![The Story of the Dinosaurs in 25 Discoveries](/assets/artwork/1x1-42817eea7ade52607a760cbee00d1495.gif)
![The Story of the Dinosaurs in 25 Discoveries](/assets/artwork/1x1-42817eea7ade52607a760cbee00d1495.gif)
![](/assets/artwork/1x1-42817eea7ade52607a760cbee00d1495.gif)
![](/assets/artwork/1x1-42817eea7ade52607a760cbee00d1495.gif)
The Story of the Dinosaurs in 25 Discoveries
Amazing Fossils and the People Who Found Them
-
- 33,99 $
-
- 33,99 $
Description de l’éditeur
Today, any kid can rattle off the names of dozens of dinosaurs. But it took centuries of scientific effort—and a lot of luck—to discover and establish the diversity of dinosaur species we now know. How did we learn that Triceratops had three horns? Why don’t many paleontologists consider Brontosaurus a valid species? What convinced scientists that modern birds are relatives of ancient Velociraptor?
In The Story of the Dinosaurs in 25 Discoveries, Donald R. Prothero tells the fascinating stories behind the most important fossil finds and the intrepid researchers who unearthed them. In twenty-five vivid vignettes, he weaves together dramatic tales of dinosaur discoveries with what modern science now knows about the species to which they belong. Prothero takes us from eighteenth-century sightings of colossal bones taken for biblical giants through recent discoveries of enormous predators even larger than Tyrannosaurus. He recounts the escapades of the larger-than-life personalities who made modern paleontology, including scientific rivalries like the nineteenth-century “Bone Wars.” Prothero also details how to draw the boundaries between species and explores debates such as whether dinosaurs had feathers, explaining the findings that settled them or keep them going. Throughout, he offers a clear and rigorous look at what paleontologists consider sound interpretation of evidence. An essential read for any dinosaur lover, this book teaches us to see an ancient world ruled by giant majestic creatures anew.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Prothero (The Story of Life in 25 Fossils), a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, delivers another winning popular science book. Each of the 25 chapters "focuses on a particular discovery or genus or specimen of scientific and historical significance," and offers details about their discoverers, along with a comparison of what was initially thought about them, and what is believed today. That contrast in the state of paleontological knowledge is vividly presented, for example, in illustrations depicting how dinosaurs were thought to have looked, and how their skeletons were initially displayed in museums. Prothero maintains a pleasingly light touch, as when he highlights an 18th-century scientist's mistaking the knee end of a megalosaurus thighbone for the fossilized scrotum from a giant human. He also leavens technical discussions, such as concerning species categorization or naming, with descriptions of the sometimes all-too-human personalities who moved science forward, such as the late-19th-century dinosaur hunters Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh, bitter rivals whose respective crews interfered with and even threw rocks at each other on digs in the Southwestern U.S. Thanks to this mix of erudition and storytelling skills, dinosaur buffs will be delighted, fascinated, and entertained.