Using a series of case studies, the book demonstrates the power of dynamic analysis as applied to the fossil record. The book considers how we think about certain types of paleontological questions and shows how to answer them. The analytical tools presented here will have wide application to other fields of knowledge; as such the book represents a major contribution to the deployment of modern scientific method as it builds on author's previous book, Dynamic Paleontology. Students and seasoned professionals alike will find this book to be of great utility for refining their approach to their ongoing and future research projects.

Mark McMenamin's research focuses on the origin of animals and other forms of complex life, the origin of land plants, and the Snowball Earth glaciation. His 2016 book Dynamic Paleontology (Springer) provides a new framework for the analysis and interpretation of ancient life. Mark's students are known for publishing in peer-review journals while undergraduates. In 2008, Mark received (as director of the Keck Geology project to study the rocks of the Boston Basin) a teaching award from Southern Utah University for student project excellence. Mark named the supercontinent Rodinia in The Emergence of Animals (Columbia University Press). His research is featured in  the History Channel's program How the Earth Was Made. His concept of Hypersea: Life on Land was called one of "seven ideas that could change the world" by Discover Magazine.