xxx     Dinosaurs, Paleontology, and Prehistoric Life.
Book Reviews by Mike Fredericks from the pages of the

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                                        From Issue #85    Spring  2008

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (Hardcover) by Neil Shubin $24.00 240 pages Publisher: Pantheon ISBN-10: 0375424474 ISBN-13: 9780375424472. "Your Inner Fish" is an intelligent and compelling scientific adventure story, one which will change forever how you understand what it means to be human. The field of evolutionary biology is just beginning an exciting new age of discovery, and Neil Shubin's research expeditions around the world have redefined the way we now look at the origins of mammals, frogs, crocodiles, tetrapods. and sarcopterygian fish— and the way we look at mankind. Fish paleontologist Shubin illuminates the subject of evolution with humor and clarity in this compelling look at how the human body evolved into its present state. It turns out that being a paleontologist is a huge advantage in teaching human anatomy. Why? The best roadmaps to human bodies lie in the bodies of other animals. The bodies of these creatures are simpler versions of ours. Parsing the millennia-old genetic history of the human form is a natural project for Shubin, who chairs the department of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago and was co-discoverer of Tiktaalik, a 375-million-year-old fossil fish whose flat skull and limbs, and finger, toe, ankle and wrist bones, provide a link between fish and the earliest land-dwelling creatures. Shubin takes us through the anatomical spectrum, finding ancient precursors to human teeth in a 200-millionyear-old fossil of the mouse-size part animal, part reptile tritheledont; he also notes cellular similarities between humans and sponges. Other fossils reveal the origins of our senses, from the eye to the ear. We carry the whole history of evolution within our own bodies, and how the human genome links us with the rest of life on earth. "I can imagine few things more beautiful or intellectually profound than finding the basis for our humanity... nestled inside some of the most humble creatures that ever lived," Shubin writes, and after reading his book, you'll agree.
The World Without Us (Hardcover) by Alan Weisman $24.95 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books ISBN-10: 0312347294 ISBN-13: 9780312347291 If Earth was depopulated overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished? That's the question posed by Weisman in this imaginative combination of solid science reporting and morbid speculation. Days after our disappearance, pumps keeping Manhattan's subways dry would fail, tunnels would flood, soil under streets would slide away, weeds and then trees would retake the buckled streets, wild predators would ravage the domesticated dogs and the foundations of towering skyscrapers built to last for centuries would start to crumble. At the other end of the spectrum, the Channel, rubber tires, and anything made of bronze might survive in recognizable form for millions of years — along with one billion pounds of degraded but almost indestructible plastics manufactured since the mid-20th century (but eventually a polymer-eating microbe could evolve). Meanwhile, land freed from mankind's environmentally poisonous footprint would quickly reconstitute itself, as in Chernobyl, where animal life has returned after 1986's deadly radiation leak, and in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, a refuge since 1953 for the almost-extinct goral mountain goat and Amur leopard, and, with the spectacular return of fish and bird populations, the earth might revert to Eden. Weisman's interesting tour of the world of tomorrow explores what little will remain of ancient times while anticipating what a planet without us would be like. Both the National Geographic Channel and the History Channel have run spectacular documentaries on this subject recently. While it's a depressing thought to picture man's demise (although often when I'm stuck in rush hour traffic, I feel I could do with ALOT less humans on Earth) the subject is fascinating to conjecture about. A thought-provoking read.
Big Bone Lick: The Cradle of American Paleontology (Hardcover) by Stanley Hcdeen (Author), John Mack Faragher (Foreword) $24.95 Hardcover: 200 pages Publisher: University Press of Kentucky ISBN10: 0813124859 ISBN-13: 978-0813124858 Riff Smith, who co-founded Prehistoric Times with me and passed away last year loved Big Bone Lick. It was located very close to his home in Louisville, Ky. A very nice natural history museum is there and he and I visited it together once. History and science come together in this great story of a forest salt lick and how the fossil bones found there influenced the beginnings of paleontology in America. The saline springs of northern Kentucky's Big Bone Lick have nurtured humans and animals for centuries, and the bones of extinct mastodons, bison and other creatures are there to prove it. Biology professor emeritus Hedeen illuminates a time when the concept of extinction was considered outrageous, if not downright blasphemous, since it contradicted the biblical doctrine of a perfect, unchanging creation. Early 1 8th-century naturalists believed the bones were remnants of some rare type of elephant, possibly even Asian elephants that had somehow wandered into American forests. Naturalists such as Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon and Georges Cuvier (who coined the term mastodon) appear alongside Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and extinction skeptic Thomas Jefferson, who sent Lewis and Clark west with a list of goals that included finding knowledge of "living Mammoths, & of the Megatherium also." Hedeen depicts a vibrant and exciting era, when the 1755 map notation "Elephants Bones found here" drew the attention of the whole world. This excellent work by Stanley Hedeen is the most comprehensive account of Big Bone Lick that has yet been produced. The book gives us greater understanding of why frontier travelers turned aside to visit the site. Gradually unfolding the intriguing story of how anatomists identified the fossils, Hedeen demonstrates that Big Bone Lick was the birthplace of American paleontology.
Terra: Our 100-MillionYear-Old Ecosystem-and the Threats That Now Put It at Risk (Hardcover) by Michael Novacek (Author) List Price: $27.00 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition edition ISBN-10: 0374273251 ISBN-13: 978-0374273255 Paleontologist Novacek tells the story of our ecosystem and warns that humans are transforming it so drastically that it may not be habitable in the future. He considers the evolution of flowering plants and the myriad insect species that pollinate them, stressing that as we decimate these insect populations, we interfere with the very core of what has been built by evolution. Extinction is normal during the course of evolution, but studies cited by the author show that every year tens of thousands of species may now be going extinct, thousands of times faster than they would naturally do so, as humans exploit the ecosystem by cutting forests, exhausting sources of fresh water, polluting the air, destroying habitats, depleting the ocean and introducing invasive species to new habitats. We can avoid this, Novacek contends, if we learn to appreciate the history of our ecosystem in all its beauty and complexity, and have the will to reverse our destructive course. His well written volume draws on a lifetime of experience with fossil organisms to place the challenges of the present in context. Michael Novacek's book vividly portrays the human folly and cavalier disregard for Terra, our only home, and puts the environmental crisis in its most profound context. Starting with the birth of Earth's modern ecosystems, in the Age of Dinosaurs, this hundred-million-year biography of our unique planet of life explains how the living environment came together in a way that yielded humanity, and why our careless destruction of it is a profound and eternal loss.
The Evolution of Artiodactyls (Hardcover) by Donald R. Prothero (Editor), Scott E. Foss (Editor) List Price: S120.00 Hardcover: 384 pages The Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN-10: 0801887356 ISBN-13: 9780801887352 Artiodactyls are diverse and successful hoofed mammals, represented by nearly two hundred living species of pigs, peccaries, hippos, camels, deer, sheep, cattle, giraffes, and other even-toed ungulates. In the recent years, a tremendous amount of research has been conducted on this important order. The Evolution of Artiodactyls collects this research into a single, comprehensive volume. Here Donald R. Prothero, Scott E. Foss, and a team of distinguished international experts explore a variety of topics, including molecular phylogeny of terrestrial artiodactyls phylogenetic relationships of cetaceans to terrestrial artiodactyls, and the earliest artiodactyls -Diacodexidae, Dichobunidae, Homacodontidae, Leptochoeridae, and Raoellidae. Donald R. Prothero is a professor of geology at Occidental College and coeditor or author of many books, including Horns, Tusks, and Flippers: The Evolution of Hoofed Mammals, published by Johns Hopkins; The Evolution of Perissodactyls; and Bringing Fossils to Life: An Introduction to Paleobiology. Scott E. Foss is the Regional Paleontologist for the Bureau of Land Management in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Supercontinent: Ten Billion Years in the Life of Our Planet (Hardcover) by Ted Nield List Price: $29.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN10: 0674026594 ISBN-13: 978-0674026599 Ted Nield tells the fascinating story of how the world has been made and re-made through billions of years of geological time. People have long dreamed of lost continents. Today, author Nield shows that geologists can detect evidence of a continuing cycle of formation, breakup and reformation of one giant landmass-a supercontinentover billions of years. Nield, editor of Geoscientist magazine, imagines what these supercontinents might have looked like and tells the stories of the scientists who have discovered and studied them. Both informative and entertaining, Nield makes highly technical material understandable, as he explains why "the Earth's Supercontinent Cycle matters to everyone, everywhere."
If Dinosaurs Were Alive Today (Hardcover) by Dougal Dixon List Price: $15.95 For young readers Hardcover: 96 pages Publisher: Running Press Kids ISBN-10: 0762431423 ISBN-13: 978-0762431427 How many of you reading this have wondered what it would be like if dinosaurs were still alive today. Every single one of you; that's how many! Dinosaurs never cease to amaze us. We obsess about them as children and continue to be fascinated even as adults. This book gives shape to a dream every dinosaur lover has had: what if dinosaurs were alive today? What would our world be like? Using extensive research, dinosaur experts have put together an amazing range of dinosaur interaction scenarios. Incredible images of photo-realistic dinosaurs are blended with distinctive photography, and factpacked pages explore all aspects of dinosaur research, from their extinction to the latest fossil discoveries. Even kids who may think they're outgrowing dinosaurs won't be able to resist this extraordinary journey across oceans, skies, and land to find out if dinosaurs could live in our world.
Prehistoric Monsters! (Pictureback Paperback) by Dr Robert T. Bakker (Author), Luis V. Rey (Illustrator) List Price: $3.99 Paperback: 24 pages Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers ISBN-10: 0375839453 ISBN-13: 978-0375839450 An introduction to prehistoric animals, from the first weird and wonderful life forms on Earth to the earliest Ice Age humans-and much, much more. The author, Dr. Robert T. Bakker is one of the most respected vertebrate paleontologists in the world. He is often credited with starting the "Dinosaur Renaissance." He lives in Boulder, Colorado. Luis V. Rey's dinosaur paintings can be seen in museums throughout the world. His book Extreme Dinosaurs received a 2001 Parent's Choice Gold Award. This book contains not only brand new Luis Rey dinosaur art but really beautiful photo realistic prehistoric mammal and human art; a subject kind of new for Luis. He lives in London, England.
Dinosaur Hunters: Discover the Incredible Lost World of Dinosaurs (Trailblazers series) (Hardcover) by Jen Green, List Price: $19.95 Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: Running Press Kids ISBN-10: 0762430087 ISBN-13: 9780762430086 Seek adventure, set out in new directions, and start new trends. For the child who loves dinosaurs, this book is like a passport and travel guide into a lost world adventure. It's got all the interactive elements that delight: flaps to lift, textures to get a feel of the prehistoric world (including a texturized T rex tooth), a compass on the cover, photographs galore, plus stickers, timelines, maps and more. Just when you think you've seen it all, there's a button to push and a secret drawer pops open. Inside, among many other prehistoric wonders, a model dinosaur you put together yourself! Dinosaurs never wear out their welcome with kids. The stunning, comprehensive, and fascinating text of this edition easily equals the exciting format, and that's really saying something! Jen Green received her doctorate from Sussex University. She has worked in publishing for many years and authored over 150 books for children. She lives in London, U.K. Bob Nicholls, an acclaimed dinosaur illustrator, adds his compelling design and artwork throughout. Each of his spreads will take you into a long lost prehistoric world. Nicholls lives in London, U.K.
Attack Of The Tyrannosaurus (Dinosaur Cove series) by Rex Stone (Author)List Price: $4.99 Reading level: Ages 9-12 Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks ISBN-10: 0545053773 ISBN-13: 978-0545053778 Tom and Jamie can't believe their luck when they find a secret entrance to a prehistoric world filled with dinosaurs! The first dinosaur they meet is a friendly wannanosaurus. It eats the fruit from super-stinky ginkgo trees. But soon, Tom and Jamie meet a much less friendly dino: a Tyrannosaurus Rex that would like to eat them! Plenty of good imaginative fun for dino loving youngsters. Available in May 2008. Also coming in the series "Charge of the Triceratops."
Kong: King of Skull Island (graphic novel series) (Aam Markosia) Based on the book "Kong: King of Skull Island" created and illustrated by good friend of PT Joe deVito comes this new comic book series filled with dinosaurs and prehistoric life. The art is colorful and well done and the story will keep you turning pages. Pick this series up at your local comic store or on-line, www.markosia.com The big news too is that Kong: King of Skull Island is soon to be a major motion picture from Fantastic Films international.
Tadpole Rex (Hardcover) by Kurt Cyrus (Author/illustrator) List Price: $16.00 Harcourt Children's Books. 978-0152059903 Rex is a tiny tadpole who can't wait to grow up and be big like everybody else. Unfortunately for Rex, he lives in a prehistoric swamp and everybody else is a gigantic dinosaur. With a little time and a lot of patience Rex does grow, gaining arms and legs and, most importantly, a personality big enough to take on even the mightiest of his neighbors. Includes a note from the author about metamorphosis, prehistoric frogs, and the environmental challenges frogs face today. Very well written and beautifully illustrated. Due in June 2008. Kurt Cyrus lives in Cottage Grove, Oregon.
Wings, Horns, & Claws: A Dinosaur Book of Epic Proportions (Hardcover) by Christopher Wormell (Author) List Price: $18.95 Publisher: Running Press Kids ISBN-10: 0762424192 ISBN-13: 9780762424191 Ages 9-12 Featuring well done and colorful linoleum-block prints of 16 types of dinosaur, starting with the small Compsognathus and increasing in size to the largest dinosaur Argentinosaurus, which may have been as much as 125 feet long, this book declares size matters! Award-winning author and illustrator Christopher Wormell sinks his teeth into a new favorite subject— dinosaurs! "Wings, Horns, & Claws" is an affectionate pictorial tribute to those prehistoric animals, who grow with every turn of the page reinforcing the cognitive learning concept of size and proportion. Wormell's trademark beautiful woodcut illustrations are paired here with very detailed descriptions of his subjects. His unique vision and incredible artistry elevate this book above the crowd of volumes devoted to the Earth's coolest creatures. A great choice for kids and even adults who can't get enough of these prehistoric reptiles.
Triceratops Gets Lost (Smithsonian's Prehistoric Pals) (Paperback) by Dawn Bentley (Author), Karen Carr (Illustrator) Publisher: Soundprints; List Price:$6.95 The Prehistoric forest can be a very dangerous place for a young Triceratops. That's why he always travels with his herd. But when Triceratops is left behind, he suddenly find himself alone and helpless! Will Triceratops find his herd? Includes a tear-out poster. This is just one of several books in this series Smithsonian's Pals published by Soundprints. Each book contains a story about the life of a different dinosaur for very young children; also included is a read along CD. Adults will enjoy reading these to their children as the stories are well done and the artwork by Karen Carr is realistic, accurate and looks outstanding. Other books in the series sent to PT include A Busy Day for Stegosaurus (Smithsonian's Prehistoric Pals) (Paperback) also by Dawn Bentley (Author), Karen Carr (Illustrator), and newer hardback books in the series include Ankylosaurus Fights Back and It's Tyrannosaurus rex. The front covers slide open to reveal a read along CD. The books also include the tear out posters. Also in the series are Smithsonian Institute Book & Toy Gift Sets. Each boxed set includes a colorful book from the series (reduced in size) and a plush figure of the prehistoric animal. We received Pteranodon Soars and Woolly Mammoth in Trouble. A great way to start very young children's interest and education in dinosaurs.
 
Rosen Graphica sent us four exciting new graphic novel style books in their new dinosaur series. The series is titled "Graphic Dinosaurs" and includes Velociraptor The Speedy Thief, Pteranodon the Giant of the Sky, Triceratops The Horned Dinosaur and Tyrannosaurus The Tyrant Lizard. Each is a combination comic book style dinosaur tale and information book. The artwork is topnotch and includes some computer-generated dinosaur images along with the illustrations. All dinosaur fans will want to read these colorful stories but especially dinosaur comic book fans. Their catalog shows a great variety of graphic novels on many other subjects as well. Each paperback is $9.95 www.rosenpublishing.com or 1-800-237-9932