The Dinosaur Hunters

Posted on 12 May 2018 by Deborah Cadbury

It may seem surprising but dinosaurs are actually a British invention of the early 19th century The name dinosaur was coined in 1842 by an English anatomist Richard Owen, a highly ambitious, machiavellian schemer and villain of Deborah Cadbury s The Dinosaur Hunters A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World Her hero is Gideon Mantell, a practising doctor, who found and first described many of the bones of the beasts that subsequently became known as dinosaurs Full of quotes from contemporary sources, The Dinosaur Hunters brilliantly evokes the Dickensian world of early Victorian science and society From Mary Anning, the self taught fossil hunter of Lyme Regis to the academic and deeply eccentric Dean Buckland of Oxford University, the story tells of reputations made and lost as self help, self promotion, over wheening pride, folly and social climbing all played their part in the emerging story of the geological past The dinosaurs, although central to the story, are also a vehicle for the much larger, interesting and important story about the struggle to understand the meaning of fossils and what they tell us about prehistory Deborah Cadbury, an award winning TV science producer and acclaimed author of The Feminisation of Nature has thoroughly researched her topic and steeped herself in the intricacies of the scientific debates of the time With black and white illustrations, extensive notes, a bibliography and index, the result is one of the best popular science histories Douglas Palmer. New Download [ The Dinosaur Hunters ] by [ Deborah Cadbury ] – kino-fada.fr In Dinosaur Hunters Deborah Cadbury skilfully weaves together the story of the gradual unravelling of the mystery of dinosaur fossils with the story of one of the great scientific rivalries of the 19th century When the first dinosaur fossils were found nobody knew what they were Since they belonged to animals that had no exact modern counterparts it was difficult to know exactly how to piece together a whole creature from fragmentary remains Even deciding which bones belonged to which creatur In Dinosaur Hunters Deborah Cadbury skilfully weaves together the story of the gradual unravelling of the mystery of dinosaur fossils with the story of one of the great scientific rivalries of the 19th century When the first dinosaur fossils were found nobody knew what they were Since they belonged to animals that had no exact modern counterparts it was difficult to know exactly how to piece together a whole creature from fragmentary remains Even deciding which bones belonged to which creature was a puzzle Two men who made an enormous contribution to the solving of these enigmas were Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen Mantell was a doctor but fossils were his great love and his contribution was made at great personal cost Owen was a man of considerable talent and immense ambition, and was burdened with few scruples ...Started reading this with some trepidation, as it was brought on a whim It rewarded me with a fascinating read whilst learning some fundamental essential history, I was also as absorbed as if it was a good novel Incredible how entrenched dogmatic the Creationist gentlemen of the establishment were at that crucial time how hard for those obviously becoming aware of the anomalies in that belief, to deal with it personally to challenge the views of those in charge T Started reading this with some trepidation, as it was brought on a whim It rewarded me with a fascinating read whilst learning some fundame...I dug this It s mostly about Gideon Mantell, the guy who first recognized dinosaurs foror less what they are Its setting lets it include information about dinosaurs themselves as well as the rise of the idea of evolution in the 19th century and the furor it caused It s an entertaining read on top of that, so it has an awful lot going for it The villain, Richard Owen, is like the 19th century version of David Attenborough except that Attenborough isn t a dick The book isn t as much I dug this It s mostly about Gideon Mantell, the guy who first recognized dinosaurs foror less what they are Its setting lets it include information about dinosaurs themselves as well as the rise of the idea of evolution in the 19th century and the furor it caused It s an entertaining read on top of that, so it has an awful lot going for it The villain, Richard Owen, is like the 19th century version of David Attenborough except that Attenbor...While this book is well researched and written, historically informative, and entertaining, it is also skewed to support evolutionary theory If you read aware of the flawed arguments often used by proponents of the evolution theory, the slant shouldn t dothan annoy and sadden you.The story of the rivalry between Mantell and Owen is really very sad I can only imagine whatthey could have discovered if Owen had been able to set aside his predatory ambition and work with Mantell to rev While this book is well researched and written, historically informative, and entertaining, it is also skewed to support evolutionary theory If you read aware of the flawed arguments often used by proponents of the evolution theory, the slant shouldn t dothan annoy and sadden you.The...Really enjoyed this book about the discovery of the prehistoric world Although Cadbury focuses on the scientific rivalry between Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen, she provides a fascinating account of how people in the ...A glimpse into the ideas, and alien world view of the 1800s This book is as interesting for its insights into human history as it is for the dinosaur content You need to like fossils as much as you like mad scientists of old to really get on with this book Back when geology was undergroundology and Mary Annings thought she was was finding crocodile remains in Lyme Regis, the Bible was the absolute authority on the history of the world Working ...Auch wenn das Ganze nicht der wissenschaftlichen Form entsprach ich h tte mir Quellenangaben zu Zitaten ge wnscht, u.a und sich eher wie ein Krimi las, fand ich malte das Buch eine spannende Welt der Entstehung der Pal ontologie damals Geologie genannt Einiges war mir bereits bekannt, anderes neu Und der Umstand dass die Erforschung urzeitlicher Funde erst aktiv seit ca 200 Jahren stattfindet, beeindruckt mich wirklich So lange ist das noch nicht aber umso beeindruckender ist die Leistun Auch wenn das Ganze nicht der wissenschaftlichen Form entsprach ich h tte mir Quellenangaben zu Zitaten ge wnscht, u.a und sich eher wie ein Krimi las, fand ich malte das Buch eine spannende Welt der Entstehung d...The Dinosaur Hunters is to date one of the best books I have ever read Deborah Cadbury s history of the rivalry between the earliest geologists of England and France is well researched and superbly written.Beginning with the earliest discoveries of Mary Anning and spanning the course of some eighty years, The Dinosaur Hunters provides a vivid account of the discoveries and professi...This is a really interesting book that reveals a lot about the work of Britain s first paleontologists Richard Owen doesn t come off well having been revealed as a bully who was not above abusing his position to do his rivals down or h...I listened to an audio adaptation read by Emma Fielding Naturalist Gideon Mantell and anatomist Richard Owen feud over the uncovering of the prehistoric world as Charles Darwin waits to publish the revolutionary The Origin of Species.

English
12 May 2018

Deborah Cadbury