Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert (Hardcover)

~ George T. Jefferson (Editor), Lowell Lindsay (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

...explores the arid desert's ancient past as a forest and savannah through fossils of mammoths, camels, and giant tortoises ... -- Foreword magazine, April 2006

...scrumptious and succulent (and surprisingly inexpensive)... Botanists interested in desert phenomena ignore this book at their peril... -- Taxon, Aug 2006

A treasure-trove for laymen, scientists alike...exquisite illustrations and two-page paleolandscapes...help bring the past to life throughout. -- San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan 29, 2006

Packed with color and plenty of lively description...more than capable of crossing over to reach into the interests of general-interest readers...a highly recommended pick. -- California Book Watch

Written by 23 specialists...this text for educated general readers presents an overview of the region's last seven million years. -- SciTech Book News, May 2006

Product Description

Southern California’s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park® is a vast, mostly arid desert, but the ancient landscapes of Anza-Borrego were richly populated riparian forests and savanna. Before that, it held a tropical inland ocean teeming with marine life. Today’s eroded badlands provide North America’s most continuous history of life for most of the last 7 million years—one of the richest, most varied fossil records of its time in the western hemisphere—opening windows onto the region's long-vanished past. Anza-Borrego’s record contains more than 550 types of fossil plants and animals, ranging from microscopic pollen and water fleas to walrus bones and mammoth skeletons, which have been the focus of ongoing research, study, and interpretation since the mid-1850s. The results of the past several decades of study by leading researchers from across the nation can now be seen in this comprehensive work, a compilation of 23 authors each with his own specialty. Early chapters explore background themes and concepts, starting with the Imperial Sea episode. Central chapters present the real stars of the story—individual groups of animals. The bestiary reads like a Who's-Who of many of the most unique fossil vertebrates on earth—bathtub-sized tortoises, the sabertooth cat, giant ground sloths, the giant short-faced bear, the largest known mammoth, a giant camel, and the largest bird ever to fly northern hemisphere skies. Closing chapters discuss fossil footprints, intercontinental connections, and paleoclimates and environmental change in the Anza-Borrego desert region.

Exquisite illustrations and color foldout paleolandscapes bring the past to life throughout the text. The book is edited by George T. Jefferson, a California State Park district paleontologist, and Lowell Lindsay, publisher and board member of the Association of Earth Science Editors.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 394 pages
• Publisher: Sunbelt Publications (January 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932653502
• ISBN-13: 978-0932653505
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #347,861 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #58 in

  Books > Outdoors & Nature > Fauna > Fossils

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert , February 21, 2006

By	Jerry Hughes - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book is concise, direct and easy for the layman to read and understand. It has beautiful illustrations and answers most of the questions anyone who is interested in the recent (the past 7 million years) history of animal life in the U.S. could have. The book covers everything from invertebrates (small sea life with no backbone) to mammoths. It lets the reader know when and where many of these animals have been found and gives a good description. I'd rate the book five stars.

Jerry Hughes

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science Made Understandable, March 15, 2006

By	Splash (California) - See all my reviews

This book has some complicated stuff in it, but it is made understandable for the non-scientist. Really fabulous illustrations help you imagine what it was like at Anza-Borrego a million years ago. If you have specific questions about the Pleistocene life in the park, you can just read a specific chapter. Or, you can get a complete overview reading the whole book. Slightly challenging for the non-scientist, but understandable and enjoyable. I'd recommend it for anyone who is interested in fossils, mammoths, or the Pleistocene scene.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Introducing the reader to studies from twenty-three leading paleontologists and experts, April 9, 2006

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Knowledgeably compiled and co-edited by George T. Jefferson (District Paleontologist, Colorado Desert District, California State Parks) and Lowell Lindsay (CEO and Publisher, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, California), Fossil Treasures Of The Anza-Borrego Desert is an impressively informative collection enhanced with over 300 photographs, maps, tables, appendices, illustrations, and diagrams with useful, helpful and informative information on California's awe-inspiring Anza-Borrego State Park. Introducing the reader to studies from twenty-three leading paleontologists and experts, Fossil Treasures Of The Anza~Borrego Desert educates and elaborates the many intricacies and interesting images of the intriguing desert terrain. An invaluable addition to academic and community library paleontology collections, Fossil Treasures Of The Anza~Borrego Desert is very strongly recommended to scholarship as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in paleontology.