New Zealand's isolation began over 80 million years ago when, powered by mighty geological forces, the land mass rifted away from ancient Gondwana and drifted into the Pacific with its precious cargo of wildlife. The natural history of the shaky isles and their surrounding seas, the dramatic geology and unique plants and animals, is the subject of "New Zealand through Time". Artist Ronald Cometti portrays the past in 16 chapters, each containing an essay, a full-page feature painting and a number of smaller illustrations, which together create a magnificent gallery that will be of interest to anyone from young teen to adult who is curious to learn about the past. The chapters include: The Long Isolation Begins; Beneath Cretaceous Seas; When the World Nearly Ended; Neogene Reptiles; New Zealand Moa; The Rise of the Southern Alps; The Ice Ages; Taupo's Volcano Erupts; Auckland's Volcanoes; Recently Lost Birds; and, The Hawke's Bay Earthquake.

About the Author

Auckland artist Ronald Cometti was originally employed in the advertising industry as a graphic artist and illustrator. With a lifelong passion for New Zealand wildlife and natural history, he has authored and illustrated several of his own books on the topic, including New Zealand's Forest Treasures and New Zealand Land of Trees, as well as several written by John Morton, Professor Emeritus University of Auckland. For more than 20 years Ronald has conducted natural history tours around New Zealand, Australia and the subantarctic Islands, and has been a guest lecturer on cruise ships. Many of his wildlife paintings and wallcharts have been reproduced in magazines, including New Zealand Geographic and Forest & Bird, and his original work has been bought for many private overseas collections.