"West of Eden" by Harry Harrison (1925-2012)

 

Publisher: Bantam Books

Copyright: 1984

ISBN: None listed

I hadn't read this book for many years (actually probably closer to a few decades), and found it to be extremely interesting especially with regard to the world building that Mr. Harrison did.

The overall premise of the book is that the comet that struck the earth 65 million years or so ago and that established the end of the Cretaceous Period did not hit the Earth. Because of this the dinosaurs evolved intelligence, and the mammals also evolved in parallel (but somewhat slower as they hadn't had as long). The dinosaur evolutionary track produced a race of beings that were essentially lizard like in their overall appearance, while the humans were likely to be about the level of something like Homo erectus.

The dinosaurs developed a technology based on genetics, well the "humans" were still at the hunter gatherer stage.

Due to the advancing ice and glaciation the dinosaurs were being forced to move westward and colonize new lands. This is where they met the humans for the first time, and where ultimately war was declared between the two forces for the same land.

There are two other books in the series "Winter in Eden" and "Return to Eden", but I haven't read either of these to date.

With regard to the world-building, I felt that the humans were were portrayed quite well with regard to their hunter gatherer skills, language etc. however, I found the dinosaurs to be a little too advanced, in their ability to manipulate genetic materials and creatures to serve their purposes.

All in all, this was a very interesting book and I hope to be able to read the next two in the series sometime in the near future.

"My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and our favourite dinosaurs" by Brian Switek

 

Publisher: Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Copyright: 2013

ISBN: 9780374135065

An interesting book that traces the history of the dinosaur formerly known as the Brontosaurus, that was renamed Apatosaurus, and then renamed Brontosaurus in 2015, and now has I believe three species. This happened two years after this book was published, which I'm rather sure Mr. Switek is happy about.

This book does an extremely good job of both the history of palaeontology, and that of the Brontosaurus itself. It goes into the details of discovery, the people involved, and the naming controversy. The naming of species of dinosaur is a complicated process that was unfortunately not too well regulated in the past, as it was common for different names to be given by different discoverers to what turned out to be the same species. This was due in part to lack of communications, pride, and many other things. Now-a-days things are much more established and many of the previous errors have been corrected.

As I work in the field of palaeontology myself I found it to be an interesting read, and quite enlightening as I haven't looked into the history as much as I likely should. I am grateful however that our lab is primarily concerned with cretaceous dinosaurs, as it is nowhere near big enough to have to deal with something the size of brontosaurus (but then again we didn't have these guys around here anyway).

A well written and researched book. However, I differ with Mr. Switek's opinion as I believe Styracosaurus is definitely the better dinosaur.

"Lethal White" by Robert Galbraith

 

Publisher: Mulholland Books

Copyright: 2018

ISBN: 9780316422734

Lethal white is the fourth installment in the Cormoran Strike detective series by Robert Galbraith the synonym for JK Rowling. As with the other three books this one is excellent. The development of the two main characters of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott continues, with new challenges for the two of them both professionally and privately. Robin is now a partner is the detective agency, and proves invaluable to Strike, but her fiancee still is not happy that she works there, which causes some tension to say the least.

This instalment takes place a short time following the third novel "Career of Evil" which details the investigation of the Shacklewell Ripper. Robin is recovering from the wounds she received during the investigation, but is still experiencing PTSD from the attack, and Strike wants her back with him at the agency but finds it difficult to ask her to return.

Their new case begins with an extremely distressed and mentally ill young man visiting Strike and describing a murder he witnessed as a young boy. This one thing leads Cormoran and Robin into a maze of intrigue with twists and turns that involve government officials and their families, and over twenty years of history to be searched to find out the truth, a truth that nobody wants anyone to find out about.

An excellent addition to the series, looking forward to reading number five.

"Dinosaurs: A Field Guide" by Gregory S. Paul

 

Publisher: A. & C. Black

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 9781408130742

This was a very well written book that gives a lot of valuable information to the reader, unfortunately it is also extremely difficult to find and I had to obtain it through interlibrary loan.

Mr. Paul takes you on a very informative journey through pretty much all aspects of the science of palaeontology, and provides the reader with lots of information. This area of science however is constantly changing, so I sincerely hope that he will consider doing an update to this book as many of the books on palaeontology are either too technical for the layperson, or are primarily geared towards younger enthusiasts. These younger enthusiasts are our future palaeontologists  and this book spans the gap in material.

Highly recommended, but be prepared to have to hunt for it.