Book Review | Dragon Teeth

 

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jurassic Park is one of my favorite books of all-time. I can't even count the number of times I read it from middle school on up. I can't count the number of times we played Jurassic Park as kids in the neighborhood (I was ALWAYS Ellie), re-enacting the movie over and over and over.

Crichton's passing saddened me greatly, because we lost a fantastic writer who always kept me on the edge of my seat. I have yet to meet a Crichton book I haven't liked. This was no exception.

Dragon Teeth was published in 2017, nearly a decade after Crichton's death. Compared to other books I have read by authors who passed during the writing, editing, or revising process, this felt 100% Crichton, 100% of the time.

It is really weird to think about the heyday of dinosaur fossil discoveries happening in the Wild West, two things that seem incredibly incompatible. Crichton has blended fact and fiction together so perfectly and it absolutely wonderful. I would even say comforting, because to be able to read one of his novels years after he passed away was just that, comforting. Luckily, it was also a fast-paced and entertaining read that had be hooked from start to finish.

The story takes place in 1876. Everything that comes to mind when one thinks of the time and the place, complete with goldrush towns and Native American tribes at war with one another. There are cameos by Western figures we know so well, gunfights and the like. This is a western novel through and through. But in the midst of all of that, two paleontologists are also at war - with one another. The rivalry between the two men takes center stage as they race to collect as many specimens as possible.

Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope were real men, real paleontologists who battled one another for scientific supremacy. The men spent years and fortunes spying and sabotaging  in order to come out on top.

The only character who seems to be completely a product of Crichton's imagination is William Johnson. He is a rich, spoiled, lazy young man attending Yale and ends up out West on a bet that he can't survive the summer on an expedition with Marsh. In terms of survival, this is initially simply a nod to whether or not he will last out West of if he comes home early. As the adventure deepens, it becomes a literal fight for survival as Johnson has to contend with all the dangers surrounding him in addition to the dangers that Marsh and Cope's men are to one another. It certainly doesn't help Johnson when Marsh becomes convinced that Cope sent Johnson to spy on his own activities, and all kinds of intrigue ensues.

I picked this one up for a couple reasons. First, of course, dinosaurs. Secondly, I knew the history between Marsh and Cope and was excited to see what Crichton could do with such fantastic material. As I read, I found myself forgetting this was, in fact, very very true in so much of the story. The two men were larger than life and HATED one another. They did whatever they could to sabotage one another, and their plots often worked. Crichton packs so much into the story here, and even then one must remember that the rivalry was so intense and there is so much left out, simply because Crichton could easily have doubled the length of the book in recounting all the ways in which the rivalry was incredibly intense and downright dangerous.

All in all, this is absolutely brilliant. Crichton at his finest. Highly recommended.

Review Bomb: Welcome to Jurassic Park

Dinosaurs are pretty much the coolest and I am forever glad this is one interest that I never grew out of. I have fond memories of burying rocks in the sandbox, then using kitchen utensils to 'dig them up'. Apparently grill brushes are not to be used in the sandbox, who knew?

 ⭐⭐

The focus of this text moves beyond just the fossilized bones that we have left. It discusses in-depth the rare mummified dinosaurs found in just a few locations around the world. Should be amazingly interesting, right?

Yes, except it's not.

While it is very clear that the author is passionate about his field of study, perhaps the specific find he chose to highlight, the project as a whole, should have been completed before the book was actually published. We get tons of background and historical and technical information, but in the end we don't get to find out what was in the big body block because the CT scans were not finished by the time of publication. The ending is super anti-climactic and it seems silly to write a book about a project that's not even completed yet.

Manning went into detail about previous finds related to soft tissue, which ended up being rather helpful given that his own work was not yet complete. At the time I was reading, I thought it was out of place to discuss other finds so thoroughly, but it made sense once I had finished the book with no conclusion to his own.

Even so, this was a tedious read on more than one occasion and for all the effort it took for me to finish reading the book, it would have been nice to know what the CT scan showed. I definitely won't be buying his updated version of the text, once that scan is complete; it will definitely be one from the library again.

 ⭐⭐⭐

I wish I had gobs of money to go gallivanting all over the world, stealing fossils from other countries.

Oh, wait, no I don't, because that is shady as hell and these fossils need to be in the care of scientists to study and preserve them.

I am not against the idea of amateur paleontologists - it is indeed how some of the greatest fossil finds have been discovered. But to steal them from the countries in which they were discovered, and then sell them at auction to the highest bidder, who will then hide them away in their private collection just feels all kinds of wrong to me - mostly because it is wrong. If we now acknowledge that items looted from the Middle East (especially Egypt!) up until not that long ago (and let's be honest, it is STILL happening) should be returned to the country of their origin, why should dinosaur fossils be any different. The argument is made that the fossils will be seen by more people, or be better cared-for, if placed in museums in the West, but that's not fair.

Anyway, this book is about an amateur paleontologist who developed a passion for the field at a young age. He unearthed quite the find in Mongolia, sold it at auction, and it was then displayed in Manhattan. The T. bataar was the find of a lifetime for Prokopi and I do admire the effort and energy he put into finding, securing, preparing, and displaying his finds. But the problem remains that they were not his to do so with. Prokopi is not a terribly likable figure, so I do not have much sympathy for him. I realize this has a major impact on his life, what with the jail time and all, and the strain it put on his family, but he chose to take this hugely important find, purposely mislabeled the crates to return home, and engaged in illegal activity in doing so.

I was kind of surprised by how boring the whole trial came across as. Maybe it really was that boring, as the author does a great job maintaining pacing within the rest of the text. I would have liked more from the trial, transcripts and such, all the arguments for and against, but it was all so matter-of-fact and dry. Perhaps it is because I personally am so passionate about this that I expected more. And as always, I would much rather things be accurate than sensational just for the sake of being sensational.

I have two main issues with the book. First, the book is the heavily detailed account of the history of Mongolia. This served no purpose to move the story along, and only what pertained to the collection of fossils should have been included. It felt like extra padding added to a story that did not need anything of the kind. But, given the fact that the book looks deceptively long when you hold the physical copy in your hands, I see why that information was included. Half the book is actually research. The author has tons heaps and heaps of it, and knows the story well. Even so, the "extra stuff" was distracting from an otherwise engaging text.

Secondly, um, WHERE ARE THE PHOTOGRAPHS??

Overall it was a mostly interesting read, but one I would suggest getting from the library.

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A giant book crammed with giant facts about giant dinosaurs. I'm pretty sure this might actually be a text book, because there was so much info, and such tiny print, I can't imagine too many people reading this for fun, unless they're obsessed with dinosaurs. Even I struggled with it a lot, because there was just SO MUCH. Tons of photos, timelines, sidebars, anything and everything. Almost too much.

If you are inclined to pick this one up, only a physical copy will due. There is no way it will translate well to an e-reader.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Where may I place my order for a chickenosaurus, please and thank you?

While the text meanders here and there, I am inclined to follow Horner's meanderings wherever they may lead in regards to this subject.

Dinosaurs never went extinct, and this is not a new concept. This was being presented at least as far back as Jurassic Park (Horner was a consultant on the film), where my knowledge of dinosaurs really began to form. In addition, if you are a regular reader of the blog you might recall my post from a month ago when Dr Lindsay Zanno visited The Durham and gave several lectures on tyrannosaurs and discussed this topic. Eleanor is endlessly delighted by this fact - what six year old wouldn't be? - and tells anyone and everyone that dinosaurs still exist, even if they look a little different now.

In a nutshell, Horner lays the groundwork for what would be necessary to create a dinosaur today, basically reverse-engineering one using chicken embryos. He explains how this could be done by manipulating the genetic code of a chicken (one at a time. No worries, were they to reproduce, they would only create another chicken) and unsuppressing, for lack of a better word, the dinosaur genes that still exist within the chicken's DNA. This would, in theory, produce chickens, but chickens that have teeth, front claws instead of wings, and tails.

Sadly, Horner does not believe this would happen in his lifetime, given the insane amounts of time and money such a project would take. I am only 36, so perhaps in my lifetime? I hope so, because I really want a chickenosaurus.

Heeeeeeeere's Scotty!

I don't even know where to begin. Yesterday was amazing.

I mentioned in a previous post that The Durham Museum is opening a new exhibit today. The centerpiece of the exhibit is Scotty, who is  comparable to Sue, the most complete specimen ever found. About 90% of Sue was recovered, compared to 65% in Scotty's case. The two dinosaurs are very close in terms of size and weight, but scientists speculate that Scotty could have been bigger than Sue. Unfortunately, due to missing parts, it is hard to know for sure. Either way, I have been incredibly lucky in that I have seen Sue TWICE (once at the Field Museum in Chicago and once here, unsurprisingly, at the Durham when Eleanor was a month old), and now Scotty. Both are absolutely amazing. Though, if it helps to imagine that Scotty might be a bit bigger, I will say this: the museum could not fit Scotty into the normal exhibit area where Sue was staged and they actually had to open up a bigger area that is not typically accessible to patrons. Regardless, both are amazing and must-sees if you are any kind of dinosaur enthusiast.

The Durham offered a two-day Members-Only viewing yesterday and Thursday. Eleanor and I ended up going not once, but twice! First we went with our friend Jessica, then later with another friend Charissa, and her kiddos. It was just as awesome the second time around. I didn't want to leave and neither did Eleanor. Or Jess, or Charissa, or any of us, actually. It really was such a cool experience.

Here we go!

The exhibit was great and had tons of interactive displays for kids and adults alike. There were also three large screens showing various dinosaurs running around the museum, and even inside it. Eleanor loved running back and forth with them.

Varying sizes of t. Rex skulls

Eleanor checking out some of the artifacts.

To the right, mostly out of the picture, is a leg bone cast belonging to a Triceratops. When I read the placard about the damage done to the bone by a t. Rex, Eleanor hugged the bone tightly and told Cera she loved her (Cera, as in the bratty dino from The Land Before Time. Not coincidentally, after I saw that movie for the first time, I would only spell my name Cera instead of Sarah. My first grade teacher was terribly patient with me, bless her soul.)

Scotty and me. Seeing these fossils on display really made me regret not pursuing paleontology in college.

The exhibit will be here until September, so if it is coming to a museum near you, I highly recommend going! FYI for my UK friends, it will be in Edinburgh! HERE is the website for the exhibit if you want to check out where it is going next.

The exhibit is simply breathtaking. Especially when you come into the display area and see Scotty for the first time. Scotty is truly beautiful.

I have only one complaint, and that is that the gift shop only had dinosaur books geared toward children. There are so many great titles that could also be available for adults!

Did you love dinosaurs as a kid? Were you one who grew out of it, or have you remained a child in an adult body like me when it comes to these absolutely amazing creatures?

Happy Reading!

Sarah