Dinosaurs, Paleontology and Prehistoric Life. Book Reviews by Mike Fredericks from the pages of the From Issue #73 August/September 2005
	Oceans Of Kansas: A Natural History Of The Western Interior Sea (Life of the Past) by Michael J. Everhart $39.95 Hardcover 322 pages Indiana University Press ISBN: 0253345472 From the book, "The bright mid- day sun glinted off the calm waters of the Inland Sea and silhouetted the long, sinuous form of a huge mosasaur lying motionless amid the floating tangle of yellow- green seaweed. Twenty years old and more than thirty feet in length, the adult mosasaur was almost full-grown and was much larger than any of the fish or sharks that lived in the shallow seaway. A swift and powerful swimmer over short distances, the mosasaur used surprise and the thrust of his muscular tail to outrun his prey with a short burst of speed." Although Kansas is now high and dry, at one time the state, like most of the Midwest, was under water. Until the land finally rose above sea level during the final years of the Late Cretaceous, the area was covered by a succession of oceans whose geologic record is preserved in the sedi- mentary rock that covers the Great Plains. Oceans of Kansas tells the story of the five million years when giant sharks, marine reptiles called mosasaurs, pteranodons, and birds with teeth flourished in and around this shallow sea. The abundant and well-preserved remains of these prehistoric animals were the source of great excitement in the scientific community of the day when they were first discovered in the 1860s. Two of the best- known fossil hunters of the time, E. D. Cope and O. C. Marsh, competed vigorously to recover the best specimens. During the past 130 years, thou- sands have been collected and sent to museums around the world. Michael J. Everhart tells the fascinating story of their discovery, re-creates the ani- mals and the world in which they lived, and presents the fruits of the lat- est research into the natural history of America's ancient inland sea. Michael J. Everhart, Adjunct Curator of Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas, is an expert on the Late Cretaceous of western Kansas. Mike is among the very few PT readers that has vivited me here at home. I was very proud when he told me that writ- ing articles for Prehistoric Times gave him the idea and confidence to write this book. Nice of you to say Mike! This is a must book for your prehistoric animal library! Everyone loves the marine reptiles and so little good literature has been written on the subject. The book is also beautifully illustrated with artwork by Russell Hawley and Dan Varner whose work has been seen here in PT. Man The Hunted: Primates, Predators, and Human Evolution by Donna Hart, Robert W. Sussman $29.95 Hardcover Contrary to the familiar image of the aggressive, spear- wielding "caveman," our hominid ancestors may have been more hunted than hunters, more preyed upon than slay- ers of large predators, say wildlife conservationist Hart and anthropologist Sussman. Proof includes a hominid skull bearing twin holes that match exactly the fangs of a leopard; another displays scratches that suggest the vic- tim was carried off by a very large bird of prey. The authors maintain that our need to socialize stems from early hominids' improved odds of survival when they banded together against predators. Man the Hunted argues that primates, including the earliest members of the human family, have evolved not as hunters but as the prey of any number of predators, including wild cats and dogs, hyenas, snakes, crocodiles, and even birds of prey. Eyewitness accounts, data collected by the authors, and the published reports of naturalists establish the astonish- ing extent to which living monkeys, lemurs, apes, and even humans fall victim to a wide variety of predators, some of which even specialize in the consumption of pri- mates. Additionally, the fossil record demonstrates that primates have been prey for millions of years, a fact that necessarily shaped the evolution of our earliest ancestors in body and behavior. Combining information from a number of lines of evidence, Man the Hunted casts a somewhat new light on the natural history of primates and the evolution of fossil and modern humans. About the Author Donna L. Hart has been a longtime professional in wildlife conservation and currently teaches in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Robert Wald Sussman, Washington University (St. Louis), is recent editor of American Anthropologist and has served in editorial capacities with numerous other journals in anthropology and primatology. Unearthing the Dragon by Mark A. Norell, Mick Ellison $30 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Pi Press ISBN: 0131862669 Norell, chair and curator for the paleontology division of our American Museum of Natural History leads the feathered dinosaur revolution in which many of the leathery reptile skinned dinosaurs of old are now portrayed as feath- ered, fast moving bird-like creatures. His new book looks like something from National Geographic with its many clear and colorful photographs (by Mick Ellison) of the fossils and life in China. Norell shows how new discoveries there are radically chang- ing our theories on the lives of these fantastic creatures of the past. Dr Norell tells his tale of being in a very different, foreign land and the fossils that are collected there, often by peasants, not researchers and how local Chinese officials are swayed more by heavy drinking sessions than reasoned argument. Norell and Ellison navigate through all kinds of social troubles in China to the amazing world of feathered dinosaurs in the Liaoning formation. The book coincides with the author's major museum exhibit at the AMNH which will later being touring the country. Autobiography of an Artist: Selections from the Autobiography of Charles R. Knight by Charles R. Knight, Mark Schultz (Illustrator) Paperback: 160 pages Publisher: G.T. Labs ISBN: 096601068X $11.95 This is a book most every PT reader will want to pick up. Put together by Jim Ottaviani, Knight's biography is finally available for the public. The interesting life of the artist that probably most influenced the manner in which- prehistoric animals are illustrated today is a joy to read. The book opens with a foreword by special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen and a biographical essay on Knight by William Stout. The auto- . biographical pieces feature illustrations by Mark Schultz. To round out the vol- ume, it closes with memories from his granddaughter Rhoda Knight Kalt and appreciations from prominent names in the arts and sciences, from Ray Bradbury to lan Tattersall. Though Knight once said "No one interests me less than Charles Knight," find out why artists such as Frank Frazetta, Mark Hallett, Doug Henderson, Joe Kubert, Al Williamson, and Bernie Wrightson have said that no one interests them more! www.gt-labs.com Great Day Trips in the Connecticut Valley of the Dinosaurs by Brendan Hanrahan $22.95 Paperback: 253 pages Publisher: Perry Heights Pr ISBN: 0963018116 A great book! Who would have thought Connecticut was once teeming with so many dinosaurs? This book tells the complete tale, and includes trips that transport you back to the age of dinosaurs. Great story- telling-from the discoveries of the past to new theories about dinosaurs being pro- posed today. Includes many photos of trackways, etc and well done illustrations of CT Valley dinosaurs. A great book for families looking to get out and do some- thing different or to give as a unique, "made in CT" gift. Guaranteed to be a hit with dinosaur fans or fans of local history. Guide To Minerals, Rocks & Fossils by A. C. Bishop, A. R. Woolley, W R. Hamilton $19.95 Paperback 336 pages Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd ISBN: 1554070546 This is a detailed and exten- sively illustrated handbook. The colors, shapes and properties of minerals vary from the bland to the magnificent. Guide to Minerals, Rocks and Fossils is a practical and authoritative handbook that is both comprehensive and easy to use. Each of the 600 specimens is shown in full color, sometimes in two or more forms. There are also drawings that show the structure of the crys- talline specimens. It covers the basics like granite, as well as oddities like meteorites and tektites. Fossils include sponges, corals, arthropods, bra- chiopods, and fossil land plants. Each is described in detail, with notes on: - color and transparency - grain size - hardness - structure - occurrence - mineralogy - distinguishing features - habit - cleavage - texture - alteration - luster. Mineral names, chemical formulae and structural data accord to international standards. This is a very complete and attractive and useful volume in a series. Mammoth by John Varley $23.95 In a barren province of Canada, a mammoth hunter has made the discovery of a lifetime: an intact frozen wooly mammoth. But what he finds during the painstaking process of exca- vating the huge creature boggles the mind. Huddled next to the mammoth is the mummified body of a Stone Age man around 12,000 years old. And he is wearing a wristwatch with a metal box—a time machine?—found nearby. Canada's top sci- entist on the physics of time is hired to fix the machine, and elephant expert Susan Morgan is obtained to oversee the cloning of a new mammoth. The machine hurls the two back to the mammoth age, then forward again, along with a baby Columbian woolly mam- moth. Then, during a sudden temporal shift, the scientist jumps back in time, only to return with a herd of rampaging mammoths that terrorizes downtown L.A., and the trou- bles begin to snowball from there on out. Varley's pulls one surprise after another out of this unconventional blend of science and social commentary. The book does not disappoint. John Varley (Red Thunder) has won both the Nebula and Hugo Awards for his work. Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs by Robert Sabuda & Matthew Reinhart Ages 4-8 Hardcover: 12 pages, Candlewick; Pop-Up edition ISBN: 0763622281 $26.99 What a beautiful pop-up book for young dinosaur fans! From the world's preeminent paper engineers comes an amazing tribute to dinosaurs and extinct animals! More than 35 complex and stunning pop- ups include a massive T. Rex that springs out, flashing a jawful of jagged teeth. Turn the page and a rav- ishing raptor unfurls and appears to fly off the edge of the book. This pop- up book offers up-to-the-minute infor- mation on more than 50 dinosaur species. Six multi-layered spreads each feature one spectacular, large pop-up and several booklets of small- er pop-ups and text. Inside the amaz- ing Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs are ankylosaurs in full body armor, creatures with frilly headgear, and weighty, long-necked giants. There are even interesting tidbits on the history of paleontology itself - like a pop-up version of a Victorian New Year's dinner in the belly of a dinosaur model, or a pair of scientists locked in a literal tug-of-war over bones. A complex and amazing achievement.  Evolution of the Insects by David Grimaldi, Michael S. Engel $75.00 Hardcover: 772 pages Cambridge University Press ISBN: 0521821495 This enormous coffee table book chronicles the complete evolutionary his- tory of insects-their living diversity and relationships as well as 400 mil- lion years of fossils. Introductory sections cover the living species diversi- ty of insects, methods of reconstructing evolutionary relationships, basic \ insect structure, and the diverse modes of insect fossilization and major fos- sil deposits. Major sections then explore the relationships and evolution of each order of hexapods. The volume also chronicles major episodes in the evolutionary history of insects from their modest beginnings in the Devonian and the origin of wings hundreds of millions of years before pterosaurs and birds to the impact of mass extinctions and the explosive radiation of angiosperms on insects, and how they evolved into the most complex societies in nature. This is the first comprehensive synthesis of all aspects of insect evolution. Illustrated with 955 photo- and electron- micro- graphs, drawings, diagrams, and field photos, many in full color and virtu- ally all of them original, this reference will appeal to anyone engaged with insect diversity-professional entomologists and students, insect and fossil collectors, and naturalists. The National Dinosaur Museum in Canberra, Australia publishes a fantastic newsetter, The Dinosaur Age and also offers a Cd disc titled edinosauria. Great info found no where else. Also for sale are dinosaur key chains, pins etc. Check out www.nationaldinosaurmuseum.com.au