Michael Cross enjoyed Steven Vogel’s Prime Mover (W. W. Norton, $15.95) when he reviewed it last year (1 June 2002, p 52). “Great stuff, muscle,” he wrote, “Without it, we’d be down among the sponges, having sand kicked in our faces by earthworms and ostriches and all the other animals whose ancestors, a billion years ago, signed up for the Charles Atlas course in evolution.” Cross adds that the book is “guaranteed to fight mental flab”. Richard Southwood’s The Story of Life (Oxford University Press, £12.99) also pleased its reviewer (15 February 2003, p 49). Lynn Dicks wrote: “Besides being a gripping yarn, The Story of Life is an impeccable review of the science. Explaining how you work out the story from scant evidence, Southwood draws on an enormous breadth of knowledge, from biochemistry to ecology, geology to animal behaviour.”
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