Grave Secrets of Dinosaurs: Soft Tissues and Hard Science | 
|  | | | Title: | Grave Secrets of Dinosaurs: Soft Tissues and Hard Science | | Author: | Phillip Manning | | Publisher: | National Geographic | | Type: | Book / Hardcover | | Publication Date: | 08 January, 2008 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 1426202199 / 9781426202193 | | List Price: | $28.00 | | You Save: | $9.52 | | Amazon Price: | $18.48 | |
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Product Description
Many of us have seen dinosaur bones and skeletons, maybe even dinosaur eggs...but what did those fearsome animals really look like in the flesh? Soft-tissue fossils give tantalizing clues about the appearance and physiology of the ancient animals. In this exciting book, paleontologist Phillip Manning presents the most astonishing dinosaur fossil excavations of the past 100 years—including the recent discovery of a remarkably intact dinosaur mummy in the Badlands of North Dakota.
Bone structure is just the beginning of our knowledge today, thanks to amazing digs like these. Drawing on new breakthroughs and cutting-edge techniques of analysis, Dr. Manning takes us on a thrilling, globe-spanning tour of dinosaur mummy finds—from the first such excavation in 1908 to a baby dinosaur unearthed in 1980, from a dino with a heart in South Dakota to titanosaur embryos in Argentina. And he discusses his own groundbreaking analysis of "Dakota," discovered by Tyler Lyson.
Using state-of-the-art technology to scan and analyse this remarkable discovery, National Geographic and Dr. Manning create an incredibly lifelike portrait of Dakota. The knowledge to be gained from this exceedingly rare find, and those that came before it, will intrigue dinosaur-loving readers of all ages.
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Customer Reviews:
• No Secrets Revealed In This Book 29 February, 2008
I assumed the star of this book would be the hadrosaur fossil, Dakota, with its preserved soft tissues and all the paleobiology that goes along with such a magnificent find. Instead it is narrative about how hard it is to excavate, prepare and analyze fossils.
The first two thirds of the book describe the trials and lifestyle of the modern day paleontologist. Then various analytical techniques are mentioned, but not described and ultimately, the take home message is that the analysis is incomplete. Very dissappointing.
As another reviewer said, this book was clearly rushed to print and the fossil is probably several years away from revealing any meaningful additions to our understanding of dinosaurs.
The latter third of the book reads like a review article of known mummified fossils, which is interesting, but then ends up with a rather long description of the techniques used to determine dinosaur gait.
The book was not particularly well written. For example, Manning used a page and a half to explain that because the skin was preserved uncollapsed around the skeleton, the volume of muscle and soft tissue can be calculated. At times, I found myself having to reread sentences and ultimately not understanding the message.
Hopefully Dakota will one day reveal its secrets to the public and subsequent books will include data, pictures, graphs, and new hypotheses on how this animal once existed.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A8VL3RR9UPWYQ
• Disappointing And Premature 25 April, 2008
I bought this book with great interest, and quickly discovered there was little "left on the bone," if you will. Plodding through intricate details of what the scientists ate for dinner the night before digging was uninteresting and I felt was blocking me from getting to the results and scientific information I desired to find. Once past the details of the day-to-day experiences, you get to the end of the book, where it is stated the research is just beginning! I understand the urgency of publishing when the story is fresh, but readers would benefit more from getting the whole story.
Much of the background information provided on paleontology and digging strategy was interesting when read in the context of anticipating the results. Sadly, the results were not available.
Wait for the sequel!!!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2L8WDIQTWJ6M4
• Premature Paleontological Publication 16 February, 2008
Dakota, the most perfectly preserved dinosaur mummy, made headlines in 2007. The spectacular fossil promises to yield information on dinosaurs, both biological and environmental, previously undreamed of. "Using state-of-the-art technology to scan and analyse this remarkable discovery, National Geographic and Dr. Manning create an incredibly lifelike portrait of Dakota." So promises the book description.
Unfortunately there is little such information here. To get to what Manning and his team had discovered at the time of writing you have to read 260 pages into the 320 page book. Fossils do not quickly reveal their secrets. The more exquisite the preservation the slower the work must proceed. When you are talking about an intact skin envelope and perhaps other preserved "soft" tissues the work will proceed slowly indeed. Therefore, time after time Manning must break the news to the reader that the results of the research aren't in yet. So precious little about this particular hadrosaur is actually revealed other than his (her?) surprisingly robust posterior. I can't help but think that this book was written at least a year too early. Clearly the publishers wanted to rush the book into publication while the news was still hot. In doing so, however, they have set the reader up for an ultimately frustrating experience.
This is not to say the book is without merit. Certainly not. Manning provides us with a nice, if somewhat superficial, tour of mummies of all sorts, from dinosaurs to mammoths to humans. The circumstances necessary to preserve bodies in such condition are rare indeed and the book is perhaps at its most fascinating in the passages detailing these quite special circumstances. The middle portion of the book, though, where Manning details his early paleontological training in England and the circumstances that brought him into contact with Tyler Lyson (the discoverer of Dakota), are rather dry. There is the unmistakable sound of spinning wheels as the reader presumably moves toward the revelations promised in the jacket copy. Unfortunately, such revelations will have to await a future publication.
Visually, the book is a major disappointment. There are no photographs of the fossil itself (other than one indistinct picture of the CT scan of the tail, a much higher quality image of which can be found online at nationalgeographic.com) and no diagrams, drawings, reconstructions, etc.. to speak of. We have several of the obligatory photos of the excavation of the fossil which are mostly indistinguishable from thousands of other such on-site photos. We get a wonderful, full color restoration of Dakota on the cover (by the talented paleoartist Julius Csotonyi) and that's it.
To sum up, I would recommend this book but with the above caveats in mind. It is reasonably well written, mostly engaging and at times rich in technical details about the techniques modern paleontologists use to tease knowledge from the fossil remains of the spectacular animals that populated our world in the distant past. Just don't expect many such secrets to be revealed in the pages of "Grave Secrets Of Dinosaurs."
(The thing had been in the ground for 65 million years. You'd think they could have waited one more year to publish. I guess that qualifies as irony.)
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2NZPQ4KC6O1PD
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