One of the world's most gifted natural scientists--acclaimed author of Dry Storeroom No 1, Life, Earth, and Trilobite--now gives us a fascinating book that reveals what the narratives of living creatures tell us about the history of evolution. Evolution does not simply obliterate its tracks as more advanced organisms evolve. Scattered across the globe, organisms and ecosystems that survive from far earlier times can speak to us of seminal events in the history of life. It is these animals and plants that Richard Fortey visits in the field, taking the reader on a voyage to the exotic, and sometimes everyday, places in which they live. Landscapes are evoked, boulders are turned over, seas are paddled as he explains the importance of understanding plants and animals as pivotal points in evolutionary history itself. Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms is a journey across the globe and across time that weaves a rich and brilliantly delineated tapestry of how life and our planet have evolved together.