Extinctions: How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves

by Michael J. Benton

A journey through the great mass extinction events that have shaped our Earth.

This timely and original book lays out the latest scientific understanding of mass extinction on our planet. Cutting-edge techniques across biology, chemistry, physics, and geology have transformed our understanding of the deep past, including the discovery of a previously unknown mass extinction. This compelling evidence, revealing a series of environmental crises resulting in the near collapse of life on Earth, illuminates our current dilemmas in exquisite detail.

Beginning with the oldest, Professor Michael J. Benton takes us through the “big five” die the Late Ordovician, which set the evolution of the first animals on an entirely new course; the Late Devonian, apparently brought on by global warming; the cataclysmic End-Permian, also known as the Great Dying, which wiped out over 90 percent of alllife on Earth; the newly discovered Carnian Pluvial Event; and the End-Cretaceous asteroid. He examines how global warming, acid rain, ocean acidification, erupting volcanoes, and meteorite impact have affected conditions on Earth, and how life survived, adapted, and evolved.

Benton’s expert retelling of scientific breakthroughs in paleobiology is illustrated throughout with photographs of fossils and fieldwork, and artistic reconstructions of ancient environments. In Extinctions, readers will learn about revolutionary new tools used to uncover ancient extinction events and processes in forensic detail, and how scientists are improving our understanding of the deep past. New research allows us to link long-ago upheavals to crises in our current age, the Anthropocene, with important consequences for us all.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History, Palaeontology, Natural History, Nature, Evolution

382 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 17, 2023

About the author

Michael J. Benton FRS is Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Bristol. He is particularly interested in early reptiles, Triassic dinosaurs, and macroevolution, and has published over 50 books and 300 scientific articles. He leads one of the most successful palaeontology research groups at the University of Bristol, and has supervised over 60 PhD students.

Reviews

[Mark Jeffs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and informative account of the history of life (and death). Benton investigates the various extinction events through time and makes them relevant to the history of life and our current climate crisis.

The information is set out in easily digestable chunks with references to other parts of the text throughout if you needed a recap. This is a really good way to structure a book. It reinforces key concepts, engages the reader and highlights the connections Benton wants the reader to make.

[Stefanie Herweck · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first quarter of the book sketchy and difficult to stay focused on. This was in part due to our lack of knowledge of the early Paleozoic – there just isn’t enough to say beyond describing the fossils, which, given the audio format, really require googling in order to visualize them. As the author gets closer to the present, and especially into his own expertise, more fascinating research is introduced, and the writing gets more vivid. Then at the end, the connections he makes between previous extinctions and our present crisis grow sketchy again and culminate with a rather depressing helpless whimper in the face our current plummeting levels of biodiversity (which, I suppose, is entirely appropriate).

[Collin Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really interesting, coming from someone who doesn’t find a strong appeal from geology. The book does a really in depth examination of the major geologic time periods, how they started, how they ended, and then connects them back to where the modern world is. The book is academically rigorous, lots of descriptions of pre-historic creatures, and references to a lot of different scholars which can make it more difficult to read, especially if you’re not overly familiar with the field, but still worth the read to the casual observer.

[Libaichi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a great popular science book for someone who doesn't usually read hard science. In addition to the abundant information, the author presents a vivid picture of prehistoric creatures from ancient times. It's an excellent combination of science and literature.

[Gabriel Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and up to date book. I really enjoyed the analysis in post extinction recoveries, not just the probable causes of extrovert events.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to the geological epochs. I’m looking forward to learning more about this subject.

[Olivier Santamaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read about the evolution of life from the very beginning and the various extinction events which took place through time and the impact it had on the survival of species. Gives a really good indication of the types of events (rising temperatures due to volcano activity alternating with periods of very cold temperatures or asteroids hitting the earth) which have at times led to the extinction of certain species before a new life form took over. It is in a sense a hopeful book insofar as it shows the ability of life to adapt and recover time and time again, and often with an even more diverse range of species. It provides some optimism in this period of loss of bio diversity but also acts as a reminder that human activity itself has led to the extinction of particular species in the not so distant past.

[A Mysterious Gabe Appears · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m currently really interested in geology. A major part of geology is tracking the way earths climate changed over time through the analysis of rocks. Funny enough- you can gather a lot of information from rocks.

Michael Benton is a wealth of information. This book was informative and comprehensive. Anybody could pick it up regardless of their prior knowledge and feel a lot more information about earths history- especially regarding the times that we saw extensive environmental changes that influenced the course of life on earth.

If I had been taking notes, I would likely remember more of the points the author had made. However, I’ve left this with more knowledge on the Permian and not much else. My advice: if you want to commit it to memory, write it down. I definitely don’t remember much but I still closed the book feeling impressed. It’s a good book to have for reference.

[Levent Kurnaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It may be just me, but I enjoy reading M. Benton as much as reading a crime novel. The only difference is that you know whodunnit. I wish this book would have been one chapter longer to tie everything up more closely to today.

[Toby Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a brilliant work on the subject. It may not be for those who come to this with no previous interaction/understanding at all, but as someone who's nerdy enough to know the terms but not clever enough to read dense academic works, this was a brilliant balance, knowing just what to explain and what to leave as stated - Benton didn't need to explain the process of evolution or of the evidence of deep time, but did manage to give step-by-step explanations of hyperthermals and oceanic chemistry, which I definitely did need. The highlight of this means that I went away from this book having learned a great deal, particularly about extinction events less talked about than the most famous.

The format of the book was also really good - telling the story chronologically kept us grounded, and Benton didn't diverge too much when bringing up accounts of individual paleontologists, keeping the detail of them to what was relevant for the topic at hand, rather than going into dense biographies. I also really appreciated the brief scenes Benton set with some of the interactions of creatures in particular environments - they weren't long-winded, and were appropriately playful without getting annoying. Benton's jovial writing style definitely helps, and I love how quintessentially British it is too - I particularly enjoyed, when talking about the carbonate compensation depth, he referred to animals getting their shells dissolved as being 'most uncomfortable.'

I suppose if I had to pick one flaw with this book, is that it would have needed a stronger finish. The last chapter details the Holocene extinction, a common topic in a book like this but far from unwarranted, and Benton manages to highlights about ecology in it specifically as well - however, the final paragraph seems to thoroughly shift tone from the rest of the sombre reading and just concludes that extinctions are often great triggers of evolutionary innovation, almost as though he's endorsing the idea that we're causing an extinction at the moment. Elsewhere in the book, he makes it very clear that he isn't, so I just wonder if that last paragraph was better tacked onto a more expansive epilogue. But it's just a minor nitpick - anyone interested in evolutionary biology and paleontology and wants to get a bit more info should definitely pick this book up.

[Harley Gee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I selected this book to better understand the famous big five extinctions in earth’s history. Benton brings his extensive knowledge of these events and their implications to his summary of the scientific literature. The book is moderately technical and describes who is responsible for the insights that make up our scientific understanding circa 2023.

The big five are geologic periods punctuated by the major extinctions that mark their conclusion :
Ordovician
Devonian
Permian
Triassic
Cretaceous

In summary:
The Ordovician ends with a freezing episode (snowball earth) associated with a rapid increase in phosphorus being leached into the oceans. Atypically, this freezing is linked to volcanic activity. To some extent the Ordovician extinction is the least understood of the big five. It is actually composed of several smaller mass extinctions before finally concluding the Ordovician period approximately 444 MYA.

The Devonian extinction is described as not one but at least two extinctions separated by some 13 million years. Approximate dates of these events are 372 and 359 MYA. The appearance of plants on land is theorized to have reduced CO2 and lead to global cooling and glaciation.

The third of the big five was the Permian extinction. This was the big one, killing some 90% of land and sea based species. This event appears to be the result of global warming - a hyper-thermal period that drove oxygen levels down in the sea (anoxia) while acidifying it. Acid rain killed land plants and the insects and the reptiles that fed on them. The causes of this warming are two spikes in volcanic activity separated by some 60 thousand years. Approximate date is 252 MYA.

The late Triassic extinction is again not a single event but a series of warming episodes from 201.7 to 205.7 MYA. Again the cause is volcanic eruptions followed by global warming and acid rain. This extinction caused about 60% of sea species to disappear.

Finally, the Cretaceous extinction, is contrasted with the other extinction events. Unlike the previous events spanning sometimes millions of years, the end Cretaceous event began with an asteroid impact one spring day some 66 MYA. The remarkable site of Tanis near Bowman, North Dakota evidences that particular day.

Okay, I get fired up about this most amazing of all geological sites. Some of the following goes beyond what Benton writes.

The Tanis site was discovered in 2008 but not publicized until 2019. Exquisitely preserved fossils show an extraordinary sequence. Perhaps minutes or a hour molten glass beads (called microtektites) begin to fall at Tanis. Within 6 - 8 hours the land begins to violently shake, undulating in 600 foot high waves. Finally, maybe 15 hours after impact, waves of salt water from the inland sea that covers much of the North American continent floods and mixes with the fresh water rivers and streams. The fossilized remains of both salt water and fresh water species are mixed together, with the glass spherules imbedded in their gills. So ends the Cretaceous. Within days to months the non avian dinosaurs are gone.

[Wendelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is such an amazing book full of wondrous information about past snapshots in the palimpsest of our planet's rich history of life! I wish this book had more readership and reviews. The title of the book is 'Extinctions', but what it also inevitably covers and discusses is the rich flourishing and expansion of various forms of life as it starts and restarts after every extinction-- lending credence to the names of Ediacaran 'origins', Cambrian 'explosion', Ordovician 'Expansion', the Carboniferous march of the great forests of ferns and horsetail trees, the Triassic and Cretaceous 'Age of Dinosaurs' and 'Age of Angiosperms' respectively. As the author argues, extinctions also function as a great reset-- a regenerative moment wherein the dominant species or families with the incumbent advantage get wiped out, allowing other species to spread and fill the vacant niches. However, that isn't a reason to be complacent about our own current Great Hyperthermal Crisis. The book paints somber pictures of previous hyperthermal events, wherein the deadly combination of global warming, ocean acidification, and anoxia lead to mass extinctions.
This book is full of information and recent research publication results, yet it is so readable for laymen like me, even when I don't possess background knowledge of the different eras discussed. It is a wonderful way to spend hours surveying our planet, as it redressed in different climates and biotas, over and over again in different times.

[Garrett Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Benton's "Extinctions" frames catastrophic loss of life as a new opportunity, for life to once more flourish in new and exciting ways. For covering the entire history of life, this is a short book. The content then feels just a little thin. Ponder the expert writer's dilemma: the author must sell various other books on the same topic. This volume at least is fun. The bizarre creatures are highlighted; unusual details are emphasized; the little humor is good. Though many extinction hypotheses are missing, credible or not. Therefore the book's focus is split further, more towards life adapting rather than dying. It is well written, but maybe too concise. Scant information about earliest animals is given equal pages to latter events that have more evidence in the rocks. There is a plan behind this, earlier chapters are filled with general information and methodology. Later chapters gradually shift content towards Benton's usual expertise. Since Benton rarely repeats himself, a reader should either already have some relevant education, or retain information well. Sadly the book ends on a weak note. The dodo, moa, and passenger pigeon have their obituaries. Then only six or seven pages extrapolate a looming sixth mass extinction. This book is light reading, an overview, 250 pages of big letters. Still, it has a curated bibliography for diving deeper.

[Cristian Cristea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, going over each of the mass extinction events the big ones and the smaller ones.

However, it remains too scientific, too neutral. In the grand scheme of life on earth, extinction events have always represented opportunities for the surviving species. The reproach I have on the book is the lesser focus on this recovery period. It is treated in a few paragraphs emphasizing the hundreds of thousands or millions of years necessary for recovery. It might be the subject of a different book, but that would be a really interesting one. To kind of go through the records and analyze the time needed to recover from something that we are living and witnessing now.

We will be gone before the world collapses, but we contribute heavily to its collapse and we don’t realize it at its true scale.

[Ron Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love subjects that help me to stay humble, and there's nothing like the repeated revelation that we humans have been on earth for such a minuscule time in our planet's history. This book covers the cycles of destruction and rebirth on this planet during the history of multicellular life. It is well written for those with some technical knowledge of the subject.

However, I have read other books by this author and they do tend to be on the dry side. Nevertheless, this book is comprehensive in outlining the history of life (and death) and the relationship to global warming and cooling events throughout our past 500+ million years as a planet.

Recommended for those interested in the subject and those wanting to be humbled by the enormity of our planet's history.

[Rebecca Halsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a full year but I finished this one!! 🎉
This was my middle-of-the-night companion, the tome that would for sure put me back to sleep if my brain was going too fast. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just academic in tone and purpose. It’s also one of those books written by an academic in which he takes you on a little field trip to some dig site or another, and name-drops the researchers he was working with (none of whom you’ll know or remember, but the whole level of excitement over this is kinda cute).

Most of the book, however, is a faithful review of literature about history of life as well as summaries of academic debates I have no stake in. I love a good academic debate for low-key drama. 😄

[Nadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid overview of the five mass extinctions. I really enjoyed Netflix's Life On Our Planet and I think this book and that show compliment each other well and cover a lot of the same information, with the book providing more of the scientific nitty-gritty and the show-which had 165 earth science/paleontology consultants working on it-really breathing life into the story of our planet's evolution. If you're already pretty familiar with the 5 major extinction events this book will probably feel redundant, but if you're just diving into them for the first time this book will serve as an excellent jumping off point.

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

This overview of extinction events is slanted and omits important aspects of mass extinction causes.
Current planetary biomass is mentioned without any comparison to past mass extinctions.
Current O2 levels are mentioned, again with no comparison to past mass extinctions.
Global oceanic circulation patterns without comparison to land mass effects on the oceanic flows during past mass extinctions.
Cherry picking aspects of extinction event causes is just a form of falsifying data.

[Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid read and fun journey through the history of the world concern the major extinction events. He also goes into a bit of how some species actually came about during and because of these events, like the mammals after the dinosaur's extinction. He also talks about our current possible extinction even happening as we speak. It's well written and worth checking out if you are into Earth history, geology, and evolutionary biology.

[Donato Colangelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too sketchy and superficial. Writing a book such as this, about the big five mass extinctions (in addition to some minor, less know to the public, event), requires room. Much more room than that dedicated here. I have personally loved other books from the same author but this time I feel I could gain more knowledge and insights by reading other books regarding the same topic.

[Caizhi Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was completely immersed by Benton’s ability to bring the deep past to life. His vivid descriptions don’t just inform—they transport you: one moment you’re witnessing the Cambrian explosion of complex life, the next you’re tracing how dinosaurs emerged after the Carnian Pluvial Event. It’s a fast-paced, dramatic narrative that makes 500 million years of life feel both epic and intimate.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Benton’s Extinctions is that rare science book that feels like a captivating conversation rather than a textbook. His writing is warm, witty, and brimming with genuine biophilia—he never drowns readers in jargon, even when unpacking complex concepts like hyperthermals or ocean acidification.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a revelation for both science enthusiasts and newcomers alike—Michael Benton turns the daunting topic of mass extinctions into an engaging, uplifting journey. Even when describing cataclysmic events like the End-Permian "Great Dying," he keeps the focus on life’s resilience, making the book feel empowering rather than grim.

[Livia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author weaves scientific facts with narrative storytelling, making complex concepts accessible to a wider audience.The prose is engaging, often rich with vivid descriptions that bring prehistoric life to the forefront. Overall, the book's literariness enhances its impact, allowing readers not only to learn but also to appreciate the beauty and intricacies of the natural world.

[Bob Small · Rating 4 out of 5]

An overview of the history of life on Earth viewed from the perspective of the large mass extinctions. Informative and clear, although not a romp through the science. Not as eloquent or image forming as "Otherlands" by Thomas Halliday but nonetheless still an enjoyable read.

[George Poirier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author tries too hard sometimes to not make this a dry science book, when the material more than ensures that, with its tale of the lives and deaths of species, and what those may mean for the mass extinction event we are facing in our time.

[Dennis Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating overview of all big 5 mass extinctions from the faunas and biotas of the Cambrian to the Ice Ages of the Pleistocene. Covered a variety of family groups and species. I also found it fascinating how most extinctions were caused by ocean anoxia, hyperthermal spikes and acidification.

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a rather interesting book. I’m impressed by the author’s writing style, so vivid. Some of his descriptions read like prose. For instance, when the author introduces The Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution, he brings the readers back to the midsummer in Myanmar 100 million years ago.

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the author's fault, but I got kind of bored with it. I am not sure I retained anything from this book. Book was well researched and the author was very informed on the topic. But I did not enjoy it.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5 stars.