Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs: Evolution, Extinction, and the Future of Our Planet

by Donald R. Prothero

Overview

Donald R. Prothero's science books combine leading research with first-person narratives of discovery, injecting warmth and familiarity into a profession that has much to offer nonspecialists. Bringing his trademark style and wit to an increasingly relevant subject of concern, Prothero links the climate changes that have occurred over the past 200 million years to their effects on plants and animals. In particular, he contrasts the extinctions that ended the Cretaceous period, which wiped out the dinosaurs, with those of the later Eocene and Oligocene epochs.

Prothero begins with the "greenhouse of the dinosaurs," the global-warming episode that dominated the Age of Dinosaurs and the early Age of Mammals. He describes the remarkable creatures that once populated the earth and draws on his experiences collecting fossils in the Big Badlands of South Dakota to sketch their world. Prothero then discusses the growth of the first Antarctic glaciers, which marked the Eocene-Oligocene transition, and shares his own anecdotes of excavations and controversies among colleagues that have shaped our understanding of the contemporary and prehistoric world.

The volume concludes with observations about Nisqually Glacier and other locations that show how global warming is happening much quicker than previously predicted, irrevocably changing the balance of the earth's thermostat. Engaging scientists and general readers alike, Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs connects events across thousands of millennia to make clear the human threat to natural climate change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231518321
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	17 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Donald R. Prothero is a Research Associate in Vertebrate Paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. He has taught college geology and paleontology for 40 years at institutions such as Columbia University, Vassar College, Knox College, and Pierce College, and currently at Cal Poly Pomona. For 27 years, he was Professor of Geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He earned his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in geological sciences from Columbia University. He is the author of over 300 scientific papers published in leading journals and over 30 titles in geology, paleontology and evolutionary biology.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs
2. Bad Lands, Good Fossils
3. Magnets and Lasers
4. "Punk Eek" in the Badlands
5. Death of the Dinosaurs
6. Marine World
7. Rocky Mountain Jungles and Eels' Ears
8. From Greenhouse to Icehouse
9. Once and Future Greenhouse?
10. Kids, Dinosaurs, and the Future of Paleontology
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Niles Eldredge

Donald R. Prothero, an outstanding paleontologist, is a skilled veteran of bringing both the intellectual and adventurous excitement of paleontology to a broad readership. Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs adds Prothero's personal stamp, as he shares his own stories of discovery in the field and how they meld with the equally exciting world of evolutionary paleobiology. Prothero's narrative approach is the very best for conveying the human side of paleontological science to the world.

— Niles Eldredge, curator, American Museum of Natural History

David Bottjer

Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs is a highly readable walk through the career of one of the preeminent writers in Earth sciences. Donald R. Prothero has been in the thick of the major problems in Earth and life history for the past thirty years. In this work, he explains what we can learn from deep-time studies about why we are here in a very enjoyable and informative way. A great book.

— David Bottjer, professor of Earth sciences and biological sciences, University of Southern California

Richard Stucky

A fascinating and informative book about three decades of achievement in paleontology.

— Richard Stucky, Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Editorial Reviews

Prothero, a prolific paleontologist (From Greenhouse to Icehouse) at Occidental College, says the goal for his new book is simply "to inject the human side of the profession into the story of the research topics" he has worked on during his 40-year career-to show science as a human quest, not just dry conclusions. While the goal is admirable, the result is disappointing, largely because, unlike his previous books, this one doesn't have a central theme: it touches on a range of questions paleontologists have addressed and tentatively answered, such as how dinosaurs could have lived in the Earth's polar regions (as fossil evidence suggests). Prothero's constant shifting of focus makes it difficult to grasp all of the technical content, while the overwhelming minutiae he provides makes you feel like you are viewing an endless series of photographs from a friend's summer vacation. While small sections are powerful-such as a discussion of how "global warming might paradoxically trigger the next ice age" and do so incredibly rapidly-the book never gels into a coherent whole. Photos, illus. (Aug.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

Prothero has woven together a gripping tale that will fascinate readers with many levels of expertise.

Fossil News

Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs should be on the suggested reading list for any undergraduate interested in pursuing paleontology, and as a paleobiological statement, shows that paleontology is more than (fossilized) sticks and stones.

Geology Today

...this is a very enriching, stimulating, and, of course, enjoyable reading.

Zentralblatt fur Geologie und Palaontologie