Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed Terrible Lizard: The First Dinosaur Hunters and the Birth of a New Science on + 1184 more book reviews
Several years ago, I read Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything which I thought was a great introduction to science and the history of the earth. Included in this book was a section on the quibbling and antagonism between Professors Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh over the discovery and credit for discovering various species of dinosaurs. After reading this, I bought a copy of Terrible Lizard which I thought would give more insight into the feud between Cope and Marsh. However, this book is about the earlier discovery of dinosaurs although Cope and Marsh are briefly mentioned towards the end of the book.
This account tells the story of the early discovery of the great lizards from antiquity back in the early 19th century. In 1812, a young girl named Mary Anning discovered a crocodile-like skeleton in the cliffs of Dorset, England. This attracted scholars who tried to determine what the skeleton was and to find more ancient fossils. One of the first to jump in the fray was the Reverend William Buckland who tried to use Mary's and other fossils to understand the world before the deluge of Noah and to prove the accuracy of Genesis as told in the Bible. Then another amateur naturalist, Gideon Mantell, found giant petrified bones in Sussex which were part of one of the first discovered huge dinosaurs, the Iguanodon. Mantell, a country doctor pursued the quest of knowledge of these fossils above all else resulting in a loss of most of his family and his medical practice but he was one of the leaders in the field at the time. Then along came Richard Owen who used Mantell's work to try to take credit for discovering the dinosaurs, a term he coined. Buckland and Owen tried to fit in the various geological finds with the Bible and divine creation but later Darwin's Origin of Species was published which was in conflict with their theories and later became the accepted scientific theory.
This book was packed with scientific information on early geology and discovery. Some of it was kind of dry reading but overall I found the story to be quite fascinating. The book makes you root for Mantell and casts Owen as a real narcissist who is only seeking glory for himself at the expense of others. Good stuff!
This account tells the story of the early discovery of the great lizards from antiquity back in the early 19th century. In 1812, a young girl named Mary Anning discovered a crocodile-like skeleton in the cliffs of Dorset, England. This attracted scholars who tried to determine what the skeleton was and to find more ancient fossils. One of the first to jump in the fray was the Reverend William Buckland who tried to use Mary's and other fossils to understand the world before the deluge of Noah and to prove the accuracy of Genesis as told in the Bible. Then another amateur naturalist, Gideon Mantell, found giant petrified bones in Sussex which were part of one of the first discovered huge dinosaurs, the Iguanodon. Mantell, a country doctor pursued the quest of knowledge of these fossils above all else resulting in a loss of most of his family and his medical practice but he was one of the leaders in the field at the time. Then along came Richard Owen who used Mantell's work to try to take credit for discovering the dinosaurs, a term he coined. Buckland and Owen tried to fit in the various geological finds with the Bible and divine creation but later Darwin's Origin of Species was published which was in conflict with their theories and later became the accepted scientific theory.
This book was packed with scientific information on early geology and discovery. Some of it was kind of dry reading but overall I found the story to be quite fascinating. The book makes you root for Mantell and casts Owen as a real narcissist who is only seeking glory for himself at the expense of others. Good stuff!
