pt. 1 The beginnings of life -- Chemicalmodels of the origin of life -- Strategies of living systems -- Precambrian life -- The eucaryote expansion -- pt. 2 The diversification of life -- Early concepts -- Darwin and natural selection -- The rise of genetics -- Modern evolutionary theory -- Evolution and the fossil record -- pt. 3 Life in the sea -- Patterns of life in the sea -- Marine fossils and fossilization -- Marine plants -- Early Paleozoic invertebrate life -- Modernization of marine invertebrates -- Possible causes for widespread extinctions -- pt. 4 The transition to land -- Plant transitions -- Terrestrial invertebrates -- Origin of the vertebrates -- The evolutionary history of fishes -- Amphibians : transitional vertebrates -- pt. 5 Land plants -- Fossilization of land plants -- Seedless floras of the Paleozoic era -- Early seed-bearing plants -- The rise and dominance of flowering plants -- pt. 6 Reptiles and mammals -- Early reptiles -- Dinosaurs and other ruling reptiles -- Birds -- Mammal origins -- Mammal diversification -- pt. 7 Man -- Primate origins and adaptations -- Pre-Pleistocene monkeys and apes -- The Pleistocene expansion of man -- Homo -- The evolution of human culture
