This colourful, well presented book brings together science from the moment that the universe began, to today. While it is necessarily a complex topic, readers are urged to skip over terms they don't immediately understand in order to get the broad picture, and come back to them as they want to learn more details. Photos, diagrams and graphs help to illustrate the data.

JOURNEY TO CIVILIZATION explains that people have always wondered about the world. Three traditional creation myths are presented. Science which has given us so many benefits has constantly sought a better understanding of the universe, and we can now consider scientific knowledge as a worldwide language.

From the first moment after the Big Bang as matter exploded the universe was a very busy place. The first chapter deals with astrophysics while gases condensed into solid matter and stars and galaxies formed. As our Solar System turned from a plate-shaped cloud into a sun and planets, space debris bombarded it, bringing water as ice comets to the newly solid Earth.

Bacteria were the first forms of life, containing DNA which is inside all living cells today. The exact mechanism of the first DNA production is not yet known, but amino acids which were previously unknown on Earth, have been found in meteorites and these precursors to RNA and DNA may be more common than we yet know. The oldest fossils are 3.5 million years old. More complex life arose from beneficial changes - as we produce better crops by selecting better seeds. First plants, then animals colonised land, giving rise to the variety of life. Geological events caused mass extinctions, including the end of the dinosaurs following a meteor strike which allowed mammals to flourish.

Adaptable and successful, the early human race spread out across the lands as paleoanthropology shows. Tool making, meat eating and rapid brain growth were clearly inter- related. New species of hominids developed, and recent DNA analysis has shown that people in Europe and Asia share one to four percent of their DNA with Neanderthal man. Surviving ice ages and volcanic eruptions, humans first hunted and gathered, then passed on culture, learnt to farm, and to build and work metals. City states brought writing and great achievement, also slavery, war and rulers. Today's human life is rapidly wiping out other species, in an ongoing disaster story.

While JOURNEY TO CIVILIZATION bears similarities to 'The Blind Watchmaker' it makes use of more modern discoveries. "Good theories in science make predictions that can be tested," says author Roger P Briggs and he gives us several examples, from natural selection of moths to the evolution of complex bacteria. Theories as to whether the human-caused greenhouse effect will cause severe problems are coming to be tested; we have to overcome the challenge of sharing an increasingly overcrowded Earth with other species. Teenagers with an interest in the topic could read this book though it is probably too technical for children. I recommend Roger Briggs's work to ecology students and anyone with an existing grasp of the material who wishes to update their knowledge.