This is an illustrated reference source to over 400 plant and animal fossils from around the globe and how to identify them, with over 1000 colour photographs and over 400 colour illustrations. It serves as a complete guide to finding, classifying, dating, cleaning, collecting and understanding fossils, from the earliest ferns to the giants of the dinosaur world, for both total beginners and informed enthusiasts. It provides a fascinating introduction that reveals what fossils are and how they fit into geological history, the habitats and sites where they can be found, and what palaeontology and the study of fossils tell us about our natural world. An extensive introduction explains the best ways to go about fossil hunting: the most suitable places to go; how to plan a fossil-hunting trip; the equipment you will need; how to dig out and collect specimens; how to transport, sort, date, clean and classify your finds; and the ways in which they can be presented to best effect in a personal collection, including how to fit pieces together and fill in the missing parts of a fossil jigsaw. The main part of the book consists of an extensive directory of fossils, providing a comprehensive visual and factual compendium of more than 400 significant fossil types. Each and every fossil entry includes a large, full-colour photograph of the fossil itself, accompanied by a detailed factbox and a clear illustration that reconstructs the appearance of the original plant or animal. Additional feature boxes reveal fascinating related stories, such as the fossil discoveries that turned scientific thinking on its head and in-depth studies of specific fossil sites.