Giveaway : The Link by Colin Tudge

Giveaway : The Link by Colin Tudge

The Ultimate Chick Lit Book!

On May 19th of this year "Scientists have announced the discovery of a 47-million-year-old human ancestor. Discovered in the Messel Pit, Germany, the fossil is twenty times older than most fossils that explain human evolution. Known as “Ida,” the fossil is a transitional species, showing characteristics of the very primitive nonhuman evolutionary line (prosimians, such as lemurs), but even more closely those of the human evolutionary line (anthropoids, such as monkeys, apes, and humans). This places Ida at the very root of anthropoid evolution—when primates were first developing the features that would evolve into our own"

Meet Ida - she died when she was less than a year old while standing next to Maar Lake (aka The Messel Pit). Speculation paints her innocently leaning over to get a drink of water at Maar Lake, breathing in a poisonous layer of gas released from the lake and dying. Thus falling into the Lake to be eventually preserved for all of us to see -

47 MILLION years later!

The Link follows the discovery, excavation and preservation of Ida. Plus we get the full story on why Ida is such a revolutionary discovery! At 95% complete, Ida is practically a miracle in the scientific community! So complete we can see she has opposable thumbs and toes, nails instead of claws and what she ate before she died.

For 2 years, Dr. Jorn Hurum, associate professor in vertebrate paleontology at the University of Oslo along with a select team of specialized scientists, carefully studied, researched and documented Ida. They wanted to be thorough before revealing to the scientific community and the world what they had and that Ida was validated beyond reproach. The discovery of Ida doesn't start with Dr. Hurum, but with the German government in 1971 declaring that the Messel Pit, which was being mined for its shale and then the shale being converted to raw petroleum, an eyesore. They were going to convert it into a landfill! A fury of activity began as scientists and collectors tried to get any and all fossils out of the pit. A private collector stumbled upon Ida while on a day expedition to the Messel Pit. He carefully wrapped her up and put her on a shelf for 25 YEARS! Then in 2006 the anonymous collector (who wanted to remain annoymous for fear of criticism from the scientific communtiy) decided to sell Ida off. Dr. Hurum met with a reputable dealer at an annual fossil fair in Germany and the rest is history- literally!

A wonderful interactive and content-rich site has been launched at: Revealing The Link. Check it out and check the book out too : The Link- it has many wonderful photographs of Ida as well as a great story of the earth's family tree. I myself found the book very interesting and Ida herself to be amazing - the Ultimate Chick!

NOW about the giveaway! I have 3 copies of The Link by Colin Tudge for a giveaway to my readers courtesy of Anna Balasi of Hachette Book Group. Thanks Anna for letting me share this great book!

To Enter this giveaway...

• For one entry leave me a comment with your email address.
• Become a follower (if you are a follower you'll get an extra entry)
• For another entry, Blog or Tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only.(No PO boxes). The books will be shipped to the winners directly from the publishers. Contest ends 11:59pm EST on June 20th, 2009. I will randomly pick the winners the next day and email them! Good Luck!

The Winner's Are.....

Heidi V, throuthehaze, & A Reader

Congrats to the winners! And thanks to everyone who joined in the fun and entered!!