Book Recommendation wanted

I'm interested in early life, mass extinctions, and the evolution of mammals. I'm not a scientist so I'd rather not read a graduate level text book. Could someone recommend several interesting books. If there are some books on similar subjects that you think are excellent please list them too.

Well, that very much covers almost the whole of palaeontology, isn't it ? Look at the 'Critical Moments in Paleobiology and Earth History' series from Columbia University Press. That series have books on each of the major extinction events as well as on The Emergence of Animals, Ediacaran fauna, etc. If you don't want to go into that detail you may look for a more general book, such as, Extinction by Steven Stanley (Scientific American Library) or Evolutionary Catastrophe by Courtillot (Cambridge University Press). 'Mass Extinction and their Aftermath' by Hallam & Wignall (Oxford University Press) is also good though a bit more technical. There are of course a whole host of other books on the end- Cretaceous extinction event.

'Crucible of Life' by Conway Morris (Oxford University Press) is good for early animals. But if you want something for early life you should look at 'Early Life on Earth' by Bengston (editor) (Columbia University Press).

As for mammals 'The rise of the mammals' by Benton (Quatro Publishing) and 'Mammoths, Sabertooths & Hominids' by Agusti & Anton (Columbia University Press) are good reads.

Why not start with a more general book like 'Vertebrate Palaeontology' By Benton (Chapman & Hall) and take it from there.

A list of book recommendations on fossil mammals (with an emphasis on the early Cenozoic) can be found at my website:
http://www.paleocene-mammals.de/pal_ref.htm

MaJehle