I really enjoy watching nature documentaries about different animals and climates as well as science programs about the origins of the universe and the growing field of astrobiology. “Otherlands” is like a unique combination of these different scientific surveys. It examines several eras of Earth itself to provide a guided tour which stretches back to the origins of life. We start by viewing a specific region from 20,000 years ago and end up in a location 550 million years ago so that our own planet appears increasingly alien. From this vantage point the history of humans looks very small indeed. Halliday takes care not only to highlight particular plants, microorganisms and other living creatures which look increasingly peculiar the further back we go, but how the ecosystems of different eras worked as a whole given the geological makeup and weather conditions of the time. From this vantage point we can see how systems of life have come and gone on our planet, the staggered methods by which different lifeforms have evolved over time and how examining these things might show us what will happen to humankind in the future with the advent of climate change. It's an awe-inspiring journey which draws upon archeological evidence to transport the reader deep into the history of our planet.
I was drawn to reading this book after it was shortlisted for this year's Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing. The narrative is written in a highly personable style which made me as curious about what we're being shown as the author evidently felt in studying and recreating a picture of these different eras. Halliday's prose is very evocative making it easy to visualise how select parts of the planet appeared very different in these deep layers of history. While he makes comparisons to plants and animals we're familiar with, he takes care to highlight how they aren't necessarily from the same biological family and they inhabited a unique place within these past ecosystems. It's also noted how our common understanding of the origins of humankind and the study of this science itself has been influenced by different politics so Halliday strives to provide as de-politicised and science-based perspective as possible. Though this book is steeped in carefully-researched facts and carries a timely environmental message, it also revels in the wonders of what has come before including the first creature to exhibit parental care to its offspring, the largest waterfall to have ever existed and the startlingly diversity of lifeforms which arise in sync with the changing conditions of our planet. Though each chapter begins with a map of the planet from that particular era and a visual example of a life form that inhabited it, this feels like too sparse an amount of imagery to accompany such graphic text. I'd love to one day see this book turned into a nature television series which could further bring these periods of the planet's history to life.
