When Tim Flannery was a boy he found a fossilized tooth of the giant shark megalodon at a beach near his home in Australia. This remarkable find—the tooth was large enough to cover his palm—sparked an interest in paleontology that was to inform his life’s work and a lifelong quest to uncover the secrets of the great shark Otodus megalodon.

Tim passed on his love of the natural world and interest in the fossil record to his daughter, Emma, a scientist and writer. And now, together, they have written a fascinating account of this ancient marine creature.

Big Meg charts the evolution of megalodon, its super-predator status for about fifteen million years and its decline and extinction. It delves into the fossil record to answer questions about its behavior and role in shaping marine ecosystems as well as its impact on the human psyche. It contains stories of the scientist and amateur fossil hunters who have scoured the seas, and land, for fossil remains, drawn to the beauty and mystique of the great shark, sometimes meeting their death in the process.

Deemed “in the league of the all-time great explorers” by David Attenborough, Tim Flannery has come together with Emma Flannery to spin a story of the great natural history of our planet as enthralling as the fossil record itself.

Praise for Big Meg:

“The Flannerys, a father-and-daughter pair of Australian scientists, provide a more complete and accurate picture of megalodon than you are likely to see on any television or movie screen . . . About megalodon teeth, their account is sharply detailed…Compelling reading.”—Wall Street Journal

“A fascinating account of a super-predator that once ruled the seas . . . A lively investigation into a marine mystery.”—Kirkus Reviews

“[A] stimulating examination of the megalodon . . . The impressive science highlights how much researchers have been able to learn from a limited fossil record . . . This is worth diving into.”—Publishers Weekly

“Tim Flannery and Emma Flannery, a father-daughter team, write in great detail about creatures that can hold a lot of fascination for all ages . . . It’s a shark-lover’s dream read.”—Terri Schlichenmeyer, Eagle Times

Praise for Tim Flannery:

“In the league of the all-time great explorers.”—David Attenborough

“In an age of uncertainty, Tim Flannery offers us a compelling vision of hope.”—TIME Magazine

“A climate-change communicator without peer in Australia — and at a global level, he ranks alongside an élite few, such as Al Gore.” —TIME

“Flannery, one of a new breed of planetary heroes, distilled the complex issue of global warming into a clear message.”—Meg Lowman, Herald Tribune

“One of the world’s greatest zoologists . . . who’s probably discovered more new species than Darwin. He’s a remarkable man.”—Redmond O’Hanlon

“An exciting book, full of wonder, affection and hope.”—Sunday Times on Europe

“Flannery is a writer who sneezes at political correctness and charges into the densely land-mined territory of the biological determinants of human behaviour.”—Washington Post on The Climate Cure