Category: BOOK REVIEWS

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Beneath the Stone: CT Imaging Applied to Fossils, by Jean-Claude Le Van An

“Never judge a fossil by its surface.” Although not stated quite so succinctly, this is the central message running through Beneath the Stone. Jean-Claude Le Van An demonstrates that a fossil’s outward appearance often tells only part of the story. Hidden beneath the surrounding rock may be exquisite anatomical detail, evidence of ancient life never visible to the naked eye – or, occasionally – proof that an apparently spectacular specimen is not what it seems.

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In Search of Sea Dragons: A Fossil Hunter’s Odyssey, by Matthew Myerscough

Matthew Myerscough’s In Search of Sea Dragons: A Fossil Hunter’s Odyssey begins not with fossils, but with survival. Early in the book, Myerscough recounts how he and his future wife narrowly escaped death in an avalanche on Snowdon. The experience casts a long shadow over everything that follows. What initially appears to be a book about fossil hunting, gradually reveals itself as something rather more personal: a memoir about recovery, obsession, friendship and the strange hold that collecting can exert over people.

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Geology: an illustrated history, by David Bainbridge

At first glance, Geology: an illustrated history appears to be another entry in the now familiar genre of large-format, image-rich popular science books. In practice, however, David Bainbridge has produced something rather more distinctive: a visually driven history of geology in which images – maps, diagrams and artefacts – take a leading role, with the text providing interpretation and context.

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A Field Guide to Collecting British Cenozoic Fossils, by Steve Snowball and Alister Cruickshanks

Books devoted specifically to collecting Britain’s Cenozoic fossils are surprisingly rare. While collectors are well served by guides to the country’s Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fossils, the younger deposits that record the last 66 million years of Earth history have received far less attention. A Field Guide to Collecting British Cenozoic Fossils aims to address that gap by providing a practical introduction to the fossils and collecting sites associated with these deposits.

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Explaining the Earth: An Introduction to the Earth and its Systems, by Paul Binns

Paul Binns’ Explaining the Earth: An Introduction to the Earth and its Systems is an attractive and highly accessible introduction to the planet and its major systems. Beautifully illustrated throughout with full-colour photographs and clear explanatory diagrams, it offers a brisk survey of the familiar territory of introductory Earth science – rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, oceans and atmosphere, the Earth’s interior, mountains, deserts and so on, and the processes that shape them.

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The Oldest Rocks on Earth: A Search for the Origins of Our Planet, by Simon Lamb

The Oldest Rocks on Earth is composed in a consciously popular-science style, making it an enjoyable read, as well as an informative one for readers interested in how geologists reconstruct the earliest history of our planet. This approach allows Simon Lamb to interweave the science with his own research history, particularly his PhD work and later field studies in Swaziland (now renamed Eswatini), where he investigated some of the oldest rocks on Earth.

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What Did Dinosaurs Think About? by Ronan Le Loeuff

At first glance, What Did Dinosaurs Think About? looks like a slightly mischievous title attached to a familiar subject. Dinosaurs, after all, have been thought about endlessly; whether they themselves did much thinking is another matter. Ronan Le Loeuff’s book makes no claim to settle that question definitively, but it does something arguably more interesting – it asks what sort of sensory world dinosaurs inhabited, and how that might have shaped their behaviour.

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Planetary Geology: An Introduction (3rd ed), by Dominic Fortes and Claudio Vita-Finzi

Planetary geology occupies an awkward but fascinating position between disciplines. It draws its physical framework from physics and astronomy, its observational tools from remote sensing and space missions, and its interpretative instincts from terrestrial geology. Planetary Geology: An Introduction by Dominic Fortes and Claudio Vita-Finzi has, since its first appearance, sought to bring these strands together into a coherent teaching text.

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The Southern Pennines, by John Collinson and Roy Rosen (Classic Geology in Europe 13)

The Classic Geology in Europe series has, over many years, established a distinctive and reliable identity: authoritative regional syntheses written by specialists, designed for geologists who want to understand landscapes through field observation rather than armchair generalities. The Southern Pennines sits comfortably within that tradition and, in several respects, exemplifies the mature strengths of the series.

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GeoHibernica: The Irish Landscapes, Peoples and Cultures, by Paul Lyle

Paul Lyle begins GeoHibernica with a slightly mischievous acknowledgement: the book exists only because the author of GeoBritannica was unable to take on its Irish counterpart himself. It is a revealing admission, and one that immediately invites comparison between the two works. That comparison is instructive, although not always in the ways one might expect.

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Book review: Geology and the Pioneers of Earth Science, by Mike Leeder

Mike Leeder’s Geology and the Pioneers of Earth Science is an ambitious and absorbing exploration of the intellectual and personal stories behind the transformation of geology in the twentieth century. Published in September 2024, the book positions itself as an account of how the discipline shifted from a largely descriptive, field-based science into the more synthetic, quantitative and planet-wide framework we now call “earth science”.

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Book review: Fossils on the Seashore: Beachcombing and Palaeontology, by Stephen K Donovan

At first glance, the title might mislead you into expecting a simple guide to finding fossils while strolling along the beach – a sort of field companion for holiday rock-hunters. But Stephen Donovan’s Fossils on the Seashore is a very different creature. It’s not about collecting curiosities for the mantelpiece. It’s about understanding the dynamic relationship between the living and the fossil record, and how coastlines act as natural laboratories for palaeontological and neoichnological study

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The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs: Unearthing the Real Behaviors of Prehistoric Animals, by Dean R Lomax (author), Robert Nicholls (illustrator)

There are few books (and indeed writers) that have managed to bring fossils, fieldwork anecdotes, scientific rigour and humour together as effortlessly as The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs, Dean R Lomax’s newest offering (with art word by Bob Nicholls). It is more than just a compendium of strange fossils – it’s an invitation to look behind the display cases, to the lives of creatures long vanished (and not just dinosaurs as the title suggests).

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Book review: At the Foot of the Himalayas: Paleontology and Ecosystem Dynamics of the Siwalik Record, by Catherine Badgley (editor), Michèle E. Morgan (editor) and David Pilbeam (editor)

Have you ever wished to time-travel to the Miocene while armed with a PhD and a GPS unit? Well, At the Foot of the Himalayas is your next best thing. This sweeping but masterfully integrated volume brings the Siwalik Hills – the sediment-rich, fossil-packed foothills of the Himalayas – into sharp scientific focus.

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Book review: The Story of Earth’s Climate in 25 Discoveries: How Scientists Found the Connections Between Climate and Life, by Donald R Prothero

In recent years, geology has evolved from being primarily concerned with rocks, minerals and the Earth’s physical structure, to integrating fields, such as climatology, meteorology, biology and more. This interdisciplinary approach has become essential for understanding complex Earth systems and this book is part of that trend – a discussion of Earth’s climate and the evolution of life, in the context of geology.

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Book review: Lunar: A History of the Moon in Myths, Maps + Matter, by Matthew Shindell (consultant editor)

Last week, I published a book review of The Trilobite Collector’s Guide, by Andy Secher, in which I suggested that it was a great choice for a Christmas present for those who like geology. I think the same could be said for this (but it’s not all geology). Once again, it has a coffee table book feel, but once again, it is much, much more.

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Book review: The Trilobite Collector’s Guide, by Andy Secher

It’s that time of year again, with Christmas hurrying upon us, that our thoughts turn to presents for that fossil-loving friend, relative, and certainly the reader him or herself. And what better than a sumptuously illustrated coffee table book, with forwards by some high class palaeontologists, namely, the good and the great Richard Fortey and NHM aficionado, Melanie Hopkins? Well, this is it – look no further.

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Book review: Geologists’ Association Guide No. 77 – Cumbria, compiled and edited by Richard Wrigley

In many ways, this updated guide is exactly what I want from a GA guide – extensive coverage, well written, and oodles of colourful photos and graphics. I liked and used the previous edition (GA No. 2), and it’s a shame that, for example, the Ordovician site of Stockdale Quarry has disappeared, but it – and no doubt other locations – has been replaced by, what I suspect, are just as good, if not better, sites.

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Book review: Cave Biodiversity: Speciation and Diversity of Subterranean Fauna, by J Judson Wynne (author and editor)

This is something of a departure for me, as this book is really about biodiversity rather than geology. However, you won’t be surprised to learn that this book certainly does involve geology, as its context is locations from large caves to small gaps in ground. And given that, for example, bio-stratigraphy involves evolution and extinction, this book really covers both in the raw – and these are all things that geologist and palaeontologists are involved with all the time.

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Book review: A Geological Field Guide to the Himalaya in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, by Dr Daniel Clark-Lowes

This book has something of an aspirational, rather than practical, feel to it. However, there is no doubt – in my mind anyway – that it is the best book on the geology of the Himalaya I have read. It is written with a nice light touch, with some humour. And it covers far more than just geology – where appropriate, it includes history, especially about the exploration of the subcontinent, and Asian culture.

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Book review: Cro-Magnon: The Story of the Last Ice Age People of Europe, by Trenton W Holliday

The Cro-Magnons were a population of early modern humans (that is, they were physically indistinguishable from us, today), who lived in Europe between about 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, during the Upper Palaeolithic period. This information comes from Trenton Holliday’s excellent book, which tells the story of these people in the context of recent scientific advances. However, while it does not shy away from complex scientific issues, the book is written with a light, understandable touch.

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Book review: Geopedia: A Brief Compendium of Geologic curiosities, by Marcia Bjornerud (with illustrations by Haley Hagerman)

This is a charming little book, which describes itself as an “admittedly idiosyncratic compendium of [geological] words and phrases chosen because they are portals into larger stories”. It succeeds brilliantly at its professed goal, combining a great deal of information, education, and a gentle sense of fun, brought out very nicely by some attractive and humorous illustrations.

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Book review: Essex Rock – Geology beneath the Landscape, by Ian Mercer and Ros Mercer

To be fair, Essex has never been famed or well-regarded for its geology, at least not by me. I know it has its locations – Walton-on-the-Naze springs to mind – but not a lot else. However, this guide is set to change all that. Full colour photographs and illustrations (on virtually every page), with 416 pages of excellent text, with particularly good sections on the London Clay and Red Crag, it is as good as it gets. It is worth owning for its own sake, even if you are not going to, or are living in, Essex.

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Book review: Hands-on Palaeontology: a practical manual, by Stephen K Donovan

I wish I had this book when I was starting out collecting fossils. It has everything and more you need to take your hobby (and, who know, later a career in palaeontology) to a better, and more advance and fulfilling place. While I will never take the record-keeping and note taking to the levels gently suggested in this very readable book, perhaps if I had read this when I was a teenager, perhaps I would have done.