Book Description
Though nature is indifferent to the struggles of her creatures, the human effect on them is often premeditated. The distressing decline of sea turtles in Pacific waters and their surprising recovery in the Atlantic illuminate what can go both wrong and right from our interventions, and teach us the lessons that can be applied to restore health to the worlds oceans and its creatures. As Carl Safinas compelling natural history adventure makes clear, the fate of the astonishing leatherback turtle, whose ancestry can be traced back 125 million years, is in our hands. Writing with verve and color, Safina describes how he and his colleagues track giant pelagic turtles across the worlds oceans and onto remote beaches of every continent. As scientists apply lessons learned in the Atlantic and Caribbean to other endangered seas, Safina follows leatherback migrations, including a thrilling journey from Monterey, California, to nesting grounds on the most remote beaches of Papua, New Guinea. The only surviving species of its genus, family, and suborder, the leatherback is an evolutionary marvel: a reptile that behaves like a warm-blooded dinosaur, an ocean animal able to withstand colder water than most fishes and dive deeper than any whale. In his peerless prose, Safina captures the delicate interaction between these gentle giants and the humans who are finally playing a significant role in their survival.
Customer Reviews:
A must-read for all turtle friends!.......2007-10-16
My husband gave me the book, and I read it within a few days. It is entertaining, informative, and grabs your attention. I thought I knew much about sea turtles, but this book truly opened a new world to me. I especially liked how Carl Safina discusses the conflicts between humans and turtles in developing countries, and shows ways to find compromises between turtles and humans so both can live. This is certainly a bok I will read a second or third time.
An incredible story of both humans and turtles.......2007-07-31
Safina gave a public lecture at my university (near where he grew up on Long Island) last year about Leatherbacks.* He speaks with even more passion than he writes! We purchased a number of (signed!) copies of Voyage of the Turtle and Song for the Blue Ocean.
Safina joins scientists, fishermen and conservationists from all over the world to learn about the turtles. He accompanies, to name a few, a shrimper off the east coast of the US, turtle counters on remote Pacific islands, swordfishermen near Canada, high-tech biologists in Monterrey Bay, and so many more. It is an incredible adventure laced with stories of the animals, people, science, cultures, politics, myths, technology and nature that Safina encounters. It is really as much a story about humanity as it is about turtles.
The book is simultaneously depressing and uplifting. It reveals the horrific and heroic things humans are capable of. Much of it is simply shocking: the number of sea animals, including turtles, that died for every shrimp you eat is outrageous; Leatherbacks that nest in Mexico spend their time in Japan; changing the shape of a fishing hook slightly can save 90% more turtles; etc.
The turtles' situation is dire, like all other conservation issues. Safina weaves many conservation themes together, while not being "preachy." This would be an amazing book to read in a biology class at any level.
* Safina capitalizes all species' names in the book, and now it seems simply wrong not to capitalize the name of one of the greatest animals alive.
Beautifully written, an inspiring book about some of the earth's most amazing creatures.......2007-07-29
I have always loved sea turtles and Safina's book has left me with a greater appreciation & desire to see these wonderful animals protected. This book is written so that it is both informative and entertaining. Carl Safina's insights, perspective, and style are really engaging. The language he uses to explain his travels to the reader draw one into the world of the sea turtle. I am so impressed by Safina's devotion to the environment and his ability to express himself in words, that I have recently purchased Eye of the Albatross and Song for the Blue Ocean (also by Safina) from Amazon.com!
Traipsing after turtles.......2007-07-17
The human diaspora across the planet has been Nature's most jarring event since the Cretaceous. Not since an asteroid slammed into the Caribbean 65 million years ago has anything exceeded what our species has done to upset the diversity of life. A mysterious group of animals, leftovers from that bolide, is revealing its secrets to enquiring scientists. The sea-going turtles, whose peregrinations around the world's oceans, are revealing new information about their enigmatic lives. Carl Safina followed the turtles and the people studying them to describe the findings and what they mean. This brilliant account reveals turtle life and the threats they endure.
After reminding us that only seven species of sea turtle remain, Safina visits the Caribbean to describe the great Leatherbacks coming ashore and nesting. Emerging through the night's surf, she finds a particular spot, one which may require more than one attempt, then with her back to the site, uses her rear flippers to blindly scoop out a hole to drop her eggs. Safina describes his wonder at her ability to do this without seeing the effect of her digging. Not all turtles manage this without mishap, and in a few cases the caring observers do the digging for her. In either case she drops her eggs, covers them with sand in a way to camouflage the spot, then returns to the sea. From the surf line, she swims away to some unknown destination. When the eggs hatch, the surviving young follow her to the sea. For the males, it's the last time they will feel land under their flippers.
The destination long remained a mystery until tagged turtles began appearing thousands of kilometres away. Safina joins a boat seeking Swordfish over the Canadian Grand Banks as a means of finding the giant turtles. Leatherbacks plying these waters are of Caribbean origin. Those females feed on Cannonball Jellyfish along the Carolinas before shifting north, later to cruise the vastness of the Atlantic to the Azores. It's a fabulous migration, but there are bigger surprises in store.
Along the eastern Pacific, Leatherbacks and other species were once common. Nature's most voracious predator has sharply reduced their number, chiefly by removing eggs just after they're laid. Villagers consumed or sold them in vast numbers. After a tour of a miniscule beach nesting site in Costa Rica, Safina meets with various students of turtle habits. He flies with Sandy Lanham and Laura Sarti to count turtles on the Mexican Coast, where lengthy beaches no longer experience turtle numbers that once was the case. To learn what has happened to them, Safina must cross the Pacific to Papua on the west end of New Guinea. With researchers working in the area with local people, he learns of ways poverty-stricken villagers can be employed to assist in saving turtles. Here, where humans might have first contacted the Leatherback after over 100 million years without a serious enemy, turtles exhibit their vulnerability to our predatory ways. The Pacific Leatherbacks are beset by those who don't even intend it. Longliner fishing boats string over 1.4 billion hooks per year on lines running to 90 kilometres length. The hooks snag flippers or are swallowed with lines. Turtles need air, just like us, but drown before the lines are brought up. Exact statistics are hard to come by, Scafina notes, but the evidence points to these boats as the most destructive force to turtles after egg poaching.
The author notes, however, that cures are available to help restore turtle populations. Beaches in some nations are declared "off limits" and patrolled. New hook designs that catch fish without snagging turtles have been developed, but need universal application - a difficult task with conservative fishermen. In Florida, shoreline communities have learned to douse lights to protect nesting sites - otherwise the hatchlings cannot find the sea. Incorporating local help has proven effective by showing how tourism and controlled collection can bring in more money than simple predation produces. In some species, there have been gains in new populations. Are the rising numbers significant? They apply only to certain species and locations. The greatest obstacle is the issue of turtle maturity, since breeding adults may take a human generation to start laying eggs. It means patience, dedication and continuing watchfulness on conditions are required. An elusive factor is what effect climate change will have on beaches and the sealife the turtles need to survive. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
A Comprehensive Compassionate Look.......2007-07-12
This is an amazing well written book about a fascinating subject. It is a story of hope for not just the turtles but for mankind.
Amazon.com
"Science is a cultural practice," states W.J.T. Mitchell in The Last Dinosaur Book, a postmodern look at the enduring human fascination with dinosaurs. He maintains that dinosaurs (and dinomania) are the cultural manifestation of the collective unconscious--their existence as extinct organisms is secondary. Dinosaurs are our totems, our only real monsters, and, paradoxically, our pets. Our fascination with them, as indicated by the popularity of Barney, Jurassic Park, and endless stream of toys, lunchboxes, books, stickers, and t-shirts, is born of human need to personify our fears, hatreds, and fascinations with all things "big, fierce, and extinct." In drawing paleontological parallels to human society, Mitchell compares old-school dinosaurs, lumbering and stupid, to monopoly capitalism. But postmodern dinosaurs are faster and more vicious, just like third-stage capitalism: "T. Rex is no longer seen as a lumbering giant, analogous to a tank or locomotive, but is depicted as a large and extremely dangerous chicken." Mitchell's thesis can seem forced, especially when he devotes an entire chapter to "Why Children Hate Dinosaurs," but he does take a good, close look at an extremely odd cultural phenomenon. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
For animals that have been dead millions of years, dinosaurs are extraordinarily pervasive in our everyday lives. Appearing in ads, books, movies, museums, television, toy stores, and novels, they continually fascinate both adults and children. How did they move from natural extinction to pop culture resurrection? What is the source of their powerful appeal? Until now, no one has addressed this question in a comprehensive way. In this lively and engrossing exploration of the animal's place in our lives, W.J.T. Mitchell shows why we are so attached to the myth and the reality of the "terrible lizards."
Mitchell aims to trace the cultural family tree of the dinosaur, and what he discovers is a creature of striking flexibility, linked to dragons and mammoths, skyscrapers and steam engines, cowboys and Indians. In the vast territory between the cunning predators of Jurassic Park and the mawkishly sweet Barney, from political leviathans to corporate icons, from paleontology to Barnum and Bailey, Mitchell finds a cultural symbol whose plurality of meaning and often contradictory nature is emblematic of modern society itself. As a scientific entity, the dinosaur endured a near-eclipse for over a century, but as an image it is enjoying its widest circulation. And it endures, according to Mitchell, because it is uniquely malleable, a figure of both innovation and obsolescence, massive power and pathetic failure—the totem animal of modernity.
Drawing unforeseen and unusual connections at every turn between dinosaurs real and imagined, The Last Dinosaur Book is the first to delve so deeply, so insightfully, and so enjoyably into our modern dino-obsession.
Customer Reviews:
The Last Dino Totem.......2000-09-16
I found this book interesting and fun to read. It contains lots of ideas, facts, and pictures about dinosaurs and the history of dinosaurs. Especially interesting is the way Tom Mitchell shows how society's perceptions of this mighty group of creatures has changed over time so that dinosaurs somehow always manage to represent the most current economic and scientific trends. I also enjoyed the section that delves into the possible reasons small children (and perhaps others) identify with dinos, especially the Calvin & Hobbs cartoons. I found the comments throughout the book delineating the unremitting dance between science and the humanities with pertinent critiques to both sides to be thought-provoking, not to mention somewhat comforting, given my belief that we need to question everything. After all, not even science can provide all the answers. Finally, this book contains a wealth of references to other literary and artistic works about dinosaurs. It could function as a starting point for someone who might want to research the topic. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in dinosaurs, American history, and popular culture. My only question is this: what will the person who writes the next book about dinosaurs call their book? May the dino live long and prosper!
An evil wind!.......2000-06-06
,Mitchell has an evil, wonderful sense of humor. I'm just surprised the town folks haven't come for him with burning faggots and pitchforks. A few dinosaur paleontologists out there would happily turn him into a fossil. Micropaleontologists will love it. Only In America could big, dopey lizards achieve cult status. What a country! What a lovely book -- half-academic, one-quarter Lenny Bruce, one eighth George Orwell, and the final eighth Tom Wolfe.
powerfully frames a discussion about our culture.......1999-10-03
THE LAST DINOSAUR BOOK elucidates the value of cultural studies. It powerfully frames a discussion about what we are as a culture while bypassing all the standard cliches. In the "totem" of the dinosaur, Mitchell is able to see a kaleidoscope of ambivalent pulls upon the fibers of our motivations. Utilizing various cultural phenomena, Mitchell makes clear in a comprehensive fashion why the dinosaur so well speaks for our cultural unconscious and the changes it is going through in the way of "sex, money, politics, and nature." The dinosaur does this in many ways because it is a category (if not actual phenomena) that we as moderns created and as post-moderns recreated. In a sense, the "dinosaur" itself, as a category, is a powerful "over-reading." How odd then that Mitchell should be accused of over-interpretation, when he is merely being a responsible critic who refuses to deny that which is of interest in our culture and quite undogmatically offers us some tools to begin to engage some of the dominant yet contradictory symbols of our culture. This is a vital book that cuts across disciplines and makes us realize what cultural studies is for.
An epigraph.......1999-09-02
Nobody, it's been said, ever learns anything, and if ever a book proved the thesis it's this one. What is hard to understand about this book for the average reader is that though it is written in a very readable style it actually isn't aimed at the average reader alone. It is actually meant for other academics and what used to be known as "the Left," that rabble that is now, I suppose, dead and gone forever. In the days when there used to be people like that around people could talk about such things as human freedom and such without everyone just simply falling down laughing, but nowadays we are all grown up, and this book is meant to signal to the last holdouts that they have to grow up too. This message can be found in the last chapter in the book, which discusses what is rapidly becoming a signpost of our times, the "Sokol Affair," which definitively put an end, I guess, to any thought of what used to be called literature. Though "The Last Dinosaur Book" can be read as interesting in its own right, to the wiser mind it is also a tremendously sad moment--a moment that, to the wise and canny mind, also signals something serious about the state of America today.
More speculation than honest research.......1999-08-03
I admit, I'm a dinophile. Well, actually a paleo-phile since I'm interested in all aspects of paleontology. So I thought this book would be a clever examination of the influence of dinosaurs in popular culture. Well...
I think Mitchell suffers from the problem that most scholars in the Arts face today: ignorance of empirical methods. Instead of letting the facts build into a conclusion, these people make the facts fit a conclusion that they have already determined. They let their own beliefs influence their judgement, then--paradoxically--discount any other field's opposing viewpoint as biased by popular persception.
While this book can be read simply as an interesting examination of the times and circumstances in which "dinomania" gripped our country, the reader needs to take many of Mitchell's conculsions with a grain of salt. Instead of a detailed look at a broad spectrum of dinosaurs icons in popular culture, he only focuses those individual occurances that prove his conclusions. Are these conclusions right? The reader has no way of determining that because not enough examples are given for arguments to stand on there own.
If you buy this book, do so for the facts about dinosaur history and the excellent illustrations. Just be a little skeptical when drawing your own conclusions.
Customer Reviews:
An American hunts for a dinosaur, and you're right there........1998-12-30
A good read but an even better document to the pursuit of dreams (well, maybe not dreams, but dinosaurs) by an adventurer. I couldn't help but think of Indiana Jones, except with a lot of modern red tape and government bureaucracy. Just being able to go after the dinosaur is a miracle, and Nugent paints a great picture for me. So many modern "adventures" are media-hyped, corporate events that pass as "sports" but this guy goes into the dark of the Congo and no one seems to care except the people he has to bribe and barter with along the way. Definitely check this one out.
A powerful and inspiring book........1998-12-11
A truly great book for anyone yearning for adventure! Nugent brings the wilds of the Congo into startling clarity. So vibrant are his descriptions, so compelling his pacing, that I couldn't put this book down for a moment once I began reading. I was so moved and inspired by Mr. Nugent's adventure looking for the Mokele-mbembe, that I spent a year searching for Bigfoot in the forests of the Pacific Northwest! Very few books have ever had such an impact on my life. I loved it.
Next Best Thing to Being There!.......1997-05-11
The author has an amazing account to tell and he does it with great skill -- drawing his reader into the world, not only of primeval jungle and native folklore, but of the vibrant social structure of African life, where a visitor's knowledge of American television shows becomes a better item for trade than a pocketful of gold. As I finished the last, breathtaking chapter (it took every ounce of willpower not to peek ahead to it), I was ready to quit my job, pack up my bags, and set sail to Congo to go looking for the legendary beast myself. What a great read
Average customer rating:
- Addictive Read for Reluctant Reader
- A Hit
- Fun for My Son
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The Last Dinosaur (Kids of Einstein Elementary)
Leonard Mlodinow ,
Costello M , and
Josh Nash
Manufacturer: Cartwheel
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ASIN: 0439537738 |
Book Description
Steffi, Kenny, and Jose stumble on a quantum space-time dislocator--disguised as a port-a-john--which transports them to the time of the dinosaurs, just a few hours before a meteor will hit the earth--the meteor that rendered the dinos extinct!Graphing and other mathematical skills help the kids escape--just in time!
Customer Reviews:
Addictive Read for Reluctant Reader.......2007-07-17
My son is a very reluctant reader and struggles with it. There are many times he starts a chapter book and loses interest in it. The chapters in this book were very short. My son started reading it and couldn't put it down! This never happens with a book. He NEVER reads without a prompt from me and then only reluctantly. This morning I was looking for him, thinking he had snuck out to play and he was in his room READING. I look forward to more titles from this author. My son also loves the PBS show Cyberchase, and he said this was very similar because he got to solve some math in the book.
A Hit.......2006-02-24
I bought this book for my kids to read on a four hour plane ride and they loved it. I will definately get more from the series for them.
Fun for My Son.......2004-10-09
I teach second grade and am always on the lookout for books that could interest my 6-year-old son, a reluctant reader. I am happy to report that this book fit the bill! I read the entire book to my son in less than one day, and the light-hearted text stimulated conversations about time, numbers, and dinosaur theories and habits. While the story is simplistic, it is engaging as well, and leads into many future series possibilities. If there are more, my son is already set to read them, and I'll be giving them out to children in my classroom as well.
Average customer rating:
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Last Of The Fairies Book One; Dragon Helpers
Graham Billings
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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ASIN: 1412073715
Release Date: 2006-06-30 |
Product Description
In a land where the creatures believe in the Creator, three children learn they are fairy royalty. With the help of dragons, the children find and rescue their family.
Book Description
A young boy overcomes his fear of the dark with the help of his wise grandfather and a woolly friend. An empowering tale filled with Yupik legneds that celebrate the natural world. 36 pages, full color, recycled paper.
Customer Reviews:
Brianne@ Ashley River El.......2000-10-12
The book I read was Mammoth Magic. I liked several things about this book. One thing I liked about the book is it's illustrations. The reason I said this is because the illustrations really bring things out. Another thing I liked is the words. She really uses variety. My favorite part is when Toby faced up to being scared of the dark.
The reason I gave Shelley Gill 5 stars is because she makes her books so interesting and she makes you want to read more of her books. From reading that one book she makes me want to read many others.
Glenn Ashley River El.......2000-10-12
I like this book because it's really creative . I also like it because of the illustrations in the book. Another thing is that it's words are creative. what happens is that when there was a tree, well i thought it was, but it wasn't.
Summer at Ashley River.......2000-10-12
I like this book because it is funny and interesting. I think it is cool that Toebuck taught Andy about the mammoth and their great size. That helped Andy not to be afraid of the dark .
Megan at Ashley River El........2000-10-12
I like this book because it is exciting and tells you about amazing things that happened in the past.I also love the illustrations. It is about a little boy named Andy. He is scared of the dark. His grandfather, Tobuk, invited him to go camping out at night and the next day.Tobuk told Andy about mammoths. So, Tobuk and Andy took their sleeping bags, and Andy was scared. He had a dream about a mammoth. I love this book.
Jay At Ashley River EL.......2000-10-12
I like this book and illustrations, because it is very interesting about the mammoths. It was cool how tall and big mammoths are. They had very shaggy hair. Andy was scared of the dark until his grandpa Tobuck took him to check traps and had to spend the night out in the dark. Andy was afriad to sleep in the dark. So when he was sleeping he remembered about the story Tobuck told him. When he fell asleep he dreamed about trees chasing him and bumped into a mammoth. Then his grandpa woke up, and conquered being afraid of the dark.
Customer Reviews:
Wow!!!!.......2007-06-16
I can't believe this book is still in print, almost 20 years after I first owned it! I had this book when I lived in Alaska as a child (my parents were USAF and stationed in Anchorage), and I loved it then. It's interesting and engaging, and the illustrations are vivid and wonderful. I was just thinking about this book the other day and how great it was, and I'm very happy to be able to share it with my husband, who is also a dinosaur fan and "young at heart." "Thunderfeet" is a great book for anyone interested in dinosaurs and prehistoric Alaska!
A Dinoriffic book!.......2000-11-06
This is a great book about early Alaska. It tells you that once it had a warmer climate, but it moved over time and got colder. Dinosaurs were really strange in Alaska, in this book, it explains dinosaurs all (almost) went to the same place to die in the Ice Age! You will learn more intresting facts if you read this cool book!
Average customer rating:
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Meteorite!: The Last Days of the Dinosaurs (Ocean Explorer Series)
Richard Norris
Manufacturer: Steck-Vaughn
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Nonfiction
| Earth Sciences
| Science, Nature & How It Works
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ASIN: 0739812416 |
Customer Reviews:
Awsome.......2000-07-03
my dad wrote this book i like it i read it alot all of you people should buy it!Its awsome!
Book Description
What killed the dinosaurs? For more than a century, this question has been one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in science. But, in 1980, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez and his son, Walter, proposed a radical answer: 65 million years ago an asteroid or comet as big as Mt. Everest slammed into the earth, raising a dust cloud vast enough to cause mass extinction. A revolutionary idea that challenged the ice-age extinction theory, the asteroid-impact theory was scorned and derided by the science community. But after years of bitter debate and intense research, an astonishing discovery was made-an immense impact crater in the Yucatán Peninsula that was identified as Ground Zero. The Alvarezes had their proof. A dramatic scientific detective story, Night Comes to the Cretaceous is a brilliant example of science at work-in the trenches, complete with passionate struggles and occasional victories.
Customer Reviews:
Lack of objectivity. An embarassingly one-sided shill........2005-03-11
I was hoping for a balanced analysis supporting the dinosaur extinctions via an asteroid doing a number on mother earth. Instead I got a steady dose of denunciations towards anyone who disagreed with the asteroid theory. The tone is palatable at first but after a while repeating the same canard over and over does tend to get tiresome. Around page 170 or so I realized that I was reading an apologist for the asteroid theory.
I was very disappointed that other theories were given short shrift and at times almost mocked. This is a so so book about dinosaur extinctions but I am waiting for a truly meaty and balanced book.
A very clear account, but of questionable objectivity...........2005-02-08
I did't find this book to be a particularly good review of the dinosaurs-vs-meteorite controversy. The narrative is clear and captivating, and accounts of the several open (or closed!) disputes, rooted in disparate fields of Earth sciences, is made accessible to the layreader or those with just a modest background in natural sciences. Nevertheless, Powell holds a one-sided approach right from the beginning, pointlessly crusading against some supposedly general backward attitude in geologists and paleontologists that actually never was there, except for a very few unfortunate cases. Everyone now agrees on evidence for a massive extraterrestrial impact dated around 65 million years ago, but the main issue is presently whether that was the ultimate cause of the mass extinction or other earth-bound factors and feedbacks played a role in driving interactions between physical environment and the biosphere toward a mass extinction. Powell leaves no room for such developments.
In particular, I'd have two specific objections to specific cases presented in the book: 1)On pages 172-174 taxonomic analysis of dinosaur diversity in the highest stratigraphic stages of the Cretaceous in Montana is reported as evidence in favour of a sudden crisis of the original ecosystem. Pete Sheehan and co-workers carried on their studies at the taxonomic rank of families, which resulted numerically stable with time approaching the K-T boundary. Only, John Horner recently reviewed their work at a species level, likely to be statistically and biologically more reliable indicator of biodiversity, and found out a steady decrease of dinosaur types through time. Such reconsideration of Sheehan's research thus reverses evidence against the impact hypothesis! 2) The section "Did impact cause all extinctions?" introduces the final part of the book which has absolutely nothing to do with the K-T event per se, and presents us with Raup's "impact-kill curve" which was originally just an interesting exercise in statistics, but lacking a solid connection with the actual geo-paleontological database of major mass extinctions (let alone minor ones..) and thus oversimplifies the subject. Yet the author all too enthousiastically takes sides with the "impactors" and loses objectivity, even falling in contradiction (Page 192:"Not enough firm evidence is available to corroborate the claim that impact is responsible for any other mass extinction boundary than the K-T event..." Page 196:"..how are we to escape the conclusion that not just in theory, but in practice, impact has caused many extinctions?")
More poignantly however, scientific arguments and debates against the "impact hypothesis" haven't been introduced thoroughly enough but too quickly glossed over, although numerous in the recent scientific literature...
Without deceiving myself of having read a downright objective account, I'm afraid this is the best available book about the (still ongoing...) debate, together with J.D.Archibald's "Dinosaur Extinction and the End of an Era: What the Fossils Say", which is possibly far more objective though...
A great description of science from the inside.......2004-08-07
This is one of the best science books I have ever read, and a great description of how science works from the inside. Scientists aren't impartial godlike figures, they're human beings just like the rest of us.This book details how a geologist, by bringing his father an interesting rock--a polished specimen that included the K-T boundary layer, deposited when the dinosaurs all vanished--started a controversy that revolutionized and redefined the entire field of earth sciences. Personally, I love it when that happens, that's how science is supposed to work, but people who have built their entire careers on the old view of things can have a very difficult time accepting a new paradigm, and will go to ludicrous extremes to defend the old one to their dying breath. The impact theory of extinctions is one of the scariest concepts I have ever come across, but I am a lot happier knowing how things really work. This is an utterly fascinating read, and I can't recommend it strongly enough. To anyone interested in geology, astronomy, dinosaurs, (who isn't interested in dinosaurs??), or the workings of science, I can only say---READ THIS BOOK!!!!
Night Comes to the Cretaceous.......2003-08-01
All in all, James Lawrence Powell did a superb job in writing this book. He is highly opinionated and interprets data in a manner to support his fundamental belief (that an asteroid caused the KT extinctions).
I advise readers to get a balanced view by also reading "The Great Dinosaur Extinction Controvery" by Charles Officer and Jack Page. I felt that Powell covered the topic very thoroughly and provided historical context to help the novice extinctions reader. I felt that the book was very weak in dicussing the paleontological aspects of the extinction. Next revision perhaps.
How Scientific Revolutions Actually Happen.......2003-06-13
One of the great scientific revolutions of our times has been the recognition that the biological evolution of Earth is influenced random impacts by comets and asteroids. When this concept was put forward in 1980, it was radical; today it is the accepted wisdom in paleontology, geology, and evolutionary biology. Jim Powell tells a fascinating story of the evidence for this transformation and of the scientists who have been protgonists in the struggle to understand this evidence and integrate it into our broader undestanding of our planet. This is one of the best books ever written to trace the history of a scientific controversy and of the people involved, warts and all.
Customer Reviews:
Travel 65 million years into the past..........2005-04-01
Can you solve why dinosaurs died out? Can you prove how extinction came about? All you need to do is find the last dinosaur and bring back a tooth to prove you found the answer.
The Time Machine series is kind of like Choose You Own Adventure books, but lacks the younger versions' logic loops (that you can sometimes get trapped into) and death scenes. You can't die in a Time Machine book and your choices have effects that seem to be logical. You also end up learning alot even as you flee giant flesh-eating dinosaurs.
It is Sad they don't print these anymore.......2003-11-15
Time Machine books are just like the Choose your own adventure books. You read the page and at the end you will find two or three options from which you choose what to do next. Depending on your choice you will go to the page indicated to follow the story. Because of this you may read the book more than once and yet have a different story every time.
The Time Machine series had a high educational value. They usually included many history facts of which a child could learn from. Plus it was very, very fun to read.
Every book contained a data bank on which you could refer to you wanted a hint on the choices you were to make. And the time travel rules where pretty cool; you can not steal, kill any person or animals, jump in time in a scary way, or try to change history.
The specific book had many details on dinosaurs. Your mission is to find and photograph the archaeopteryx, creature believed to be the first bird.
It is so sad these books are not published anymore. I learned alot from them. Get them while you can.
Books:
- Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives
- What Stories Does my son need?: A Guide to Books and Movies that Build Character in Boys
- What to Expect When You're Expecting, Third Edition
- What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? Living Your Dreams While Quakin' in Your Boots
- Why Your Child Is Hyperactive
- Win Your Child Custody War: Child Custody Help Source Book--A How-To System for People Serious About the Welfare of Their Child (11th Edition)
- Women As They Age
- Your Over-35 Week-by-Week Pregnancy Guide: All the Answers to All Your Questions About Pregnancy, Birth, and Your Developing Baby
- A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature
- Bad News/Good News (Beacon Street Girls #2) (Beacon Street Girls)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- Everyday Food: Great Food Fast
- An Admiral's Yarn
- Resolucion Tecnica N 10 de La F.A.C.P.C.E.
- The Transfer Society: Economic Expenditures on Transfer Activity
- I Found a Baby Rabbit, What Do I Do
Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas
Eye of the Albatross: Views of the Endangered Sea
Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation
Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish
Lonesome George: The Life and Loves of a Conservation Icon
