Reading Between the Bones: The Pioneers of Dinosaur Paleontology (Lives in Science)

Rating:
Summary: Bone Up On The Dinosaur Hunters
Review: 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.