Customer Reviews

Fossil Crinoids

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
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"Fossil Crinoids" written by Hans Hess, William I. Ausich, Carlton E. Brett, and Michael J. Simms is a wonderfully appointed book all about crinoids from 500 million years age and a last chapter on todays crinoids.

"Fossil Crinoinds" is a very good text for the casual collector of fossils and for the paleontologist with paleoecology and paleozoology stongly associated. "Fossil Crinoids" is divided into two sections. The first, is a general part with Crinoid form and function, with systematics, phylogeny and evolutionary history, then fossil occurences, taphonomy or the process behind the preservation of all fossils especially soft-bodied remains, and ecology and ecological interations. The second part and main part of the text deals with assemblages of intact fossil crinoids, which are described in their geological settings, ranging from the Ordovician to the Tertary, from all around the world. These deposits are mostly here in the United States and Canada, but some are from Europe. The one I was particualrly interested are the ones from Crawfordsville, Indiana which is not too far away as the crow flies from where I'm at.

Crinoids have been found in limestone deposits around the world and they date back to 500 million years ago. If they were like their distant cousins of today, they were brightly colored feather like appearence likened to those found on the coral reefs of today. Crinoids had a key role in in the ecology of the ocean communities. Everything you want to know and more that you'd like to know about crinoids is here in this book making it a wonderful reference book.

"Fossil Crinoids" gets a solid 5 star rating for a very well put together reference text making for ease of understanding of the subject matter.

I recently bought a plate of fossil crinoids and wanted to identify them. This book has been helpful but not perfect for the task. What the book did do is allow me to come to a radically deeper understanding of what I was looking at (which is what I really wanted). Great diagrams and photos! Magnificent clear explanation! If you have any interest in these funny little animals buy this book.