Geerat J. Vermeij is Distinguished Professor of Geology at the University of California, Davis. As an evolutionary biologist and paleontologist, he studies shells and the fossil and living animals responsible for building them. His books include Evolution and Escalation: An Ecological History of Life, A Natural History of Shells (both Princeton), and Privileged Hands. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1992.

"Vermeij presents a natural history written in what he considers economic terms and argues that biologists should know more about economics. While the exchanges between economics and biology can sometimes be hazardous and misleading, quite a bit could be learned by economists from reading this book."---Joel Mokyr, Journal of Economic Literature --- "Geerat Vermeij . . . has taken economic reasoning even further, arguing in Nature: An Economic History that economists and natural scientists are asking the same kinds of questions in their seemingly disparate fields. . . . Vermeij makes a convincing case that thinking about large swaths of the natural world in terms of competition for scarce resources is both accurate and useful."---Andrew P. Morriss, Books & Culture --- "There are clear analogies between economics and biological evolution, but the thesis of this articulate essay is that both fields can and should be described in exactly the same terms in a single theoretical framework. . . . In successive chapters describing consumption of resources, competition, organization, environment and geography, evolutionary biologist Vermeij illustrates, with copious examples from paleontology, ecology, and economic history, the overarching common description of competition for locally scarce resources and differential success based on variation, leading to evolving adaptations and descent with modification."" --- "Vermeij, a well-known paleontologist and observer of nature writ large, has written a marvelously interdisciplinary work that makes an important contribtuion to the literature of complex adaptive systems. . . . [R]eaders who are interested in multidisciplinary issues will benefit from Vermeij's impressive breadth of knowledge. It is a pleasure to follow his articulate and synthesizing trek across the boundaries of conventional academic subjects."---Eric J. Chaisson, Quarterly Review of Biology --- "Vermeij is one of the master naturalists of our time, and his command of the subtleties of animal interactions is exceptional. I think anyone can learn a great deal from this book."---Richard K. Bambach, American Scientist --- "Novel and intriguing. . . . [Nature: An Economic History] offers a distinctive point of view and an insightful synthesis that promises to provide the basis of much future work."---Douglas H. Erwin, Science --- "Winner of the 2004 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Geology and Earth Science, Association of American Publishers"