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Rare SIGNED Dinosaur Odyssey Fossil Threads in the Web of Life HCDJ Hardcover Sampson [Hardcover] unknown
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First published November 30, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
September 16, 2010
I am not a “dinosaur geek.” I have been or am an SF geek, a Trek geek, a Dungeon & Dragons geek, a history geek, a Shakespeare geek. I have been or am many flavors of geekhood.
But I’m not a dinosaur geek.
I am an evolution-science geek, however, and any book that talks about evolution will always be on my provisional To-Read list. (And, while it doesn’t amount to geekery, I do like dinosaurs and will willingly watch PBS or Discover Channel specials about them. In fact, I’m reminded as I write these words about a show I instant-streamed on Netflix about dinosaurs. I forget its title but it was quite tragic as the dinosaur fossil they were showcasing revealed evidence of crippling injuries and the likelihood of an unpleasant, drawn-out death.)
I also get a frisson of sensual satisfaction when I contemplate just how marvelously amazing and incredible the story of life is on this planet, far more so than any delusional creation myth any Creationist could hope to imagine. Which brings up the opportunity to strongly recommend Richard Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution, tracing Earth life from the first bacteria to the present day.
Equally recommendable is this book. Scott Sampson writes well and clearly on a wide range of material as he lays out not only the history of dinosaurs but also the web of life which surrounded them – geography, climate, and all the other life forms that made up the Mesozoic environment. It’s a daunting task and there’s no attempt to write an exhaustive catalog of Mesozoic life but Sampson does succeed in evoking that long lost world and making you think about the complex relationships that sustain life on this planet. His purpose in this evocation is two-fold. One, it’s simply to recreate the world in which dinosaurs roamed based on the latest evidence. His second purpose is to get you to realize that this same complexity operates today, and that when the links in that chain are broken dire consequences ensue. I wasn’t shocked to read again about the awesome ongoing destruction of species, most of which in this epoch is at the hands of humans, but I was shocked to read about the numbers involved: There are around (ballpark figure) 13 million species in the world (of which only about 2 million have been discovered) and that by the end of the century, half may have gone extinct. It took Earth about 10 million years to recover the diversity it enjoyed at the end of the Mesozoic after the Chicxulub meteor fell 65 million years ago, and we’re well on the way to topping the die off from that catastrophe.
The first part of the book was old ground for me as I had encountered most of the information at earlier points in my reading. That said, it wasn’t boring. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, Sampson is an engaging writer and lays out the facts in an intelligent and easy-to-follow manner; and it never hurts to get a refresher course. I wouldn’t recommend this book for anyone younger than 14 or 15, and – even then – I’d only recommend it to budding paleontologists or adults who – like me – have an abiding interest in the subject. There are pictures but it’s mostly text, and that text doesn’t make allowances for grade-school reading levels. Actually, it wasn’t all old hat. Sampson does have a section about the energy levels found in any particular environment, and why most of the biomass is made up of plants, then herbivores, then predators. Again the numbers are astonishing: By the time you get to the level of predators, the energy extracted from the environment is on the order of hundredths of a percent, most is radiated away as heat.
The last few chapters of the book introduced new information for me in the guise of Sampson’s theory about dinosaur physiologies and the causes for their extinction. Of course, most readers will be aware of the controversy about whether dinosaurs were cold blooded or warm blooded. The earliest theories all cast them as cold blooded like their reptilian cousins. Starting in the 1960s, “rebel” paleontologists presented evidence that dinosaurs (some, at any rate) were actually warm blooded. Sampson rejects the idea that there’s a hard and fast line between the two. Like most evolutionary mechanisms, it’s a matter of compromise and balance. Dinosaurs show evidence of both cold-blooded and warm-blooded traits and most likely achieved a balance between the two, which Sampson calls “The Goldilocks Hypothesis.” This balance maximized the energy devoted to production (which includes reproduction) and maintenance (of body temperature), and succeeded in the Mesozoic environment to such an extent that dinosaurs were the dominant animal family for 160+ million years (and their descendants, the birds, are still pretty successful).
Why did the dinosaurs disappear (except for birds) 65 million years ago? Sampson writes that he started out in the gradualist school of theory, which says that climate change and other factors created environments many dinosaurs were ill equipped to handle and more successful organisms gained competitive footholds (including our mammalian ancestors). But he points out that at the end of the Mesozoic dinosaurs weren’t excessively less diverse than in earlier epochs. There had been a diminution in the number of species (or at least there appears to have been – Sampson is constantly pointing out that any theory is limited to recovered fossils, which can’t begin to tell the whole story; we’re always limited to speculation, albeit highly informed guessing) but there’s no reason to believe that the dinosaurian family was in danger of losing its overall dominance any time soon. Because of that, Sampson has come around to the idea that the dinosaurs were wiped out in a relatively short period of time. A period topped off by the Chicxulub meteor.
Random thoughts:
Strongly recommended; a very enjoyable reading experience.
But I’m not a dinosaur geek.
I am an evolution-science geek, however, and any book that talks about evolution will always be on my provisional To-Read list. (And, while it doesn’t amount to geekery, I do like dinosaurs and will willingly watch PBS or Discover Channel specials about them. In fact, I’m reminded as I write these words about a show I instant-streamed on Netflix about dinosaurs. I forget its title but it was quite tragic as the dinosaur fossil they were showcasing revealed evidence of crippling injuries and the likelihood of an unpleasant, drawn-out death.)
I also get a frisson of sensual satisfaction when I contemplate just how marvelously amazing and incredible the story of life is on this planet, far more so than any delusional creation myth any Creationist could hope to imagine. Which brings up the opportunity to strongly recommend Richard Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution, tracing Earth life from the first bacteria to the present day.
Equally recommendable is this book. Scott Sampson writes well and clearly on a wide range of material as he lays out not only the history of dinosaurs but also the web of life which surrounded them – geography, climate, and all the other life forms that made up the Mesozoic environment. It’s a daunting task and there’s no attempt to write an exhaustive catalog of Mesozoic life but Sampson does succeed in evoking that long lost world and making you think about the complex relationships that sustain life on this planet. His purpose in this evocation is two-fold. One, it’s simply to recreate the world in which dinosaurs roamed based on the latest evidence. His second purpose is to get you to realize that this same complexity operates today, and that when the links in that chain are broken dire consequences ensue. I wasn’t shocked to read again about the awesome ongoing destruction of species, most of which in this epoch is at the hands of humans, but I was shocked to read about the numbers involved: There are around (ballpark figure) 13 million species in the world (of which only about 2 million have been discovered) and that by the end of the century, half may have gone extinct. It took Earth about 10 million years to recover the diversity it enjoyed at the end of the Mesozoic after the Chicxulub meteor fell 65 million years ago, and we’re well on the way to topping the die off from that catastrophe.
The first part of the book was old ground for me as I had encountered most of the information at earlier points in my reading. That said, it wasn’t boring. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, Sampson is an engaging writer and lays out the facts in an intelligent and easy-to-follow manner; and it never hurts to get a refresher course. I wouldn’t recommend this book for anyone younger than 14 or 15, and – even then – I’d only recommend it to budding paleontologists or adults who – like me – have an abiding interest in the subject. There are pictures but it’s mostly text, and that text doesn’t make allowances for grade-school reading levels. Actually, it wasn’t all old hat. Sampson does have a section about the energy levels found in any particular environment, and why most of the biomass is made up of plants, then herbivores, then predators. Again the numbers are astonishing: By the time you get to the level of predators, the energy extracted from the environment is on the order of hundredths of a percent, most is radiated away as heat.
The last few chapters of the book introduced new information for me in the guise of Sampson’s theory about dinosaur physiologies and the causes for their extinction. Of course, most readers will be aware of the controversy about whether dinosaurs were cold blooded or warm blooded. The earliest theories all cast them as cold blooded like their reptilian cousins. Starting in the 1960s, “rebel” paleontologists presented evidence that dinosaurs (some, at any rate) were actually warm blooded. Sampson rejects the idea that there’s a hard and fast line between the two. Like most evolutionary mechanisms, it’s a matter of compromise and balance. Dinosaurs show evidence of both cold-blooded and warm-blooded traits and most likely achieved a balance between the two, which Sampson calls “The Goldilocks Hypothesis.” This balance maximized the energy devoted to production (which includes reproduction) and maintenance (of body temperature), and succeeded in the Mesozoic environment to such an extent that dinosaurs were the dominant animal family for 160+ million years (and their descendants, the birds, are still pretty successful).
Why did the dinosaurs disappear (except for birds) 65 million years ago? Sampson writes that he started out in the gradualist school of theory, which says that climate change and other factors created environments many dinosaurs were ill equipped to handle and more successful organisms gained competitive footholds (including our mammalian ancestors). But he points out that at the end of the Mesozoic dinosaurs weren’t excessively less diverse than in earlier epochs. There had been a diminution in the number of species (or at least there appears to have been – Sampson is constantly pointing out that any theory is limited to recovered fossils, which can’t begin to tell the whole story; we’re always limited to speculation, albeit highly informed guessing) but there’s no reason to believe that the dinosaurian family was in danger of losing its overall dominance any time soon. Because of that, Sampson has come around to the idea that the dinosaurs were wiped out in a relatively short period of time. A period topped off by the Chicxulub meteor.
Random thoughts:
One of Sampson’s strengths is his ability to evoke the Mesozoic world. I was fascinated reading about how that world would have looked: No flowering plants (including grasses) until very late in the Cretaceous (the final era of the epoch); extreme seasonality in the first era – the Triassic – when all land was locked together in the supercontinent of Pangaea and plant life may not have been able to establish footholds much beyond riverine systems; balmier, less seasonal weather as the continents broke up and warm, shallow seas covered much of the land; there were no polar caps until late in the epoch; and there were no tropical rainforest-type environments, most biodiversity was found in the mid-latitude regions of the planet.
The ratio of production to maintenance between cold- and warm-blooded animals: Ectotherms (cold bloods) devote most of their energy to production; endotherms (warm bloods) to maintenance.
Even the largest predators of the Cretaceous were yapping puppies compared to herbivores like Apatosaurus (aka Brontosaurus). It’s likely a full grown Apatosaurus was effectively immune from predation (barring age or sickness making it vulnerable) so that T. rex focused on juveniles and smaller predators on eggs and babies.
Strongly recommended; a very enjoyable reading experience.
April 14, 2021
Muhteşem bir kitap.
Kitabı ilk aldığımda dinozorların türleri, yaşam ve beslenme biçimleri, ilişkileri gibi şeylerle ilgili bilinenlerin güncel bir toplaması olduğunu düşünmüştüm ama kitap hem dinozorlarla ilgili bilinen/varsayılan en güncel bilgileri sunuyor hem de dinozorların yaşadığı 160 milyon yılın ekolojik ve evrimsel bir çerçevesini çizerek evrim ve ekolojiyle ilgili çok temel bilgiler veriyor. Yani hem dinozorları merak edenler için, hem de dinozorlarla çok ilgilenmeseler de evrim, jeoloji, biyoloji ve ekolojiyle ilgili giriş niteliğinde bir şeyler okumak isteyen birileri için çok çok uygun bir kitap. Dinozorlarla aynı dönemlerde yaşamış diğer hayvan türleri, bitkiler, bakteriler ve mantarlarla ilgili de çok bilgilendirici. Ayrıca yazarın okuyucuya bilgileri doğrudan vermek yerine, şu an en çok kabul görmekte olan hipotezleri tartışarak (örneğin endotermik/ektotermik tartışması) vermesi de çok hoşuma gitti. Yazar önce temel bilgiler veriyor ve sonrasında okuyucunun da konuyla ilgili fikir yürütebilmesine olanak veriyor, okuyucuyla birlikte tartışıyor.
Yalnızca çeviri ile ilgili birkaç şey rahatsız ediciydi, çevirinin kötü olduğunu söyleyemem ama terminoloji konusunda bütünlük yoktu ne yazık ki ve bu bazı yerlerde kafa karıştırıcı olmuş. Örneğin bir dinozor grubu olan Ceratopsian için bazı yerlerde orijinal Latince hali kullanılmış, bazı yerlerde de bu Seratopsiyan olarak Türkçeleştirilmiş ve bu sorun neredeyse tüm terimlerde var. Bu durum alışana kadar kafa karıştırıcı oldu benim için. Bazı yerlerde de sözcükler çevrilmemiş, İngilizce kalmış (bu o kadar fazla değildi), bazı yerlerde de direkt sözcükler unutulmuş ve bu da anlatım bozukluğuna sebep olmuş. Çeviri yaparken böyle hatalar yapmak çok normaldir ama sonradan iyi kontrol edilmesi gerekir, edilmemiş.
Kitabı ilk aldığımda dinozorların türleri, yaşam ve beslenme biçimleri, ilişkileri gibi şeylerle ilgili bilinenlerin güncel bir toplaması olduğunu düşünmüştüm ama kitap hem dinozorlarla ilgili bilinen/varsayılan en güncel bilgileri sunuyor hem de dinozorların yaşadığı 160 milyon yılın ekolojik ve evrimsel bir çerçevesini çizerek evrim ve ekolojiyle ilgili çok temel bilgiler veriyor. Yani hem dinozorları merak edenler için, hem de dinozorlarla çok ilgilenmeseler de evrim, jeoloji, biyoloji ve ekolojiyle ilgili giriş niteliğinde bir şeyler okumak isteyen birileri için çok çok uygun bir kitap. Dinozorlarla aynı dönemlerde yaşamış diğer hayvan türleri, bitkiler, bakteriler ve mantarlarla ilgili de çok bilgilendirici. Ayrıca yazarın okuyucuya bilgileri doğrudan vermek yerine, şu an en çok kabul görmekte olan hipotezleri tartışarak (örneğin endotermik/ektotermik tartışması) vermesi de çok hoşuma gitti. Yazar önce temel bilgiler veriyor ve sonrasında okuyucunun da konuyla ilgili fikir yürütebilmesine olanak veriyor, okuyucuyla birlikte tartışıyor.
Yalnızca çeviri ile ilgili birkaç şey rahatsız ediciydi, çevirinin kötü olduğunu söyleyemem ama terminoloji konusunda bütünlük yoktu ne yazık ki ve bu bazı yerlerde kafa karıştırıcı olmuş. Örneğin bir dinozor grubu olan Ceratopsian için bazı yerlerde orijinal Latince hali kullanılmış, bazı yerlerde de bu Seratopsiyan olarak Türkçeleştirilmiş ve bu sorun neredeyse tüm terimlerde var. Bu durum alışana kadar kafa karıştırıcı oldu benim için. Bazı yerlerde de sözcükler çevrilmemiş, İngilizce kalmış (bu o kadar fazla değildi), bazı yerlerde de direkt sözcükler unutulmuş ve bu da anlatım bozukluğuna sebep olmuş. Çeviri yaparken böyle hatalar yapmak çok normaldir ama sonradan iyi kontrol edilmesi gerekir, edilmemiş.
January 1, 2022
İçinde güzel bilgiler var ama çok bilgi olduğu için beni sıktı.
May 3, 2012
Without a doubt, the finest general introduction to the paleobiology of the dinosaurs now available. Comprehensive, readable and well illustrated, this should be on the shelf of EVERY dinosaur lover. This is the first thoroughly documented, authoritatively written book that treats dinosaurs as animals and places them in their ecological context. They are so much more than just a pile of bones and scattered parts, and reading this book will demonstrate just how much more these marvelous creatures were. It will be a long time before anyone writes a better introduction to living, breathing, eating, fighting, loving dinosaurs.
August 9, 2015
Very nice! Enjoyed this broad view thoroughly. Thanks to Tudor for finding it.
April 19, 2013
Treasure Island
- John Ostrom started the revolution in dinosaurs, arguing that they were more active than previously thought
- this change in thinking was advance by his student Robert Bakker (Dinosaur Heresies)
- author believes that dinosaurs must be studied in the context of both ecology and evolution
Stardust Saurians
- good overview of the development of life with reference to the geological periods
Dramatis Dinoaurae
- non-dinosaurs - Plesiosaurs, Ichthyosaurs, Mosasaurs
- Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
- Theropods
- Coelophysoids - late Triassic
- Ceratosaurs - Jurassic
- Allosaurs - Jurassic
- Coelurosaurs - Jurassic
- Spinosaurs - crocodile-like
- sauropodomorphs
- Prosauropods
- Sauropods - rare until the mid-Jurassic
- Ornithischia - bird-hipped dinosaurs
- Thyreophorans - Stegosaurs, Anklosaurs
- Ornithopods - including Iguanodonts, Hadrosaurs
- Ceratopsians - horned dinosaurs
- Pachycephalosaurs
Drifting Continents and Globe-Trotting Dinosaurs
- super-continent Pangaea existed through the Triassic, breaking up in the mid-Jurassic into two - Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south
- Gondwana broke up through the Cretaceous - varied hypotheses as to the sequence
- the dinosaur record closely parallels the geological record for these breakups
- in addition to the lithosphere, discussion of changes in the atmosphere and hydrosphere
Solar Eating
- consideration of the food pyramid, which determines the ratio of predators to herbivores
- the Mesozoic was warm and wet - the plants were:
- Pteridophytes - spore bearing plants
- ferns
- horsetails
- lycopods - currently club mosses, a umber of extinct species grew to great size
- Gymnosperms - seed plants
- cycads
- ginkgos - single species today, but diverse then
- conifers - then the podocarps and araucarians dominated
- angiosperms - flowering plants, first appearing in the early Cretaceous
- bennettites - now extinct
River of Life
- discussion of evolution as a river of information flowing over time
- evolution as a punctuated equilibrium has been more evident in paleobiology due to the long time frames: species stasis (minimal change over long periods) punctuated by speciation
- mutations are swamped by interbreeding for long periods; only when populations become isolated does speciation take place
- evidence that entire communities remain unchanged for long periods until an ecological event causes a turn-over where many members of the community speciate
The Green Gradient
- discussion of the interplay between herbivores and plants
- in the later Triassic, tall conifers as well as long necked sauropods evolved together
- in the early Cretaceous, angiosperms evolved; at the same time the variety of herbivores appears to have increased: about half of the dinosaur species are known from the last 20 million years of the Mesozoic
Panoply of Predators
- a discussion of the theropods, primarily carnivores, with reference to their prey, the herbivores
Hidden Strands
- a review of the importance of micro-organisms to an ecosystem - insects, bacteria, fungi
- evidence of Mesozoic micro-organisms is found in amber, leave damage, fossil bones and coprolites
Of Horn-Bills and Duck-Heads
- the exotic headgear of these groups were most likely for courting and sexual selection
- much evidence has recently accumulated of nesting dinosaurs - most seem to have laid 15-30 13-15 cm eggs
- many oviraptor skeletons have been found in egg brooding posture over their nests
The Goldilocks Hypothesis
- endotherms (regulate body temperature through internal heat sources) require 10 times the food that ectotherms (external heat sources) do
- counting annual Lines of Arrested Growth (LAG) shows that the largest sauropods lived 50 yr, large theropods 30 year, mid-sized dinosaurs 7-15 yr and small dinosaurs 3-4 yr
- growth patterns of theropods show that they had the greatest weight gain at around 15 yr (mid life); sauropods seem similar
- ectotherms devote about 40% of their energy budget to production - growth, fat and reproduction; endomorphs allocate around 3%
- the Goldilocks hypothesis is that dinosaurs were mesomorphs - half way between endomorphs and ectomorphs (not too big and not too small)
- mesomorphism s enabled by large body size - no mesomorphs exist today
Cinderellasaurus
- Four Corners in the US is a region of the uplifted Colorado Plateau
- the Chinle formation is a great late Triassic site
- it is apparent that dinosaurs are not the dominant fauna
- a big issue is whether the dinosaurs predominated on a competitive or an opportunistic basis
- no conclusion, but we cannot understand the role of the dinosaurs without reference to the other non-dinosaurian animals
Jurassic Park Dreams
- the problems with re-creating dinosaurs are reviewed - it seem unlikely to happen
- looks at the Morrison formation of the Colorado Plateau, from the Jurassic
- various indicators of plant density and energy value are discussed
- Farlow has done work on the energy intensity of dinosaur ecologies
- appears that a sauropod would require 180-360 acres of grazing land
- space requirements for an allosaur would seem to be 85 sq km
- given minimum populations to retain diversity, it seems that a continent is the minimum size for such an ecosystem
- a big unknown is the density and quality of the plant life
West Side Story
- looks at the Kaiparowits formation of the Colorado Plateau, late Cretaceous
- a large variety of species is found there - the species are different than those found further north or south, indicating that different species occurred at various latitudes
- at that time (72-74 mya), the Interior Seaway restricted dinosaurs to a strip of land adjacent to the mountains - total land area was 20% that of today
- work has been done to examine the youngest and oldest of species, concluding that a species lasts on average one million years
- the restricted range of any species is somewhat inconsistent with the estimated land requirements of the previous chapter
- dinosaurs may well have been mesotherms and the vegetation quite dense
- indications that all species change at once, suggesting climatic triggers
The Way of All Creatures
- five major extinctions
- the Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) seems to have been caused my massive volcanism in Siberia
- the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) seems to have been caused by the Chicxulub impact in the Gulf of Mexico
- however, more recent evidence is pointing to the massive outflows of lava from the Decca Traps
- good short summary of Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis where the biota of the planet control climate conditions through various feedback mechanisms - suggestion of resiliency shown by the rebound from the great extinctions
Epilogue
- importance of education - study of the dinosaurs is a good basis for study of ecology
November 1, 2024
Happy 15-year anniversary! ( www.amazon.com/review/R3E0F0244GVKL2/... ): 5/5
As you may have noticed, I'm a big fan of Sampson's work in general & "Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life" (henceforth DO) in particular. In fact, DO has been so influential that I've used it as a basis for comparison in 5 of my reviews, including my very 1st review.* With that in mind, I wanna celebrate DO's 15-year anniversary by pointing you to said reviews & adding 2 more thoughts as well:
-1) DO "is a Natural History of Dinos & thus the best kind of non-encyclopedic dino book" ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3519227469 ). Furthermore, while not as recent as Naish/Barrett's "Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved", DO still deserves to be listed as 1 of the best adult NHDs for reasons discussed elsewhere ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/jou... ).
-2) As you may remember, there's "a multi-species scene by Skrepnick at the beginning of every chapter." While shrink-wrapped by modern standards, I love Skrepnick's art style for reasons discussed elsewhere ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/4968650005 ).
*Said reviews are of the following books:
-1) Gardom/Milner's "The Natural History Museum Book of Dinosaurs": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3474599046
-2) Bonner's "Dining With Dinosaurs: A Tasty Guide to Mesozoic Munching": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3507230419
-3) Hone's "The Tyrannosaur Chronicles: The Biology of the Tyrant Dinosaurs": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3510412805
-4) Brusatte's "The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3522479251
-5) Witton's "Life through the Ages II: Twenty-First Century Visions of Prehistory": www.goodreads.com/review/show/6242530008
As you may have noticed, I'm a big fan of Sampson's work in general & "Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life" (henceforth DO) in particular. In fact, DO has been so influential that I've used it as a basis for comparison in 5 of my reviews, including my very 1st review.* With that in mind, I wanna celebrate DO's 15-year anniversary by pointing you to said reviews & adding 2 more thoughts as well:
-1) DO "is a Natural History of Dinos & thus the best kind of non-encyclopedic dino book" ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3519227469 ). Furthermore, while not as recent as Naish/Barrett's "Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved", DO still deserves to be listed as 1 of the best adult NHDs for reasons discussed elsewhere ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/jou... ).
-2) As you may remember, there's "a multi-species scene by Skrepnick at the beginning of every chapter." While shrink-wrapped by modern standards, I love Skrepnick's art style for reasons discussed elsewhere ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/4968650005 ).
*Said reviews are of the following books:
-1) Gardom/Milner's "The Natural History Museum Book of Dinosaurs": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3474599046
-2) Bonner's "Dining With Dinosaurs: A Tasty Guide to Mesozoic Munching": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3507230419
-3) Hone's "The Tyrannosaur Chronicles: The Biology of the Tyrant Dinosaurs": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3510412805
-4) Brusatte's "The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3522479251
-5) Witton's "Life through the Ages II: Twenty-First Century Visions of Prehistory": www.goodreads.com/review/show/6242530008
March 6, 2017
One of the best books I have read in a while.
Its not just dinosaurs - - because they existed for 150 m years +, the author has done justice to the ecosystem that enabled the dominance of these species.
There is so much to learn from this book - - - Evolution, the microfaunal world, endo and ectothermy - and why dinosaurs might have been mesotherms
He takes a long time to explain the world as was then - hotter and a giant Pangaea during the beginning of the Mesozoic, and gradual development of seas and oceans separating the continents
Explains why dinosaurs were dominant - after all, there were other beings too... reptiles, amphibians, mammals, insects
Explains what may have killed them - and whether they are actually dead
Their living habits, their surroundings, how angiosperms came only towards the end of their reign
For a while, I kept thinking of why the book is so detailed... and towards the latter half, I appreciated the author for explaining so many concepts via thought experiments and juxtaposing them against the world that we know now.
Final thoughts - - how irrelevant we are.
Its not just dinosaurs - - because they existed for 150 m years +, the author has done justice to the ecosystem that enabled the dominance of these species.
There is so much to learn from this book - - - Evolution, the microfaunal world, endo and ectothermy - and why dinosaurs might have been mesotherms
He takes a long time to explain the world as was then - hotter and a giant Pangaea during the beginning of the Mesozoic, and gradual development of seas and oceans separating the continents
Explains why dinosaurs were dominant - after all, there were other beings too... reptiles, amphibians, mammals, insects
Explains what may have killed them - and whether they are actually dead
Their living habits, their surroundings, how angiosperms came only towards the end of their reign
For a while, I kept thinking of why the book is so detailed... and towards the latter half, I appreciated the author for explaining so many concepts via thought experiments and juxtaposing them against the world that we know now.
Final thoughts - - how irrelevant we are.
June 8, 2019
Güzel bir popüler bilim kitabı. İşin enerji yönetim boyutu (mezoterm vb.)ilginç geldi. Yazarın tarzı da güzel, farklı olasılıkları ele alıyor.
March 25, 2020
This is the story of much more than the dinosaurs. In is about their evolution and the environment that supported them.
August 3, 2025
An engaging read, if a bit dated and occasionally long-winded.
September 22, 2025
It's another book written for young audience and outdated. It came out so late in my country. This is a book from 2009 so a lot of time has passed. But still it was a very fun read.
April 23, 2014
I decided to read up on the new science of dinosaurs in this century (dubbed the dinosaur "Enlightenment" after the dinosaur "Renaissance" that began in the 1970s) and picked this book after coming across that it was called the as the most complete book on dinosaurs for laymen by Phil Currie (a Hawking when it comes to dinosaurs if you will).
The praise is fully deserved. Dinosaur Odyssey is a tour de force in educating the public about the Mesozoic period (commonly called the Age of Dinosaurs).
Sampson believes in educating the public in the twin sciences of ecology and evolution which in his opinion are inseparable. Almost the first third of the book covers ecology: from food webs to energy cycles. To me this was a welcome refresher, and these chapters were vital building blocks to the later ones which deal with the matter at hand, dinosaurs.
After a few smaller chapters handling important topics such as classifying dinosaurs and their biology, we get to interesting topics such as their gigantism and whether they were "warm-blooded" or "cold-blooded" (believe it or not these are inter-related). Sampson makes a powerful case, using that ecology lesson he has driven home earlier that dinosaurs could be "meso-thermic", like nothing alive today. He dubs this the "Goldilocks hypothesis" --not too hot, not too cold-- and I was genuinely impressed by how well thought out this was answer was. Of course Sampson is gracious, this is a hypothesis after all, and more evidence is needed to test this out. He's also confident that probably by a few decades, we may have marshaled more evidence to come to a satisfying conclusion. He also makes an interesting case that the repeated "bizarre-ness" of dinos: horns, crests, spikes and other bells-and-whistles could be a product of sexual selection. I've to say, this theory is now fast gaining acceptance and is now nearly an accepted fact.
Dinosaur Odyssey rounds off with nice little chapters on the individual time periods of the Mesozoic: the Triassic, Jurassic and the Cretaceous. These are again wonderfully interwoven, talking about how food webs might have been in these periods. The Mesozoic was much like our time, just the cast was different (consider that for much of Earth's history, there were no land plants at all let alone consumers be they insects, Triceratops or tigers). He ends with dinosaur extinction, discussing now such well known topics as the asteroid strike (the silver bullet hypothesis) or a combination of factors such as the volcanic action in the Deccan Traps, sea level increase and the asteroid strike (the Blitzkrieg hypothesis, since it involved a combination of attacks on the Earth if you will). I hadn't realized that these were different. Sampson says he has recently switched from a Blitzkrieg-er to a Silver Bullet-er since he believes the evidence for that is stronger (the main difference is that if it was the Silver Bullet, dinosaurs along with the host of other species died out in say a few thousand years at most, very quick by palaeontological standards or if it is the Blitzkrieg, species took maybe a few millions of years to die out!) Again more evidence will make it clear in the next few decades.
The final epilogue to me was quite poignant. Sampson has used dinosaurs as a vehicle to teach people about science. He makes a case that our approach to science for the last few hundred years: reductionism (breaking down everything to it's smallest components such as atoms or cells) has failed us when it comes to teaching us the big picture in sciences such as ecology. He quotes others who say mankind's rapid slide after the Industrial Revolution in some areas is because we have lacked a clear picture of where we fit in. This is not hippy new age romanticism. This is a genuine problem facing the world today. (Sampson considers it incredulous, as do I, that so much of the American public --and who knows about the Indians and Chinese-- do not believe in evolution, a cornerstone of modern science thinking!) Something drastic has to be done. Dinosaurs, for some reason, have caught on with the general public for over a century now. They can make a wonderful introduction increasing the "evo-literacy" and "eco-literacy" of the public. He makes good suggestions, and I think we can only benefit from using them.
Overall, even to somebody who only was interested in dinosaurs as a kid, Dinosaur Odyssey makes for great reading. The writing is smooth, the chapters are well connected; and Sampson recounts some of his field experiences to add a personal touch such as digging dinosaurs in Madagascar or observing animals in the Serengeti to get a better understanding of how dinosaurs may have behaved. It is simple to read, yet I don't think Sampson compromises on the quality of the science and addresses all the nuances. I can't find anything wrong with this book. Highly recommended!
The praise is fully deserved. Dinosaur Odyssey is a tour de force in educating the public about the Mesozoic period (commonly called the Age of Dinosaurs).
Sampson believes in educating the public in the twin sciences of ecology and evolution which in his opinion are inseparable. Almost the first third of the book covers ecology: from food webs to energy cycles. To me this was a welcome refresher, and these chapters were vital building blocks to the later ones which deal with the matter at hand, dinosaurs.
After a few smaller chapters handling important topics such as classifying dinosaurs and their biology, we get to interesting topics such as their gigantism and whether they were "warm-blooded" or "cold-blooded" (believe it or not these are inter-related). Sampson makes a powerful case, using that ecology lesson he has driven home earlier that dinosaurs could be "meso-thermic", like nothing alive today. He dubs this the "Goldilocks hypothesis" --not too hot, not too cold-- and I was genuinely impressed by how well thought out this was answer was. Of course Sampson is gracious, this is a hypothesis after all, and more evidence is needed to test this out. He's also confident that probably by a few decades, we may have marshaled more evidence to come to a satisfying conclusion. He also makes an interesting case that the repeated "bizarre-ness" of dinos: horns, crests, spikes and other bells-and-whistles could be a product of sexual selection. I've to say, this theory is now fast gaining acceptance and is now nearly an accepted fact.
Dinosaur Odyssey rounds off with nice little chapters on the individual time periods of the Mesozoic: the Triassic, Jurassic and the Cretaceous. These are again wonderfully interwoven, talking about how food webs might have been in these periods. The Mesozoic was much like our time, just the cast was different (consider that for much of Earth's history, there were no land plants at all let alone consumers be they insects, Triceratops or tigers). He ends with dinosaur extinction, discussing now such well known topics as the asteroid strike (the silver bullet hypothesis) or a combination of factors such as the volcanic action in the Deccan Traps, sea level increase and the asteroid strike (the Blitzkrieg hypothesis, since it involved a combination of attacks on the Earth if you will). I hadn't realized that these were different. Sampson says he has recently switched from a Blitzkrieg-er to a Silver Bullet-er since he believes the evidence for that is stronger (the main difference is that if it was the Silver Bullet, dinosaurs along with the host of other species died out in say a few thousand years at most, very quick by palaeontological standards or if it is the Blitzkrieg, species took maybe a few millions of years to die out!) Again more evidence will make it clear in the next few decades.
The final epilogue to me was quite poignant. Sampson has used dinosaurs as a vehicle to teach people about science. He makes a case that our approach to science for the last few hundred years: reductionism (breaking down everything to it's smallest components such as atoms or cells) has failed us when it comes to teaching us the big picture in sciences such as ecology. He quotes others who say mankind's rapid slide after the Industrial Revolution in some areas is because we have lacked a clear picture of where we fit in. This is not hippy new age romanticism. This is a genuine problem facing the world today. (Sampson considers it incredulous, as do I, that so much of the American public --and who knows about the Indians and Chinese-- do not believe in evolution, a cornerstone of modern science thinking!) Something drastic has to be done. Dinosaurs, for some reason, have caught on with the general public for over a century now. They can make a wonderful introduction increasing the "evo-literacy" and "eco-literacy" of the public. He makes good suggestions, and I think we can only benefit from using them.
Overall, even to somebody who only was interested in dinosaurs as a kid, Dinosaur Odyssey makes for great reading. The writing is smooth, the chapters are well connected; and Sampson recounts some of his field experiences to add a personal touch such as digging dinosaurs in Madagascar or observing animals in the Serengeti to get a better understanding of how dinosaurs may have behaved. It is simple to read, yet I don't think Sampson compromises on the quality of the science and addresses all the nuances. I can't find anything wrong with this book. Highly recommended!
March 13, 2012
Dinosaur Odyssey takes you on a dinosaur-centric tour of the epic of evolution that literally starts with the Big Bang. The scope of this 332-page book is every bit as expansive as that sentence implies. By page 97, Dr. Scott has treated his readers to clear and entertaining discussions of the Big Bang, geothermal processes, continental drift theory, ecology, evolution, and weather patterns. In the second half of the book, Dr. Scott discusses more obviously paleontological topics, including Mesozoic food chains, predator-prey relationships, climate change and its effect on dinosaur evolution, and inevitably, extinction. There's even a chapter devoted to explaining exactly why Jurassic Park couldn't happen. Along the way, Dr. Scott weaves in fascinating information about the various dinosaur discoveries paleontologists have made in the past twenty-five years.
Processing all that information is no small task. Fortunately, Dr. Scott takes Albert Einstein's principle of science writing to heart: "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."
Take for example, his discussion of plate tectonics in Chapter 4, in which Dr. Scott uses the image of a lava lamp to describe the action of convection forces in the Earth's mantle (p. 56).
There's plenty of humor sprinkled throughout the book as well. For example, in describing the paleontological debate over whether the T. Rex was primarily a hunter or a scavenger of dead meat, Dr. Scott makes the wry comment that the scavenger theory "effectively relegate[s] Tyrannosaurus to the status of prehistory's biggest maggot."
If you love dinosaurs, you'll love this book.
(Read more at my blog, BostonWriters.wordpress.com.)
Processing all that information is no small task. Fortunately, Dr. Scott takes Albert Einstein's principle of science writing to heart: "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."
Take for example, his discussion of plate tectonics in Chapter 4, in which Dr. Scott uses the image of a lava lamp to describe the action of convection forces in the Earth's mantle (p. 56).
There's plenty of humor sprinkled throughout the book as well. For example, in describing the paleontological debate over whether the T. Rex was primarily a hunter or a scavenger of dead meat, Dr. Scott makes the wry comment that the scavenger theory "effectively relegate[s] Tyrannosaurus to the status of prehistory's biggest maggot."
If you love dinosaurs, you'll love this book.
(Read more at my blog, BostonWriters.wordpress.com.)
January 5, 2013
Dinosaur Odyssey
Scott Sampson
Visit to a Lost World!
Dinosaurs have been popular since the day they were discovered. Children everywhere obsess with them, rattling off their tongue twisting names with ease. Some of those children grow up to be paleontologist who are still obsessed with the "Terrible Lizards" and even write books about them. I'm so glad they do! Scott Sampson's engrossing book takes you on a journey back to the Mesozoic for a close look at the Dinosaurs and the world they lived in. Look around you at the plants and animals that live in today's world, they are part of a complex web of interdependent organisms, from bacteria to blue whales, each sharing a common thread---DNA. Life in the Age of Reptiles was no different. Sampson covers a multitude of subjects; plants, birds and mammals, just to name a few. I found the chapter on Ceratopsian evolution to be particularly interesting. But the main theme of the book is the ecology of the dinosaur's world, the little things that live in the soil, on plants and animals and in the air. For the most part these tiny organisms leave almost no fossil record so their existence is somewhat theoretical, but they were there and their effect on the environment was staggering. Also examined is the geology and climate of this long gone world. In the end I was more that satisfied with Sampson's effort and rate this book right up there with Bakker's The Dinosaur Heresies. Read on my Kindle.
Last Ranger
Scott Sampson
Visit to a Lost World!
Dinosaurs have been popular since the day they were discovered. Children everywhere obsess with them, rattling off their tongue twisting names with ease. Some of those children grow up to be paleontologist who are still obsessed with the "Terrible Lizards" and even write books about them. I'm so glad they do! Scott Sampson's engrossing book takes you on a journey back to the Mesozoic for a close look at the Dinosaurs and the world they lived in. Look around you at the plants and animals that live in today's world, they are part of a complex web of interdependent organisms, from bacteria to blue whales, each sharing a common thread---DNA. Life in the Age of Reptiles was no different. Sampson covers a multitude of subjects; plants, birds and mammals, just to name a few. I found the chapter on Ceratopsian evolution to be particularly interesting. But the main theme of the book is the ecology of the dinosaur's world, the little things that live in the soil, on plants and animals and in the air. For the most part these tiny organisms leave almost no fossil record so their existence is somewhat theoretical, but they were there and their effect on the environment was staggering. Also examined is the geology and climate of this long gone world. In the end I was more that satisfied with Sampson's effort and rate this book right up there with Bakker's The Dinosaur Heresies. Read on my Kindle.
Last Ranger
February 1, 2010
This is a very impressive book, as it's well-suited for both adults with little scientific knowledge of dinosaurs, and for devoted amateurs already well-read regarding that part of paleohistory. It does a remarkable job of using real-world examples and comparisons to make the subject relevant to novices. Simultaneously, the appealing hook of dinosaurs is used as a way to present a number of interesting scientific concepts that have applications beyond the fossil record. Sampson even convincingly ties the subject into modern ecological issues and social responsibility.
While Dinosaur Odyssey lacks a certain level of specific detail regarding the dinosaurs themselves, that can be found in other books; and Sampson's book provides a wider perspective, not merely discussing the flashier creatures, but the entire Mesozoic world as an interconnected ecosystem; information that sometimes gets neglected in books more interested in classifications and trivia.
Dinosaur Odyssey is probably the best generalist book on the subject since the Dinosaur Heresies in the 1980s, but with a more restrained, less conjectural tone than Robert Bakker's sometimes overly-fanciful book. It should be an excellent resource for years to come. Highly recommended.
While Dinosaur Odyssey lacks a certain level of specific detail regarding the dinosaurs themselves, that can be found in other books; and Sampson's book provides a wider perspective, not merely discussing the flashier creatures, but the entire Mesozoic world as an interconnected ecosystem; information that sometimes gets neglected in books more interested in classifications and trivia.
Dinosaur Odyssey is probably the best generalist book on the subject since the Dinosaur Heresies in the 1980s, but with a more restrained, less conjectural tone than Robert Bakker's sometimes overly-fanciful book. It should be an excellent resource for years to come. Highly recommended.
August 2, 2011
A very good book. In some ways, it's not really about dinosaurs--it's about how dinosaurs fit in to their ecosystem. A lot of the book focuses on how evolution and ecology are essential to understanding any living thing, dinosaurs and humans included. I am a strict amateur when it comes science, so I found this incredibly informative and interesting.
There's plenty of discussion of dinosaurs, emphasizing the incredible diversity and weirdness of dinosaurs. Sampson also talks a lot about different theories about dinos--e.g. why they got so big, why they evolved such elaborate headgear, why they went extinct--and offers interesting evidence to support his views.
Maybe the most pleasant surprise about this book is how well-written it is. When I was in academia, I knew a lot of people who were very smart and had interesting things to say, but were terrible writers. Sampson is not this--he's quite an interesting and entertaining writer.
If you're interested in dinosaurs, evolution, or science more generally, this is a book well worth reading.
There's plenty of discussion of dinosaurs, emphasizing the incredible diversity and weirdness of dinosaurs. Sampson also talks a lot about different theories about dinos--e.g. why they got so big, why they evolved such elaborate headgear, why they went extinct--and offers interesting evidence to support his views.
Maybe the most pleasant surprise about this book is how well-written it is. When I was in academia, I knew a lot of people who were very smart and had interesting things to say, but were terrible writers. Sampson is not this--he's quite an interesting and entertaining writer.
If you're interested in dinosaurs, evolution, or science more generally, this is a book well worth reading.
June 27, 2011
Oh I so wanted to love this book, and I do but I have several comments:
1. Print is way too small and fills many pages with no pictures or graphs to offer relief
2. Not enough pictures, graphs, etc.
This should have been produced like a textbook with the two suggestions above.
I simply could not finish the book because of the 2 objections above--it just put me to sleep every time!!!! AARRRHGHGGHGHGHGH
Nevertheless the information I did manage to get was truly outstanding...Sampson covers the whole of earth's continuing evolution (did you know scientists figure the earth's skin is totally recycled every 500 million years?), animal and plant evolutions, to show how the environment came to support single celled animals up to dinosaurs and how dinosaurs influenced and were influenced by their environment through time--ie. thw whole web of life.
1. Print is way too small and fills many pages with no pictures or graphs to offer relief
2. Not enough pictures, graphs, etc.
This should have been produced like a textbook with the two suggestions above.
I simply could not finish the book because of the 2 objections above--it just put me to sleep every time!!!! AARRRHGHGGHGHGHGH
Nevertheless the information I did manage to get was truly outstanding...Sampson covers the whole of earth's continuing evolution (did you know scientists figure the earth's skin is totally recycled every 500 million years?), animal and plant evolutions, to show how the environment came to support single celled animals up to dinosaurs and how dinosaurs influenced and were influenced by their environment through time--ie. thw whole web of life.
July 17, 2012
A pop-sci book trying to synthesize the explosion of ideas and controversies following the so-called "Dinosaur revolution." Sampson starts slow; the first half of the book is largely dedicated to background concepts: trophic hierarchies, ecology, and evolution via natural and sexual selection. The middle portion of the book shines; there are plenty of interesting theories tying together everything from "mesothermy," to carnivores giving up meat, to the impact of plant life on the biosphere. This was the important bit, in my eyes.
Sampson's writing style sometimes gets a bit flowery and image-heavy; he often detours to wax poetic about majestic views and the profound interconnected-ness of living things. This may or may not appeal to you.
Overall, this was an enjoyable pop-sci read, and piqued my interest in the dramatic changes in paleontology over the past thirty years.
Sampson's writing style sometimes gets a bit flowery and image-heavy; he often detours to wax poetic about majestic views and the profound interconnected-ness of living things. This may or may not appeal to you.
Overall, this was an enjoyable pop-sci read, and piqued my interest in the dramatic changes in paleontology over the past thirty years.
March 30, 2011
Mr. Sampson's book grows out of the sense that paleontology has grown beyond discovery, classification and cladistics or evolutionary relationships. This book is delves into the ecology of dinosaurs. How their evolution reflects their environments as those environments changed over time.
Mr. Samson and the end expresses the exciting, to me at least, idea that we should be teaching what he calls "The Big Story." The inter-relationship of geological change and evolution, or to put it differently, how the earth influenced the life forms is supports and how life forms contributed to changes in the earth.
Mr. Samson and the end expresses the exciting, to me at least, idea that we should be teaching what he calls "The Big Story." The inter-relationship of geological change and evolution, or to put it differently, how the earth influenced the life forms is supports and how life forms contributed to changes in the earth.
September 8, 2010
Best modern dinosaur book out there. He talks about evolution a bit too much, but there are plenty of other topics covered. It did take me a while to get into this book because the first three chapters are slightly boring (repetitive). If you don't like any given chapter, just read a different one and you'll be sure to find something you're interested in. He does a good job explaining why dinosaurs are relevant to people living today. This book belongs on the shelves of naturalists, environmentalists, and educators.
September 28, 2024
It does contain a few points of actual science, such as covering the debate over the T. Rex's role as either an active hunter or as a scavenger. However, the vast majority of the book is focused on evolution. For example, much of chapter 7 covers the supposed "proofs" of Darwinism but is completely silent on the biggest obstacle to the theory: there is simply no way for new genetic information to arise from nowhere. The author even brings up the now thoroughly debunked idea of vestigial organs like the appendix (so much for this book being "up to date").
April 25, 2019
This book is probably a great introduction to biology for people interested in dinosaurs and to dinosaurs for people interested in biology. However, since I have already read a lot about both of these topics, I didn't find what was said in this book as interesting as I might have had this been my first experience with one of them.
Despite that, this book does do a great job of explaining the ecology and evolution of dinosaurs and the other animals in their environments.
Despite that, this book does do a great job of explaining the ecology and evolution of dinosaurs and the other animals in their environments.
February 13, 2016
I really liked how this book brings the world of the dinosaurs alive. For anyone deeply interested in dinosaurs and their entire world I would strongly recommend this book. The first 4 chapters were a bit heavy as the author attempted to give the basic science necessary to understand the rest of the book. So if anyone gets frustrated I would recommend skimming through the first part.
November 13, 2012
Excellent and thorough discussion on dinosaurs, ecology and evolution. Comprehensive, readable, assumes nothing but the ability to read and understand. Would work as a PBL style course for an intro to Biology.
August 6, 2013
The first chapter is really good, and the author raises tons of great questions throughout. A little bit repetitive in terms of its messages, and lots of frustrating parts where an excellent question is raised and then turns out to have no answer...but still, best dino book I've read in a while.
January 18, 2010
This book is by Dr. Scott the paleontologist from PBS' Dinosaur Train! It was a little slow in the beginning, but I learned a lot about what's current in paleontology.
February 28, 2010
Good book talks about the problems in dinosaur studies and continues to make the point that dinosaurs are only the most visible portion of whole ecological systems.
April 25, 2010
I wanted to read this book so I could stay to stay slightly ahead of my three and five year old boys.
November 18, 2011
Dinosaurs are totally rad, by which I mean sweet. This book would have been more awesome if it had featured more gnarly pictures of dinosaurs, which are totally badass.
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