AT THE WATER'S EDGE: MACROEVOLUTION AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF LIFE
Zimmer, Carl
c.1998, Free Press
ISBN: 0-684-83490-1
A brilliantly written look at two well-documented episodes of macroevolution, or major evolutionary changes in specific lines of descent. The first one is the emergence of amphibious vertebrates from fish; the second is the evolution of whales from land mammals. In each case, Zimmer draws on a variety of evidence -- fossils, genetics, anatomical studies, etc. -- to show how the change was accomplished.

EARTH AND LIFE THROUGH TIME, 2nd Ed.
Stanley, Steven M.
c.1989, W.H. Freeman
ISBN: 0-7167-1975-4
This is an undegraduate-level textbook on palaeontology and geology. It focuses on changes in both life and geology/geography over time.

EXTINCTION
Stanley, Steven M.
c.1987, W. H. Freeman
ISBN: 0-7167-5014-7

EXTINCTION: BAD GENES OR BAD LUCK?
Raup, David M.
c.1991, W. W. Norton
ISBN: 0-393-03008-3
Raup examines the phenomenon of extinction as it's documented in the fossil record, and considers whether it's due to "bad genes" (being genetically unable to adapt) or "bad luck" (being unable to change rapidly enough to adapt to sudden and sharp changes in environment).

FOSSILS AND THE HISTORY OF LIFE
Simpson, George Gaylord
c.1983, W. H. Freeman
ISBN: 0-7167-1564-3

FOSSILS OF ALL AGES
Fischer and Valy
c.1976, Grosset & Dunlap
ISBN: 0-448-14718-1
A huge "coffee-table book" of text and excellent photographs about fossils from all groups and time periods.

FOSSILS: THE EVOLUTION AND EXTINCTION OF SPECIES
Eldredge, Niles
c.1991, Aurum Press
ISBN: 1-85410-198-6
Another coffee-table book, containing a large collection of photos and text illustrating many fossil animal species that are now extinct.

THE GREAT PALEOZOIC CRISIS
Erwin, Douglas
c.1993, Columbia Univ. Press
ISBN: 0-231-07467-0
A detailed look at the mass extinction that ended the Permian, and ecological patterns in the Late Permian. The Late Permian extinction was the largest in the entire fossil record, even worse than the extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

LEARNING FROM THE FOSSIL RECORD
Scotchmoor & McKinney (ed.)
c.1996, Paleo Society
ISBN: 1089-3326

LIFE OF THE PAST
Lane, N. Gary
c.1978, Bell & Howell
ISBN: 0-675-08411-3

LIFE PULSE: EPISODES FROM THE STORY OF THE FOSSIL RECORD
Eldredge, Niles
c.1987, Facts on File
ISBN: 0-8160-2065-5

MAJOR FEATURES OF VERTEBRATE EVOLUTION
various
c.1997, Paleontological Society
ISBN:
Collection of articles on vertebrate evolution, as presented at the Society's Short Courses in Paleontology seminar #7.

THE MEANING OF FOSSILS
Rudwick, Martin J.S.
c.1985, Univ. of Chicago
ISBN: 0-226-73103-0

OHIO FOSSILS
La Rocque and Marple
c.1990, ODNR
ISBN:
Guide to all rocks and fossils from all periods that can be found in the state of Ohio.

PALEOCOMMUNITY TEMPORAL DYNAMICS
Miller III, William (ed.)
c.1990, Paleo Society
ISBN: 0-931377-05-4

PALEONTOLOGY AND PALEOENVIRONMENTS
Skinner, Brian
c.1981, Kauffman
ISBN: 0-913232-93-9

PALEOTECHNIQUES
various
c.1989, Paleontological Society
ISBN: 0-931377-04-2
Collection of articles on techniques of paleontology.

PATTERNS AND PROCESSES OF VERTEBRATE EVOLUTION
Carroll, Robert
c.1997, Cambridge Univ.
ISBN: 0-521-47809-X

THE PRACTICAL PALEONTOLOGIST
Parker, Steve
c.1990, Fireside Books
ISBN: 0-671-69307-7
Basic introduction to the techniques of paleontology. One of a series.

PREHISTORIC JOURNEY
Johnson and Stuckey
c.1995, Roberts Rinehart
ISBN: 1-57098-045-4
Brief overview of the evolution of life, focusing on land life and especially on dinosaurs and mammals.

PREHISTORIC LIFE
Raymond, Percy E.
c.1939, Harvard Univ. Press
ISBN:
An old college text showing the state of the art in paleontology and paleo-evolutionary theory as of 1939.

PREHISTORIC LIFE: The Rise of the Vertebrates
Norman, David
c.1994, MacMillan Publishing
ISBN: 0-671-79940-1
"Coffee-table book" overview of the evolutionary history of life, focusing on the path that led to the vertebrates and on the evolutionary history of the vertebrate groups.

PRINCIPLES OF PALEONTOLOGY (2nd Ed.)
Raup, David & Stanley, Steven
c.1978, W. H. Freeman
ISBN: 0-7167-0022-0

THE PROCESSION OF LIFE
Romer, Alfred S.
c.1968, World Publishing
ISBN:

SLEUTHING FOSSILS: THE ART OF INVESTIGATING PAST LIFE
Cvancara, Alan M.
c.1990, John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0-471-62077-7
Basic introductory guide to finding and investigating fossils.

TRILOBITES
Levi-Setti
c.1993, Univ. of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0-226-47452-6
Comprehensive guidebook to the major orders, families, and genera of trilobites, covering specimens from all time periods and many parts of the world. Superb photography.

VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Carroll, Robert
c.1988, W. H. Freeman
ISBN: 0-7167-1822-7
Standard senior college textbook for vertebrate paleontology and evolution.

WANDERING LANDS AND ANIMALS
Colbert, Edwin
c.1973, E. P. Dutton
ISBN: 0-525-22976-0
Master palaeontologist Edwin Colbert lived through the revolution in geology that came in the 1950s and 1960s with the theory of plate tectonics. This book talks about some of the evidence he collected that helped prove plate tectonics was correct, particularly the set of fossils known as the Glossopteris fauna: fossil animals found through South America and Africa but nowhere else, always in association with a fossil plant named Glossopteris, in a pattern that was easy to explain by continental drift but almost impossible to explain any other way.