifting continents, changing climates, and forms of life so alien they now exist only as traces in stone.

The Bones Beneath Us traces the history of Earth from its earliest beginnings to the fragile moment humanity now occupies. Moving through ancient oceans, vanished ecosystems, and mass extinctions, the book explores how life evolves, why it collapses, and what deep time reveals about our place in the natural world.

Blending earth science, evolutionary biology, and natural history, George Wakeman presents a clear, grounded account of how planets become living worlds, and how easily those worlds can be undone. The result is a wide-angle perspective on extinction, resilience, and the brief human chapter written into a story billions of years in the making.