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Urumaco and Venezuelan Paleontology offers a synthesis of the paleontological record of Venezuela, including new discoveries on stratigraphy, paleobotany, fossil invertebrates, and vertebrates. Besides providing a critical summary of the record of decapods, fishes, crocodiles, turtles, rodents, armadillos, and ungulates, several chapters introduce new information on the distribution and paleobiology of groups not previously studied in this part of the world. Given its position in the northern neotropics, close to the Panamanian land bridge, Venezuela is a key location for understanding faunal exchanges between the Americas in the recent geological past. The book reviews the recent paleobotanical and vertebrate fossil record of the region, provides an understanding of Pleistocene climatic change and biogeography for the last few thousand years, and integrates new information with summaries of Spanish language works on Venezuelan geology and paleontology.

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Customer Reviews (3)

Paints a Picture of Paleontology with a Broad Paintbrush
Foote and Miller have written a wonderful book which tries to explore as broadly as possible all the sort of wonderful analytical work people can do with paleontological data. As would be expected from both the authors, who are respected among paleobiologists for their analytical skill, this book describes the different techniques of paleontology cleanly and with clarity. They don't focus too much on the details and neither are important topics missed.

Overall, the reader gets an excellent view all the big topics and questions currently in paleontological research. The examples in this book will give readers an idea of the types of questions that can be asked. It is sometimes surprising how some very interesting things were done back in the seventies or eighties but have had little follow up work! If the reader takes a special interest in a specific topic, such as theoretical morphology, than there are other books out there (such as those by McGhee, in the case of theoretical morphology) for the reader to get more detail. That is rather rightfully the place of this book: here is a bunch of interesting, exciting examples with limited detail, now go off on what seems most exciting to YOU!

If there is any regret, it is that there are dozens more of interesting case studies from the last three decades Paleobiology (and other scientific journals) which did not make it into this book.

In my view, this would be an excellent textbook for an advanced paleontology techniques/topics course at a university, such as for third year and fourth year undergraduate students or first year graduate students.

Disclaimer: I am a UChicago graduate student; the school which both Foote and Miller graduated from and which Foote is a professor at. That said, it means I care quite intensely about the analytical questions of paleontology.

Sets the record straight
This book helped me through a very difficult time in my studies. I applaud the authors!

The Paleo Book
the book was informative but very boring!!!!!!!!
there was no color, but nice diagrams...was barely used by my professor b/c she said it didn't hit key points ... Read more

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This expanded and updated second edition offers a comprehensive look at macroevolution and its underpinnings, with a primary emphasis on animal evolution. From a Neodarwinian point of view, the book integrates evolutionary processes at all levels to explain the diversity of animal life. It examines a wide range of topics including genetics, speciation, development, evolution, constructional and functional aspects of form, fossil lineages, and systematics, and --in a major new chapter--takes a hard look at the Cambrian explosion. The author delves into the age of molecular science and integrates important recent contributions made to our understanding of evolution. ... Read more

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"Carroll has to his credit an immense amount of useful labour in writing the book and will probably corner the market for a vertebrate paleontology text for the rest of this century."Nature ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The book for bones!
I had Romer's Vertebrate Paleontology, which is an excellent book, until a paleontologist friend directed me to Carroll's book. He acknowledges Romer's work in the field but this is an updated version (for the time of publication).
It gives all the basic elements needed for a thorough understanding of this very important field of study. One caution: know your anatomy! The detailed information can be a bit overwhelming for the amateur (like me).
However, if you want to chart the course of evolution up to the present - read this book!

One of the few college texybooks I kept.
This book was my textbook for Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution at the University of Rochester back in 1992.The book is very daunting to look at if you just flip through it.However, it does a nice job of introducing concepts and terms to the reader.Its organization is straightforward, starting with the simplest vertebrates and eventually finishing with mammals.Most groups are covered well, considering that the author's cover every group of vertebrates known.The biggest problem I had with the book was the section on dinosaurs, the biggest reason why I took the class. The information on them was limited to a few pages and much of the information was out-dated even in 1992.However, if you are looking for a good book on vertebrates, this is a must have.Just realize that some of the information may not reflect our current understanding since the book is over 10 years old and many new finds have come to light, new ideas have been introduced, and old ideas reexamined.

I spent 2 weeks chewing on this book...

...the only easily available work that goes to any depth on this intensely interesting subject.A large book of medium thickness with an average of about two drawings per page, including familial relationship diagrams.

Since the late Paleozoic, there have been two significantbranches of terrestrial vertebrates: the diapsids (crocs, dinosaurs, birds)and synapsids (pelycosaurs, theraspids, mammals).Sharing a commonancestry and evolving at times in parallel, nevertheless distinctivefeatures appear early that, though not of immediately apparentsignificance, in fact consign the lines to their separate fates.

Thepelycosaur Dimetrodon, the familiar lizard-like reptile with a sail on itsback that is often reproduced as a toy, and which I have always associatedwith the dinosaurs, is in fact a member of the synapsid line.The bookpoints out how the process on the mandible that reaches up toward thetemporal lobe is the beginning of a shift away from the ancestralquadrate-angular jaw articulation maintained by the diapsids through thebirds.With the additional points of leverage provided, mammals weredestined to become better chewers, able to move their jaws sideways inaddition to up and down.The angular bone and one other bone in themandible, incidentally, become modified to help pick up soundwaves, andeventually migrate to become one of the three bones in the middle ear. (Birds only have one bone in their middle ear, though interestingly, theirhearing appears to be just as acute.)

Mammals continued to refine theirchewing mechanism, introducing improvements to their teeth.Instead ofthe saw of teeth possessed by dinosaurs and early reptiles, the mammalsdeveloped closely occluding teeth that allowed them to grind food moreefficiently.Apparently the price for this matching of the upper and lowerteeth is that mammals cannot replace their adult teeth once lost.

Ifyou are a specialist in one of the larger groups of vertebrates, such asthe dinosaurs or the mammals, the coverage of this book will beunsatisfying.Sometimes I had difficulty determining what the definingcharacteristics that distinguished groups were, so I still can't look at askeleton and know whether it's a pelycosaur or an early theraspid.On arelated note, the relationship diagrams are not cladograms, butold-fashioned family tree type drawings, indicating not only relationshipbut the time period in which the group lived, with a thickening of thelines to show abundance. ... Read more

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In this updated and expanded version of his 1982 book Fossils of New Mexico, Kues offers a detailed overview of the fauna and flora of New Mexico through the past 500 million years, from Cambrian through Pleistocene time. An explosion in our knowledge of the state's fossil record has occurred in the past twenty-five years, and in this comprehensive examination Kues thoroughly discusses new discoveries and interpretations as well as the classic New Mexico fossil assemblages that are known worldwide.

After an introductory section covering basic paleontological concepts and a survey of the major groups of animals, plants, and protozoans, each chapter focuses on the state's fossil record for an individual geological period or epoch. These chapters include a summary of important paleontological and evolutionary events, an outline of the stratigraphy of the state, maps, and commentary on the vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants that lived in New Mexico during each time interval. Numerous illustrations portray the important fossils known from the state. This book demonstrates not only how rich and diverse New Mexico's record of past life is, but also documents ongoing studies that will lead to new discoveries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Diverse Ancient Life of a Geologically Complex State
New Mexico is a very complex state, geologically speaking.It has from relatively young Pleistocene alluvial deposits all the way back to ancient Proterozoic (Pre-Cambrian) rock.From the Cambrian to the recent, New Mexico has a huge fossil fauna and flora.This ancient biota has been only treated to my knowledge in scattered technical publications and one or two booklets before Barry S. Kues of the University of New Mexico produced this volume entitled "The Paleontology of New Mexico".

This is an impressive undertaking, but Kues seems to have lived up to it from what I saw.He covers each fossil-occurring period with many examples, most well illustrated.These include fossil organisms from the little late Triassic dinosaurs of Ghost Ranch to the Permian pelycosaurs of the Abo sandstone and from trilobites to mammoths.The book is fairly large in format and quite detailed, much more so than anything published earlier.Among many other details the author includes a fascinating series of maps showing the extent of the last marine deposits in New Mexico in the middle to late Cretaceous, as the sea coast disappeared to the northeast.This book is certainly going to be a major reference for anyone interested in the paleontology and geology of the state. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Still The Best Academic Introduction to Paleontology
"Principles of Paleontology" remains the finest introductory academic text to paleontology, written by two of the foremost paleontologists in the latter half of the 20th Century. It may be of interest too to historians and philosophers of science since the book reflects paleontology's emergence as a quantitative science shaped by recent advances in systematic biology and theoretical ecology. David Raup, now professor emeritus of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, was probably the paleontologist most responsible for paleontology's emergence as a quantitative science; his research covered many aspects of theoretical paleontology from analyzing shell morphology to measuring evolutionary rates. Steven M. Stanley, still a professor of geology at Johns Hopkins University, is noted for his research on the functional morphology of mollusk shells, measuring evolutionary rates, and introducing the concept of "Species Selection".

Raup's and Stanley's text covers all aspects of paleontology from preservation and the fossil record to functional morphology, biostratigraphy, paleoecology, and macroevolution. Of special note to historians of science is the considerable attention that they devoted to then recent advances in community and population ecology, such as the MacArthur-Wilson theory of equilibrium island biogeography. Admittedly, much of the book emphasizes invertebrate paleontology, though some attention is devoted too to paleobotany and vertebrate paleontology. ... Read more

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Writing from the perspective of an art historian, Jane P. Davidson traces the history of paleontology illustration from the 15th century to the present. She combines discussions of these images as works of representative art with assessments of the artists. The book covers depictions of fossils, restorations of plants and animals, and ecological restorations in painting, drawing, sculpture, and in display restorations such as dioramas. Although the main subject of the book is scientific illustration, it also delves into "popular" illustrations such as those found in children's textbooks, popular introductions to paleontology and geology, museum and other public displays, and film. Both a history of science and a history of representation, this is a fascinating exploration of the interactions between art and science. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

woefully poor quality
If you are hoping to obtain a book containing heaps of great illustrations of prehistoric scenes from the 18th and 19th Century, do not buy this book. Whilst the text is fine, but perhaps not amazing, the plates themselves are shocking.

I though that I had bought a cheap Thai mock up.... Maybe I had, but this didn't explain why some pictures were ok and others were horrifying.. Many were photocopy quality, some pictures were so pixelated it was as if they are only 72 dpi, and reproductions from manuscripts were photographed in ordinary rather than scanned.

What a shocker.... very dissapointed....

A cursory view of paleontological illustration
Davidson is Professor of Art History at the University of Nevada, Reno and writes as an art historian there. She traces the history of paleontological illustration from the 15th century to the present. She combines discussions of the images with assessments of the artists. The main subject of the book is scientific illustration, and only delves into "popular" illustrations such as those found in adult & children's textbooks, museum and other public displays, and film. The entire book is a very cursory overview with little detail. The six chapter book covers the entire 20th century in the final chapter which is hardly adequate. Both a history of science and a history of representation, the book starts off well but perhaps should have saved the twentieth century for a second book. If you were new to the subject, this would be a great introduction but I cannot really recommend it for seasoned fans of paleoart!

A different perspective than what I hoped for.
It is a very heavily illustrated book, and there are some good points about it. You many be interested in artistic conventions of the past, e.g. how in the 1820-1840's, marine reptiles were always shown on land spouting like whales. Also the ability of 19th Century artists to make hand-drawn engravings that look as realistic as photographs is truly amazing.

However, ultimately I was disappointed, probably the first time by any book in the "Life of the Past" series in particular, or of the Indiana University Press in general. Here is why. Quoting from the book jacket: "Writing from the perspecitve of an art historian, Jane P. Davidson traces the history of paleontology illustration from the fifteenth century to the present, combining discussion of these images as works of representative art with candid assessment of the artists."

What I really was hoping for was perspective from a historian of science: why artists depicted fossils the way they did, given the knowledge of the time. Also, I am more interested in recent times (say the past 150 years) when paleontology was a topic of scientific study and not just a collection of curiosities. Charles R. Knight appears in the last half of the last chapter.

However, what you hope to get out of this book may vary from mine. ... Read more

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Paleo
This is excellent book that providea a brief overview of the field of paleontology.A great book for nonscientists. ... Read more

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Some 75 million years ago, one dinosaur ended its life. The dinosaur was an Albertosaurus -- distant cousin to the ferocious, meat-eating predator Tyrannosaurus Rex. But its death was also a beginning -- the start of its transformation into a fossil, which lay undiscovered for millennia until the forces of erosion brought the young dinosaur, once again, to light. ... Read more

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Have you ever wondered what it's really like to dig for dinosaur bones on Alaska's North Slope?To excavate cave fossils high in the mountains of Colorado?To hunt for trilobites in the Utah desert?To collect fossil urchins from cliffs on Australia's seashore?

These and many more adventures await you in the pages of this book.From Ontario to Argentina to Wyoming, you'll screen for microfossils from anthills, excavate bones large and small, and collect beautiful invertebrate and plant fossils.By the time you finish reading these tales, you'll feel like you've been there yourself! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF PALEONTOLOGY
.......and by "lighter" I don't necessarily mean funny, although the book made me smile at times. It's refreshing to find a non-children's book on fossil hunting that is well written and entertaining in an easy going way.

FIELD ADVENTURES IN PALEONTOLOGY is a quick and enjoyable read. It chronicles Lynne Clos's fossil hunting trips in an-easy-to-read yet informative style that makes you feel as if you went along. If you want to read about the human side of paleontology written in a diary style and format...this is one book that won't disappoint. It won't help you identify that strange fossil that you found but it will enable you to pass a pleasant evening.

It was a gift
Hard to review because I gave it as a gift to my grandson who is very interested in this subject although he's just 12 but very mature for his age.I trust that he'll enjoy the book - hard to know.The book seemed very good as I looked it over.

Field Adventures is captivating and easy to read!
Field Adventures in Paleontology is one of the most riveting books on paleontology I have ever read.It is well-written and could be understood by anyone from a high school student to a seasoned scientist.For once, someone has written a book about what it is like to do paleontological excavation work that doesn't require you to have a PhD. and university funding!The digs in this book are accessible to everyone, even amateurs like me.Besides having lots of good photos and science, it opened my eyes to how to go about joining a fossil dig--something I've always wanted to do.Every student and amateur should read this book! ... Read more

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Evolutionist Treatise
I remember this book from my childhood.I plan to order a copy to send to Sarah Palin, since I understand that she wants to outlaw the teaching of evolution, in favor of creationism.Well, I am now a creationist, but the splendid data in this book cannot be discounted.

Illustrations!
I'm certainly no expert on this topic, so this review is going to be basic. The illustrations in this, the 3rd Edition of 1966, are numerous and wonderful. There are several charts in this book, but what really impresses are the old school line drawings -- aomething like 200 of them -- line drawings of incredible complexity and clarity.

Sometimes a drawing communicates much better than does a photograph.

An overview of the history of vertebrates
This work is an excellent overview of the vast sum of information known about vertebrates.It's concise but a complete coverage of the subject, shedding light on many of the theories and controversies regarding various aspects of the subject.Romer avails himself of embryologic information, as well as geologic, to shed light on the development of these animals.He sheds enough light on the development of various anatomic areas to be interesting but not tedious for the novice reader.For this subject -- this is a great intro. ... Read more

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Griffins, Centaurs, Cyclopes, and Giants--these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? What if monstrous creatures once roamed the earth in the very places where their legends first arose? This is the arresting and original thesis that Adrienne Mayor explores in The First Fossil Hunters. Through careful research and meticulous documentation, she convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact--in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans.

As Mayor shows, the Greeks and Romans were well aware that a different breed of creatures once inhabited their lands. They frequently encountered the fossilized bones of these primeval beings, and they developed sophisticated concepts to explain the fossil evidence, concepts that were expressed in mythological stories. The legend of the gold-guarding griffin, for example, sprang from tales first told by Scythian gold-miners, who, passing through the Gobi Desert at the foot of the Altai Mountains, encountered the skeletons of Protoceratops and other dinosaurs that littered the ground.

Like their modern counterparts, the ancient fossil hunters collected and measured impressive petrified remains and displayed them in temples and museums; they attempted to reconstruct the appearance of these prehistoric creatures and to explain their extinction. Long thought to be fantasy, the remarkably detailed and perceptive Greek and Roman accounts of giant bone finds were actually based on solid paleontological facts. By reading these neglected narratives for the first time in the light of modern scientific discoveries, Adrienne Mayor illuminates a lost world of ancient paleontology. As Peter Dodson writes in his Foreword, "Paleontologists, classicists, and historians as well as natural history buffs will read this book with the greatest of delight--surprises abound."Amazon.com Review
Since fossils have presumably existed for millions of years,why don't we see much paleontological thought from ancient writers? Classics scholar Adrienne Mayor suggests that we can, in fact, learnmuch about the Greek and Roman attitudes toward fossils if we turn toa surprising source of data and theory: their myths. In The FirstFossil Hunters, she explores likely connections between the richfossil beds around the Mediterranean and tales of griffins and giantsoriginating in the classical world. Striking similarities existbetween the Protoceratops skeletons of the Gobi Desert and thelegends of the gold-hoarding griffin told by nomadic people of theregion, and the fossilized remains of giant Miocene mammals could betaken for the heroes and monsters of earlier times. Mayor makes hercase well, but, as with all interpretive science, the arguments areinconclusive. Still, her novel reading of ancient myth--and hercritique of the modern scientific mythology that seeks to explain thelack of classical paleontological thinking--is compelling andthought-provoking.

The final chapter of The First Fossil Hunters is an engrossingand occasionally quite funny look at "Paleontological Fictions" datingback several thousand years; the false tritons and centaurs giveP.T. Barnum and his successors a much longer genealogy than previouslythought. Whether or not you accept Mayor's analysis of Greek and Romanthinking, The First Fossil Hunters should open your eyes to newpossibilities about our distant past. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Mayor's Hypothesis fails on contrary evidence-built on house of cards
There certainly seemed to be a fact void for Ms. Mayor to try to fill; griffin depictions from the 17th century B.C. at Knossos, through the Medieval period-and in Greek, Scynthian, Roman and Asian art and cultures were surprisingly consistent. And there was of course no question that the creatures depicted were mythological so..

clearly all the various cultures in various parts of the world through more that 30 centuries all encountered the same fossil and created the same winged, mythological creature....

The Ancient, Global, Griffin Solution; Cultural Diffusion, Paleontological Confusion, Or Living Creature Profusion? Ancient American Mound Builder "Griffin"-Identical to 500 B.C. Persian and 7th Century Greek Griffin

[...]

Too much personal opinion, not enough facts
There are interesting theories in this book, however I would have much rather have seen more of the ancient text that supposedly refer to fish fossils, rather than her simple opinion that they do. Since paleontology is based on the remnants of information, it would be best to display them to their fullest,as the are all that you have.only when this is done, is there room for conjecture as to what they mean. but only giving little bits of evidence, and a lot of opinion leaves much to be desired, and is not good science. But then again I am a Physicist, so maybe I expect too much from Paleontology...

PALEONTOLOGY
At first very excited.Too much repetition and found some appelations peculiar. Would like to have seen some classics scholars consulted.
And not one American paleontologist cited - unless I just mised it.Not much talk about migration theories.the ancient Greeks understood even more than she gives them credit for - check out myths as well as legends - there's a reason for myth.

Those clever, curious Greeks
Today, when a spectacular fossil is unearthed, it ends up in a museum. Our ancestors must have found stone bones, too, but they didn't have museums. So they put them in temples.

And spun yarns about them. It should not have been surprising that, once someone thought to ransack the ancient world for evidence, so much of it remains. We have already seen, in other fields, how much can be reconstructed from even the scraps of inscriptions that have been accumulated so assiduously by, for the most part, German philologists. And we already knew that the Greeks, above all other premodern people, asked questions about what they found in the world around them.

It is a bit of a surprise, if Adrienne Mayor is correct, that the model of the griffin should be dinosaur fossils found as far away as Central Asia. That was a very, very long way from Greece. Less surprising, perhaps, that fake fossils were also in evidence.

Probably none of the fossils collected so long ago remains, but Adrienne Mayor finds a few representations of them. The most convincing is a skull painted on a vase.

Her treatment is very complete, with an appendix of apparent references to fossils in old texts, such as a passing reference in Cicero to theft of fossils from a temple.

There is room for much speculation in this scrappy material, and Mayor makes the most of it.

Altogether, 'The First Fossil Hunters' is a clever, entertaining, imaginative and curious book.

Fabulous fables formed from facts
Two millennia of condemnation of "pagan" mythology have obscured the value ancient legends contributed to knowledge.Being members of this world instead of longing for the next, our ancient ancestors were keen observers of Nature.Among their interests were "mythical monsters".The Griffin - a combination of lion and eagle; the Minotaur - a man with a bull's head; or the Cyclops - a man with but one eye.These familiar characters emerged from ancient Mediterranean societies and transmitted down to our own time.Lost in the transmission was the notion that there might be a factual basis for such creatures.Adrienne Mayor wants to clarify the origins of mythological creatures.In this excellent study, she challenges fixed thinking about myths' origins.

The Mediterranean is a dynamic place.Continental plates collide, pushing up mountains, diverting rivers and causing sea basins to flood or become dry.The constantly changing conditions reveal long buried fossil sites.Mayor builds a vivid picture of how the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Romans might encounter these strange artefacts and attempt to make sense of them.What would these bizarre skulls, teeth or thigh bones mean to them?They were aware of anatomy and didn't mistake a leg bone for a vertebrae.Their reconstructions of the artefacts were reasonably accurate.They "knew" the fossils represented once-living creatures.Not having mastered the scientific discipline of today, they "interpreted" the exposed fossils in human terms - stories of mighty people, heroic deeds and lost worlds.Mayor argues that fossils led the ancients to understand life wasn't fixed.Creatures and humans alike had once lived in ancient times, then died out.Extinction was a real possibility - it had already happened.

Combining photographs and expressive line drawings to supplement her text, Mayor offers vivid evidence of the source for many mythical creatures.When bone assemblages of several species jumbled together were found, it was only logical to assume a single creature was once built around them.Hence, we are told of bull-headed men, or lions with an eagle's beak.We can see how the image of a bizarre creature emerging from a cave is actually a dinosaur fossil protruding from an eroding cliff.The view on a vase painting depicts this scene with superb clarity.With no idea of the Earth's true age, it was easy to make these judgements.Mythology is built from human experience, so it was fitting to give these creatures human characteristics.

Mayor's challenge to both classical scholars and paleontology permeates the book.The long history of dismissal of legendary creatures and the myths surrounding them blinds both scholars and the public alike, she contends.She suggests scientists and classicists enlarge their views of the information and evidence and reconsider how we perceive the past.As an example, Aristotle was long attributed as advocating fixity of species; a notion seized on by Christian scholars.Mayor demonstrates this is a limited reading of the philosopher.More such revelations might come to light if open-minded researchers seek further.Some documents have shown how the ancients measured and assessed fossil.They were clearly aware that fossils demonstrated that contemporary life and past life were similar but not identical.[stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada] ... Read more

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A comprehensive, one-term paleontology text. Its unified approach presents animal, plant, and invertebrate history and interaction. Emphasis is on how life evolved and shows how paleontology reveals earth history. Presents an integrated picture of paleontology, rather than detailed classification schemes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good overview, but some things are out of date
I had this as the textbook to the general paleontology course I took as an undergrad at the University of Florida back in the late 1990s. I found it to be quite thorough and useful as a general intro, though as the field had already progressed significantly in many ways by that time (and moreso by now), I found it wanting for methodological or conceptual uses. I would certainly still recommend it as an intro to many of the key issues in paleontology - I still refer to it for reminders of some apsects of paleo that I do not encounter frequently in my work - but I would not consider it ultimately as useful as some other texts out there that are more recent if you are planning to start a career in paleontology.

NOT A DINO-DICTIONARY!
This book is terrific as it explains the ins and outs of Palaeontology rather than gives a very basic dictionary of the most popular dinosaurs in the Mesozoic. It is a good book for anybody who is interested in evolutionand how Palaeontology is used to discover the history of the earth. If youwant explanations as to what Palaeontology, Palaeoichnology andPalaeobotany is then pick up this book and be amazed! The wording is alittle complicated however and if you're not familar with Palaeontologists'jargon you may find yourself a little lost but have a go anyway, you'llfind yourself intrigued.--Nikki DuncanAustralia ... Read more

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Designed for use in conjunction with a variety of textbooks, but particularly with Boardman's "Fossil Invertebrates" , the manual provides exercises, tying palaeobiological concepts to an examination of fossil specimens. So that its use can be tailored to the fossil material available, the manual includes more exercises than will be required by most laboratory courses. Some exercises or their components may be omitted. The author's prime intention is to familiarize students with fossil taxonomy and morphology and to incorporate principles of paleobiology to demonstrate problems in historical geology and evolution for which fossils are useful. ... Read more

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Millions of years after vanishing from the Earth, dinosaurs still have the power to stir students’ curiosity. Deepen that interest with Adventures in Paleontology, a series of lively hands-on activities especially for middle schoolers. This beautifully illustrated full color book features 36 activities that open students up to a variety of foundational sciences, including biology, geology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy. For example: • “How Do Fossils Form?” discusses how organisms become fossils and illustrates the concept with activities that simulate fossil-making processes. • “What Can You Learn From Fossils?” explores what fossils teach about ancient organisms. • “Mass Extinction and Meteor Collisions With Earth” discusses recently discovered links between meteor and asteroid impacts on Earth and the demise of animals like dinosaurs. Other chapters cover how to tell the age of the Earth; how dinosaurs evolved; and diversity, classification, and taxonomy.! The final chapters offer humanistic perspectives on fossils in literature and art. As an attention-grabbing complement to the text, vivid full color illustrations show not just skeletons and animal tracks but also what dinosaurs probably looked like in their natural settings. Handy line drawings guide students through each step of the activities. ... Read more

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Profiles eight of the people whose study of dinosaurs has shaped the field of paleontology over the past two hundred years. ... Read more

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Bone Up On The Dinosaur Hunters
Reading Between The Bones: The Pioneers of Dinosaur Paleontology by Susan Clinton is not as good as Pioneers Of Geology, her more recent work written in collaboration with Margaret W. Carruthers [if that one is a 5 star book, this one should get 4.5 stars], but is still a very good book.The book covers an eclectic and excellent selection of paleontologists, starting with Georges Cuvier, the first paleontologist, and concludes with Jack Horner, a model for the paleontologist in the first Jurassic Park movie.I am glad Cuvier is included.Even though Cuvier was the first paleontologist and convinced the scientific community of the validity of extinctions, he is often vilified in geology texts as an unscientific Catastrophist. [This is a misrepresentation of Cuvier and the Catastrophists, who were not unscientific.They were just wrong about certain aspects of Earth history.]The section on Roy Chapman Andrews [a model for Indiana Jones] includes equal billing for Walter Granger, the paleontologist with the Central Asiatic Expeditions, which gives the reader a better idea of what went on during those classic expeditions to the deserts of Mongolia.The book includes a Geologic Time Scale, a good bibliography, and an index, but lacks a glossary.Reading Between The Bones would have benefitted from the subsections and subtitles used in Pioneers of Geology, which made the later book easier to read.My few reservations do not negate the fact that this book should be on the shelves in every elementary school and middle school library in the country and would be a killer gift for the budding dinosaur hunter, especially those who are not ready for the more advanced books written by Jack Horner and others.I recommend you dig up a copy of Reading Between The Bones. ... Read more

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In the wake of the paleobiological revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, paleontologists continue to investigate far-reaching questions about how evolution works. Many of those questions have a philosophical dimension. How is macroevolution related to evolutionary changes within populations? Is evolutionary history contingent? How much can we know about the causes of evolutionary trends? How do paleontologists read the patterns in the fossil record to learn about the underlying evolutionary processes? Derek Turner explores these and other questions, introducing the reader to exciting recent work in the philosophy of paleontology and to theoretical issues including punctuated equilibria and species selection. He also critically examines some of the major accomplishments and arguments of paleontologists of the last 40 years. ... Read more

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More than ten years ago, when I first read Mario Gandelsonas’ book The Urban Context, the beautiful abstract diagrams that the book presented -the street network of Chicago- fascinated me with the profound historical and cultural background that they suggested. Without knowing how this would direct me, I started to draw something related with the street network of Beijing. That is the beginning of this book. Among tons of the diagrams that I have created, most of them have not been incorporated into this book, while they have directed me into this fascinating research area which focuses on the "mineralized skeleton," rather than the "soft tissue" of urban forms.It was not until the recent five years when Yang and I came across some theories and approaches in paleontology that we started to integrate them into the street network study in Beijing and Savannah. Paleontology methods lay the foundation and provide a systematic and scientific platform for our research. Then urban paleontology, as a new framework for urban form study, unfolds itself more and more apparently in front of us. It explores the evolution of "urban species" based on their remains- "urban fossils," which describe distinct urban forms with imprints of their street networks. Just as how a biological fossil serves as a factual documentation of certain life forms, an urban fossil provides clues of the existence and transformation of urban forms.The study of urban paleontology inevitably directs us to further exploration in the fields of biology, anatomy, archeology, geology, and the application of computer aided design in the excavation of urban sites. Upon finishing this book, we realize that our work is too inadequate to possibly incorporate all the influence that other disciplines may have on architecture and urban design. What it has suggested is that architecture presents such a wide array of connections with other disciplines and becomes more and more towards an interdisciplinary study. We hope this book has illustrated the diversity of problems that invite further study and can serve as a start point for architects to conceive the total spectrum.-Ming Tang ... Read more