Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Paleontology 2 Volume set

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is 1400+ pages packed with information on a myriad of topics in paleontology, with articles about notable paleontologists, prehistoric environments and habitats, climate, geology, biology, morphology, and various groups of organisms. You won't find full articles on individual species, but certain species can be found within chapters that cover a wider group such as a genus or family, for example. Or maybe not.

This set is not comprehensive. Instead, it is a rather large smattering of widely diverse articles -- and I suspect its creation was fully dependent on the whims and availability of its many contributing authors. No complaints from me, I enjoy reading any well written book on prehistoric life that isn't dino-centric.

Now in the interest of full disclosure, I illustrated the Chelicerates chapter, and my illustration of coal forest chelicerates was selected for the cover of Volume One. I'd prefer that the entire encyclopedia focused on life in the coal forest...but perhaps that's not relevant to this review!

With a hefty price tag of nearly $400 dollars, or roughly half that amount if purchased at Amazon's bargain and used book sources, I can't imagine anyone other than total paleo fanatics, the very wealthy, or college libraries purchasing this book. It would surely be the gift of a lifetime for a student with a deep interest in prehistoric life.

undoubtly a most important scientific work.very rarely i encountered such a book-very clear explanation -cohen