Business Book Authors Should Avoid Writing About Evolution

Last time I checked, scientists thought the earth was about 4.5 billion years old.  When I read the following paragraph from a prominent business author, I had trouble with his evolutionary math.  Maybe it’s just me, but you see if you can fit 4.5 billion years into his account of evolution.

It took several billion years on Earth for unicellular life to evolve. And it took another billion years or so for that single-celled life to evolve multi-cellular arrangements–each cell touching a few cells near it to make a living spherical organism. At first, the sphere was the only form multicellular life could take because its cells had to be near one another to coordinate their functions. After another billion years, life eventually evolved the first cellular neuron–a thin strand of tissue–which enabled two cells to communicate over a distance. With that single enabling innovation, the variety of life boomed.

I’m also fairly confident that we’ve discovered life that existed 3.5 billion years ago, so again, I’m struggling…  Does anyone want to defend our heroic champion of evolution?