Volume 47, Number 8 · May 11, 2000
Forever Amber
By Tim Flannery
The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World
by George Poinar Jr., by Roberta Poinar. with photographs and drawings by the authors.
Princeton University Press, 239 pp., $29.95
A tree once grew on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola that had the strange ability of freezing moments in time. A member of the honey locust family known as the algarrobo, it vanished millions of years ago. Fortunately for us it left behind tiny time capsules—fragments of amber in which we can read the story of a marvelous lost world. Entombed in some fragments are the remains of plants and various animals, the most common being the bodies of insects. For sheer beauty, mystery, and the capacity to astonish, these fossils are difficult to surpass.
Review, 3891 words
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