Anthropologist, educator, historian of science, and poet, Loren Eiseley is best known as the essayist who explained the processes and implications of evolution, especially human evolution, to the lay reader. His lyrical prose and his knowledge of paleontology and archaeology allowed him to bridge science and literature in nonfiction works that reflect on the dynamics of scientific discovery, the abuses of technology, and the beauty of the natural world. A superb stylist who made striking use of metaphor, Eiseley drew upon personal anecdote to illustrate complex ideas, and his writing often resonates with haunting childhood memories.

Writing during the mid twentieth century, when many Americans were becoming concerned about the natural world, Eiseley portrayed the intricate relationships among living things. Constantly returning to the theme of time and its passing, he meditated on the importance of the past in the present and showed the inevitability of change. He...