Tag Archives: paleontology

Titanosaur: Discovering the World’s Largest Dinosaur

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Nothing gets a budding paleontologist more excited than a book about a newly discovered dinosaur. But, this book will turn many young readers into future paleontologists when they see the photos of the dig and the resulting life-size model.

Dr. Jose Carballido and Dr. Diego Pol followed the lead given by a local gaucho, who discovered the bone on his ranch in Patagonia while looking for sheep. When they arrived, they found a dinosaur femur (upper leg bone) that was nearly eight feet long, the largest on record! This amazing fossil was the first of over 180 bones that the paleontologists and their team uncovered and took back to the museum. Here, they cleaned them and made fiberglass replicas of every bone in order to build a model of this new species of Titanosaur.

The book is laid out in two corresponding parts. The main part details the discovery of the fossils and the painstaking work it took to remove them safely, clean them, study them and make the life-size replica. The corresponding part, which is in sidebars or the bottom of the pages, explains unfamiliar words and gives information about titanosaurs and the work of a paleontologist in this case.

Illustrations are well-done and the photographs interspersed throughout help the reader be part of the excavation. The two page spread showing the 122 foot long titanosaur, Patagotitan mayorum, is breathtaking and the final pages with a note and photos from Dr. Carballido and Dr. Pol is very engaging.

This book will be a great addition to a library collection, especially those looking to update their information. Put this book out and you won’t see it on the shelf. It’s that good!

The Early Cretaceous: Notes, Drawings, and Observations from Prehistory

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Imagine studying prehistoric life first hand. Well, that is what you will find in this book that is set up like a naturalist’s journal. Drawings and notes fill the pages with descriptions of animals that many of us wish we could see standing before us (although, the carnivores could stand a ways away from us). The newest scientific information is presented in a format that makes us feel as if we are reading notes from a scientist that has actually recorded data from living, breathing organisms. Helpful comparisons in size between humans and dinosaurs are a highlight of each two to four page section. Would-be paleontologists will study this book in – depth and dream of their own discoveries to come. Add this book to your dinosaur collection – it’s a nice update.

A Dog in the Cave: The Wolves Who Made Us Human

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A Dog in the Cave: The Wolves Who Made Us Human combines history, paleontology, biology and medical science to  paints a picture of how man and wolves co-evolve together like no other animals on Earth.   The fossilized discovery, in 1997, of the prints of a boy and his dog walking through the Chauvet cave in southern France revealed carbon-dating much earlier than previously thought about the domestication of dogs from wolves. The author also details differences between wolves and dogs, what we’ve learned about how dogs think through MRI exams, how law enforcement, search/rescue and therapy dogs are trained, and more.  It is a wonderful science book that is so “readable” and touching I forgot it was a “science” book.  Anyone who loves reading about dogs will love this real-life dog story.