Rate this book

My Beloved Brontosaurus: On The Road With Old Bones, New Science, And Our Favorite Dinosaurs (2013)

by Brian Switek(Favorite Author)

3.91 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0374135061 (ISBN13: 9780374135065)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux

review 1: The next best thing to finding an enthusiastic first grader, this is a well-written popular science memoir and affectionate review of the vast changes to paleontology and dinosaur theories over the last twenty years, from the natural history museums' reposing of the skeletons, to speculations about dinosaur sex and parenting. This is good science writing from a guy who is a blogger for National Geographic and lifetime dinosaur enthusiast.
review 2: One of my earliest memories is walking into the then closed for renovations dinosaur hall at the Field Museum. I remember the fresh drywall seeming like a labyrinth and near the center there was monstrous skeletons in glaring light looking down at me. I can count the times I've been that scared on single hand. Fear ... moregave way to simple apprehension because I eventually recognized the cyclopean bones as dinosaurs, my worry shifted to getting caught somewhere where I wasn't supposed to be. A museum worker eventually found me wandering around and dragged me back to a main hallway, which was full of boring stuff and my family, who weren't surprised to hear me babbling about dinosaurs. The first time I saw Sue I almost fucking cried, I was 19 years old. Every time I see a link on yahoo or something about any dinosaur I click on it right away. So of course My Beloved Brontosaurus has been on my radar for a long time. I finally got around to reading it last week and I was not disappointed. It covers some familiar ground, but there's a good amount of stuff that I haven't even thought about or even heard about. One of the big ideas is what dinosaurs sounded like, or what color archaeopteryx feathers were, both of which are covered in the book in fascinating detail. One of my favorite things is how the author, Brian Switek, describes wanting to correct people who happen to be around at the same dinosaur exhibits he's at yet beating that urge, I thought I was on my own about that! I bet if the book had more pictures it would have it's own TV series by now. I recommended for anyone who likes to be reminded that mankind has only been on earth for a geological blink of an eye. Or anyone who likes eating chicken because they know they are eating a fucking dinosaur. Basically everyone really. less

Download links for: My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs

Advertising