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This definitely is a work in progress. Last summer, I blithely set up a simple outline of the book I am trying to write about how cats evolved. Then I started to do some research and, basically, got ambushed by the Precambrian.

I know that sounds weird, but a lot of stuff happened back then; it’s interesting enough to cover and still relevant today, but there are a lot of uncertainties about those ancient times.

I’m still working my way through it now.

I have been doing some posts meanwhile, originally intending them as chapters, but as I have learned more about the Precambrian, I also can see that these will all have to be redone at some point before resuming the expected flow of history with the tetrapods.

This page brings together those posts; while individually they’re interesting to readers, there is no overarching narrative yet. Only recently, with the supercontinents, did things really start to come together for me.

In the meantime, welcome to my work desk!

Update, May 10, 2022: Getting the Columbia/Nuna chapter together has really helped focus my thoughts. I can see now that everything before that must be rewritten/condensed into just a chapter or two, but I will wait until finishing the Gondwana to do that.

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• Introduction.
• Draft: Beginnings.
• What is Life?
• Does Life Exist Elsewhere?
• Main Character: Earth.
• Hadean-Archean Earth.
• Volcanism: A Main Character?
• Draft: Early Life on Earth.
• Draft: Finishing up the Precambrian, Part 1.
• Draft: Finishing up the Precambrian, Part 2 (eukaryotes).

HOLD THE EUKARYOTES BRIEFLY (It’s okay; they actually did hang out, not doing much, for about a billion years before taking a dominant role)! GEOLOGY COMING THROUGH!

• Life, LIPs, and Supercontinents, Introduction.
• Life, LIPs, and Supercontinents: What’s A LIP? A Supercontinent?
• Life, LIPs, and Supercontinents: Jason and Tuzo.
• Life, LIPs, and Supercontinents: Fire and Ice, Part 1.
• Life, LIPs, and Supercontinents: Fire and Ice, Part 2.
• Life, LIPs, and Supercontinents: What’s A Supercontinent?
• Life, LIPs, and Supercontinents: Columbia/Nuna and Plate Tectonics.
• Life, LIPs, and Supercontinents: Rodinia, Stasis, and Lots of Ice.
• The Not-So-Boring Billion Years For Life
• Life, LIPs, and Supercontinents: Gondwana. Maybe.

CUE THE EUKARYOTES!

• Ediacaran Times.
• The “Cambrian Explosion.”
• The Age of Fish: Jaws and other neat features.
• A “thriller” mass extinction.
• Tetrapods.
• Mammals vs. Dinosaurs: Round 1. ($)
• Mammals vs. Dinosaurs, Round 2. ($)
• Mammals vs. Dinosaurs, Round 3. ($)
• The K/T (K/Pg) Extinction.($)
• Paleocene Mammals and Dinosaurs. ($)
• Carnivora.($)
• Eocene Saber-toothed “Cats.” ($)
• The Big Freeze.($)
• Oligocene Wildlife.($)
• Cats and “Dogs.” ($)
• Miocene Saber-toothed “Cats.” ($)
• Miocene Cats, With and Without Saberteeth. ($)
• The Miocene-Pliocene Toll Bridge. ($)
• Smilodon and Homotherium.($)
• Main Character: Felinae, the “Cone-tooths.” ($)
• South America is Invaded.($)
• The Ice Ages Begin.($)
• Seeking Refuge. ($)
• Plio-Pleistocene Wildlife. ($)
• Main Character: Us. ($)
• The End of Sabertooths and Most Giants. ($)
• Choosing Hard Work Over Life in Eden. ($)
• Domestication of a Little Wildcat. ($)
• Mercy.

 

Updated March 9, 2022.