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Title: The Dragon Seekers: How an Extraordinary Circle of Fossilists Discovered the Dinosaurs and Paved the Way for Darwin by Christopher McGowan ISBN: 0-7382-0673-3 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: May, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.57 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: On Dinosaurs and Darwinism
Comment: Christopher McGowan's 'The Dragon Seekers' is an extremely well written and easy to read book about the first discoveries of Dinosaurs. Although the stories of the 'fearful lizards' and of the men (and woman) who discovered them is interesting, the history of evolutionary ideas within is the best part.
The large cast of characters here includes an eccentric but brilliant academic (William Buckland), a scoundrel fossil collector (Thomas Hawkins), a distinguished anatomist (Richard Owen) and a working class woman, deprived of her rightful status because of Victorian social conservatism (Mary Anning).
With the increasing number of fossils discovered, and the increase in knowledge in other areas, Modern science was wrestling itself out of religious dogma, and the arguments about it are the core of this book.
Among the chief arguments at the time was whether the global, Noachian Flood existed, or not. Great disputes about these question took place, between supporters and the so called anti-Diluvians, who opposed it .
An even greater controversy was the one surrounding evolution ('transmutation' in the vernacular). Transmutationism was a bona fide heresy, and when the young Charles Darwin enters McGowan's narrative, he has to hide his views from Richard Owen, a great scientist who coined the very term 'Dinosaur', but whose opposition to transmutation was well known.
One of the major advantages of this book is the way in which it can forgive the scientists for their errors. Although McGowan clearly points out the mistakes, and how the likes of Owen, Buckland and Charles Lyell (who was a major influence, and a confident, of Darwin's) allowed their pre conceived notions to deter them from reaching the truth, he discusses how it is that science advances despite these failures. The errors and pre-conceived notions of individuals can hinder science, but the setbacks are merely temporary, and these scientists, for all their errors, held lay down the ground for Darwin's breathtaking insights.
My one greatest regret for this book is that it does not include the reaction of the surviving 'dragon seekers' to Darwin's 'The Origin of Species'. Richard Owen's responses, especially, would have been very interesting, and would have made an interesting summation for the book.
Instead, McGowan chooses to dedicate his conclusion to today's collectors, the followers of Mary Anning's. It is both interesting and moving, as McGowan has studies fossils discovered in the very beaches were the Anning and co. have worked. So modern paleontologists, too, depend upon the newest generation of dragon seekers
Rating: 4
Summary: Dragon Seekers
Comment: Dragon Seekers is a well-written and informative account of the times and main figures around the founding of palaeontology as a science in Britain, from the early 19th century, until the publishing of The Origin of Species. It covers the discoveries of the first dinosaur fossils, such as Megalosaurs, Ichthyosaurus, and Plesiosaurus and the politics of displacing the contemporary creation theory that was accepted as the truth at the time.
McGowan covers the story of the dragon seekers impartially, even in the case of some of the more dubious individuals. He has researched the book well. The bibliography is most helpful. The book includes a small number of illustrations. I feel that a few more could have been included.
I enjoyed reading this book, finding it engaging and easy to read. I strongly recommend Dragon Seekers to people who have an interest in science history or palaeontology.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Solid Look at Pre-Darwinian Paleontology
Comment: As other reviewers have said, "The Dragon Seekers" is a very good read. For one thing, it helps us see the men and women who laid down the foundation for our current understanding of the Mesozoic world in the light of their own time and place. Mary Anning is seen as both the curious self-taught person she was and the commercial collector that she had to be to make a living. Richard Owen, who later tarnished his reputation as the heavy in the struggle against Darwin's theories, is seen here as a brilliant young anatomist who was right more often than wrong. The other actors in the drama, Mantell (who was a social reformer as well as scientist,) the quirky Buckland and aggressive Hawkins, as well as lesser players like De la Beche and Conybeare are shown with all the strengths and weaknesses of their very human nature.
Indeed, one impression that one immediately gets from McGowan's book is that it is not wise to dismiss the contributions of scientists who may turn out to be spectacularly wrong about something else. Darwin himself misinterpreted the Glen Roy terraces and Agassiz (who was wrong about evolution) was in this case right in his glacial interpretation. Lamark is known for the failure of his inheritance of acquired characteristics theory but is seldom given credit for his brilliant remake of invertebrate classification. In truth, science probably progresses as much or more by the work of its "lesser" practitioners, as by a fictitious few geniuses who are always right. The sciences are plagued by all the human failings that other professions are and even the "best" scientist may be gloriously mistaken, while the "worst" may come up with an important breakthrough. McGowan has presented us here with a more balanced view of these seekers after knowledge and I think we may be the better for it.
Read "The Dragon Seekers" if you wish to understand how science often really works and the history of true dawn of vertebrate paleontology.
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Title: Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science by Mark Jaffe ISBN: 0517707608 Publisher: Random House Inc Pub. Date: 07 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius Who Discovered a New History of the Earth by Alan Cutler ISBN: 0525947086 Publisher: Dutton Books Pub. Date: 14 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton and the Discovery of Earth's Antiquity by Jack Repcheck ISBN: 073820692X Publisher: Perseus Books Group Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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