Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life


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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. With these discoveries—and the most recent controversies—in mind, Sampson reconstructs the odyssey of the dinosaurs from their humble origins on the supercontinent Pangaea, to their reign as the largest animals the planet has ever known, and finally to their abrupt demise. Feb 27, Patricrk patrick rated it liked it Shelves: Dec 22, Last Ranger rated it it was amazing. One of the better affordable recent dino books. University of California Press, , p.

The facts of dinosaurian life are presented with a zest only exceeded by a spirited endorsement of environmental education in the epilogue. Many subthemes appear along the way. Among them, the most fascinating are the incidents of discovery and insight, stimulated by semi-arid landscapes in western Madagascar, migrating wildebeest herds in northern Kenya, and the silent austerity of Californian redwood forests.

The silhouettes depicting the size of various kinds of dinosaurs in relation to that of humans are very informative. A glossary is provided, as well as an excellent index. Hutton recognized the depth of geologic time, Darwin understood the efficacy of natural selection, Wegener realized that continents slowly move, and Hennig quantified the interrelationships of organisms.

Unlike some other accounts of dinosaurs, a time line does not dominate the text. Populations, not individuals, evolve, but directional change is brief and does not accumulate.

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Humankind is definitely not the culmination of evolution; bacteria remain the fundamental and ecologically most important form of life. And future versions 40, 60, and years hence will be equally distinctive … many lifetimes of groundbreaking work remain to be done. Hardcover , pages. Published November 30th by University of California Press first published To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

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Lists with This Book. Dec 14, Terence rated it liked it Recommends it for: I have been or am many flavors of geekhood. I am an evolution-science geek, however, and any book that talks about evolution will always be on my provisional To-Read list. 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.

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.

Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life by Scott D. Sampson

His purpose in this evocation is two-fold. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Buy Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life on www.farmersmarketmusic.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders. Here is an up-to-date book that ably documents existing knowledge pertaining to the biology and evolution of dinosaurs. The volume is both.

Strongly recommended; a very enjoyable reading experience. Jul 22, Andrea rated it it was amazing Shelves: Enjoyed this broad view thoroughly. Thanks to Tudor for finding it. Mar 16, Bill Leach rated it really liked it Shelves: Mar 06, Tirath rated it it was amazing.

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One of the best books I have read in a while. 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 One of the best books I have read in a while. 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 Final thoughts - - how irrelevant we are.

Apr 06, Maitrey rated it it was amazing Shelves: 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 s 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. S 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 s 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. 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: 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.

Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life by Scott D. Sampson

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: 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: 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: 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.