Milestone reached for Thorndon author in last week’s latest release

A Thorndon author of more than 300 illustrated science and nature books is celebrating another milestone with the release of a third title produced with a well-known media personality.

Non-fiction writer Steve Parker last week released The Whole Story: Evolution in collaboration with television personality Professor Alice Roberts, who has presented various documentaries as well as having stints on other shows including Digging For Britain and Time Team.

His latest release traces how plant and animal life have changed from its earliest beginnings, as ‘micro blobs’ in the sea more than three billion years ago to the Age of Humans and the modern ‘Sixth Mass Extinction’.

It follows publications with Desmond Morris in 2009 release Planet Ape, and last year’s SuperHuman Encyclopedia with renowned media medic and TV presenter Professor Lord Robert Winston.

Mr Parker, who was last featured in the Diss Express in August 2014 after one of his titles, Kill or Cure: A History of Medicine, entered the New York Times Best Seller list, said: “Working with a media personality certainly gives it a higher profile.

“You are more likely to get reviewed in various magazines in and journals and so on. These personalities are all good at mentioning what they have been involved with when they are interviewed and I think the book is promoted to a wider audience.

“It was hard going. I was general author and I had overall control. Alice wrote the foreword and was involved in a bit of the planning but we also commissioned nine other authors — it is a very big book with more than 500 pages.”

Mr Parker is showcasing his new books during his school visits and other workshops around East Anglia this autumn term.

Find out more at www.steveparker.co.uk or call 01379 678991.