Challenging the views of scientists including Stephen J. Gould and Richard Dawkins, this text takes us on a fresh journey back in time through the Burgess Shale - the astonishing collection of pre-Cambrian creatures so different from everything now living that many rank as separate trunks of life's tree. In readable style, Conway Morris paints a picture of a critical period in the history of life which saw the diversification of all the major animal groups, and takes a controversial stance on current evolutionary theories. The book should appeal to the general reader interested in popular science and evolutionary theory - in particular readers of Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould.