Concise detailed review — amply illustrated — of the astonishing creatures that ruled the earth for some 180 million years, with particular emphasis on the tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates that lived during the years of reptilian dominance). Also examines interrelationships between amphibians and reptiles, birds and mammals, and between these creatures and their environments.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Read,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Age of Reptiles (Paperback)
Very interesting description of reptiles from the earliest times into the dinosaurs. Colbert writes very well so he keeps your attention as he describes long ago vanished ecosystems. One nice thing is he pays alot of attention to all reptiles, not just dinosaurs that are basically the media favorite. The book is a relatively easy read good for the lay person interested in paleontology.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic,
By M Alan (Melbourne) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Age of Reptiles (Paperback)
Ed Colbert was one of the authors whose books introduced me to the wonders of Palaeontology back in the late 1960s and 70s. I had three of his books at the time - The Age of Reptiles, Dinosaurs, and Vertebrate Palaeontology, and this was my favourite one, giving me countless hours of reading pleasure and helping to nurture my lifelong fascination with teh epic history of life on Earth.
Dr Colbert gives a very comprehensive yet at the same time very readable overview of the history of life from the Permian to the end of Cretaceous (essentially, the whole "age of reptiles"). The book is written in a non-technical manner, and as the other reviewer points out he doesn't just talk about dinosaurs, but describes other types of tetrapods as well, and these animals are just as interesting as dinosaurs. This is not a kids' book, but a work for the intelligent layperson. Admittedly it is true that it is dated in places. For example there have been revisions in stratigraphy, especially regarding the late Triassic and early Jurassic, in dinosaur biology (sauropods are now known to have been terrestrial like elephants), and in phylogeny (Colbert was writing before the paradigm shift to cladistics), but this is all part of the history of science, and from this perspective the book serves as a snapshot of what paleontologists new in the early 60s, although, obviously, a great deal of the book is still relevant today. And because of its accessible style of writing and comprehensive coverage it will always be a classic. In comparison, almost all contemporary books on prehistoric life you will find today on the market tend to be big on glossy pictures and small on content. The book is richly illustrated with line drawings (reconstructions of what the various animals may have looked like when alive) and stratigraphic (correlating rock strata) and biostratigraphic (range of animals in time) charts, and there are some nice photographic plates in the center, in which photos of fossil localities and paleontologists at work are juxtoposed with reconstructions of ancient ecosystems. Highly recommended for anyone who loves exploring palaeontology and the history of life on Earth.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Life in the Mesozoic Era,
By Acute Observer (N. Jersey Shore) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Age of Reptiles (Paperback)
The Age of Reptiles, Edwin H. Colbert
The new paleontological discoveries and the facts of Plate Tectonics required a new edition and an Addendum to the original 1965 book. In 1851 Gideon Algernon Mantell wrote about "The Age of Reptiles". This book presents a concise history with emphasis on tetrapods or four-legged vertebrates. These two hundred million years showed species that originated and became extinct, leaving only fossils behind. This book will present an idea of their principal features and relationships. It has eleven chapters, 207 pages, a Bibliography, and an Index. Chapter 1 tells about the beginnings of animal life, then the age of Invertebrates, the Age of Fishes, the Age of Amphibians, then the Age of Reptiles (from 70 million years ago to over 200 million years ago). After dinosaurs became extinct the Age of Mammals began, and now we are in the Age of Man. [What's next?] Each stratum of sedimentary rocks has fossils distinctive to that layer (Table 1, page 5). Fossils are the remains of extinct life on earth, preserved in rocks. Given the existence of similar fossils, they can correlate different formations by their fossils. The Age of Reptiles occurred when there was very little change from season to season (Chapter 2). Amphibians died out while reptiles flourished. Chapter 3 discusses whether the presence of animals argues for an ancient Gondwanaland that broke up to form the present continents. The Triassic period saw the rise of the reptiles. Turtles have existed for almost two hundred million years. The end of lower Triassic times saw the world filled with reptiles (Chapter 5). The ichthyosaurs appeared with dramatic suddenness in the tropical seas in Spitzbergen (p.86). How to account for tropical temperatures in Triassic times (p.103)? During the transition from Triassic to Jurassic times a series of tetrapod extinctions took place (Chapter 6). Was the world-wide spread of shallow seas the cause? Extinctions are complex. Was it due to changes in feeding (p.114)? Turtles survived without changes. The Jurassic age had warm tropical conditions over the world (Chapter 7). Frogs became established throughout the world. This new burst of evolution established a new order of reptiles. Dinosaurs dominated late Jurassic times (Chapter 8). Abundant vegetation allowed great herds of plant-eating dinosaurs (p.132). There was a strong trend toward giantism (p.144). The world was uniformly tropical to an extend that was never seen again (p.145). The spreading seas marked a new era (Chapter 9). The bony fishes of the modern world began (p.148). So too modern trees and flowering plants. A world-wide uplifting of the continents occurred (Chapter 10). This was a time of reptilian diversity (p.164). Dinosaurs and reptiles were similar all over the world (p.185). Wide areas of the world were tropical or subtropical in climate (p.189). The Great Extinction wiped out all of the dinosaurs around the world at the same time (Chapter 11). There were other extinctions, such as the Ice Age (p.191). These are evolutionary events. Thirty-five of the fifty families of reptiles became extinct (p.194). Sandstones show bones of dinosaurs beneath beds of lignites and coal, and then the remains of primitive mammals (p.203). Why was a great catastrophe so selective? Was it "a general cooling" (p.204)? Or a rising temperature (p.205)? An epidemic (p.205)? Or radiation (p.207)? It could be the result of many causes. [No mention of drought.] This 1965 book had to be updated thirty years later with three general topics: tetrapod taxonomy, plate tectonics, and the distribution of tetrapods (p.221). The discovery of identical fossils in South Africa and the antarctic established Plate Tectonics as fact. Alfred Wegener first proposed the idea of "continental drift" in 1912 (p.227). If you've never read a book about Precambrian times this is a good start. Note how scientific knowledge evolved over the past decades.
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