The Road to Gondwana - by Bill Morris (Hardcover)

About the Book

This is the story of a journey. Actually, it's a story of many journeys, of paths woven through the fabric of Earth's history, and of human history, all of which lead to one semi-mythical, and yet completely real place -- the lost supercontinent Gondwana.

Book Synopsis

An immersive and fascinating journey into deep time, charting the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana through a billion years of Earths history.

Gondwana is a mystery of geological history a lost supercontinent and a place woven into the consciousness of all who inhabit its scattered fragments. Today, the people who live in Africa, South America, India, Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Arabia spend their lives walking around on whats left of Gondwana. But what was life like when it was whole?

The Road to Gondwana traces the steps science took to find Gondwana, and the evolutionary journey of Gondwana itself. Our tour guide on this journey is Glossopteris – an extinct tree that dominated the supercontinent for 50 million years, before vanishing in the most devastating event ever to strike life on this planet, the Permian mass extinction.

This is a story about deep time and the challenges that face those who venture there. Its about the importance of imagination in science, and the reasons that the journey towards understanding is sometimes more important than the destination.

Review Quotes

"Morris is s a gifted writer and researcher and a warm human being. He has a light and sometimes humorous way of filtering heaps of scientific data, spiced with stories about the people whose geological discoveries contributed to the discovery of Gondwana. For me his ability to create word pictures was the best part of the book"--Elizabeth Jewell Stephens

"It is a scholarly and persuasive work, dazzling in its detail, but immensely entertaining and intriguing "

"Prior to reading this book I had no idea that geology and palaeontology could be so interesting, so fascinating."

"The Road To Gondwana should be in every home. It is written for all to understand, and with so many descriptive stories, from the girls picking out coal with their fingers in India to geologists exploring the sea beds. Immensely relevant today!"


"When you really love, really appreciate, really immerse yourself in the forces of nature, that is when you perhaps care a little more about our impacts on it. It's important and powerful work"

About the Author

Bill Morris is a writer, documentary filmmaker and musician based in Port Chalmers, New Zealand. He has worked extensively as a wildlife filmmaker for NHNZ, the BBC Natural History Unit and others, and is a regular contributor to New Zealand Geographic magazine. His passion for science and stories of the natural world informs all of his work.