Thu Mar 13, 02025, 11:00PM UTC
Riley Black
When the Earth was Green: an evening with Riley Black
Please join Long Now Boston and Porter Square Books to welcome Riley Black for the release of her latest book, When the Earth was Green, a gorgeously composed look at the longstanding relationship between prehistoric plants and life on Earth. Writer Evan Urquhart will join Black in the fascinating conversation.
Event summary coming soon!
ABOUT WHEN THE EARTH WAS GREEN
Fossils plants allow us to touch the lost worlds from billions of years of evolutionary backstory. Each petrified leaf and root show us that dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, and even humans would not exist without the evolutionary efforts of their leafy counterparts. It has been the constant growth of plants that have allowed so many of our favorite, fascinating prehistoric creatures to evolve, oxygenating the atmosphere, coaxing animals onto land, and forming the forests that shaped our ancestors’ anatomy. It is impossible to understand our history without them. Or, our future.
Using the same scientifically-informed narrative technique that readers loved in the award-winning The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, in When the Earth was Green, Riley Black brings readers back in time to prehistoric seas, swamps, forests, and savannas where critical moments in plant evolution unfolded. Each chapter stars plants and animals alike, underscoring how the interactions between species have helped shape the world we call home. As the chapters move upwards in time, Black guides readers along the burgeoning trunk of the Tree of Life, stopping to appreciate branches of an evolutionary story that links the world we know with one we can only just perceive now through the silent stone, from ancient roots to the present.
The event is at Porter Square Books (1815 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140). Come join us for a thought-provoking conversation and peek into the deepest times of Earth's history!
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You can get more out of your site elements by making them dynamic. To connect this element to content from your collection, select the element and click Connect to Data. Once connected, you can save time by updating your content straight from your collection—no need to open the Editor, or mess with your design.
