Customer Reviews

Gorgon: The Monsters That Ruled the Planet Before Dinosaurs and How They Died in the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth's History

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

 

 

Some years back, Peter Ward co-wrote "Rare Earth," an interesting little book on the likelihood of life more complex than bacteria existing elsewhere in the universe. It was on the strength of that book -- and an interest in new work on the Permian Extinction -- that I picked up "Gorgon."

In "Gorgon," you will learn a lot about the rigors of life on a paleontological "dig" and the difficulties of extracting rock samples halfway up a cliff. You will learn bits and snippets of the author's opinions of African politics (generally PC), his assessment of (some of) his colleagues' abilities and personalities, and generic snatches of his personal life.

What you won't learn much about is the Permian Extinction. Or Gorgons -- either the pre-dinosaurian animals or the vague metaphor Ward occasionally stabs at, as a representation of the Great Extinction.

My trade paperback contained a (tiny) reproduction of a chart of various factors that Ward said explained it all. Unfortunately, he didn't bother to explain it -- which was sadly typical of the whole book.

Useful as background material for a novel about paleontologists, but not recommended as a source of information on the Permian Extinction.

By now, almost everyone must be familiar with the discovery of the iridium concentrations at the K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) boundary, and the Chicxulub impact crater, first reported in 1981, that appears to exactly the right age and the right size to have terminated most of the life on Earth, sixty-five million years ago. The author of "Gorgon" began his career with field work on the proof of the quick and terrible extinction at the K-T boundary--the death knell of the dinosaurs.

However, Dr. Ward found himself more and more intrigued by an even great extinction event that occurred 250 million years ago at the boundary of the Permian and the Triassic (P/T). Was it caused by another comet or meteor strike? Did the elimination of 95 % of Earth's marine life and 70% of all land species proceed as quickly as at the K-T termination, or did it take place in pulses over a much longer period of time?

According to the author (and others), there is no credible, unambiguous evidence for an impact as is the case for the K-T extinction. What is more likely is that massive greenhouse gas emissions reduced oxygen availability, ultimately resulting in the collapse of marine ecosystems, and most of the land-based systems as well. This was possibly caused by volcanic eruptions on the supercontinent of Pangea, in what is now Siberia (the Siberian Traps).

In the final chapter of his book, "Resolution," the author puts forth two interesting observation-based theories: (1) the abundance of oxidized, reddish rock in the Triassic beds above the P/T boundary (about 50 million years worth) implies "...the oxygen in our atmosphere plunged to very low levels as it became tied up in the rocks...so low, in fact, that any poor human...would very quickly suffer from altitude sickness, even at sea level."; (2) on land at least, the near extinction of animals that didn't use oxygen efficiently, including most but not all of the mammal-like reptiles that dominated the Permian. "Heat [greenhouse effect] and asphyxiation [were] the two agents of the long mysterious mass extinction."

Except for the last chapter, "Gorgon" is light on theory and heavy on field work and proof-of-concept. Here is how geologists, paleontologists, and other scientists interact in the field, braving the heat of South Africa's Karoo Desert, the omnipresent ticks, flies, and puff adders, and the digestive challenges of bad water and mystery-meat pizza. Dr. Ward takes his readers not only on a trip through the lost world of the Permian, but also through an African culture that seems to be on the brink of chaos. He is a sensitive and at times acerbic observer of both present and deep past. "Gorgon" is a compelling, thoroughly readable story.

A reader's impression of a book is often closely tied her expectations. In my case, I picked up Gorgon thinking that it would be a paleontological discussion focused on the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period - this is not the case. While the brief comments that Ward offers in this regard are not uninteresting they could be covered in a short article.

Unfortunately, from my perspective, the bulk of the text consists of personal recollections and reminisces. These types of books are not my cup of coffee - like family photo albums their appeal is normally limited to those involved. I do not doubt that these memories are important for Ward. I do not think, however, many readers will find Gorgon to be worth the money or effort.

Peter Ward writes with such enthusiasm that it is easy to be carried away on his adventures. While I wish he would have spend more time explaining life before the Permian extinction and the theories of that catastrophe, most of the book was dedicated to his quest for the answers. He focuses on the laborious excavations in South Africa, tensions between various scientists, professional jealousy and the political climate and changes in South Africa. After reading this, you will have a good idea about the extensive research that field scientists do and the various dangers they face, including bandits, weather, difficult terrain and inadequate rental cars.

I bought this book thinking that it would be principally about pre-mammalian creatures like the gorgonopsians, and about the end-Permian mass extinction. I feel a bit bad about having to give it a three-star review, but this is simply a case of a book's cover and description not matching its contents well at all.

The book really is primarily about the author's fieldwork experiences in South Africa. That's an interesting topic, and the writing is excellent. But the cover and description suggest that the book will be about the gorgons--a topic on which a book for general readership would be extremely welcome, as most works on this subject are very technical and not suited for a nonprofessional. If you pick this book up, as I did, expecting to learn more about gorgons than you can from a Wikipedia entry, you'll be disappointed.

If you're interested in the end-Permian mass extinction, try When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time. As for gorgonopsians--well, I'm still looking for a book on them for a general readership, and I'm not sure there is one.

When the Permian began nearly 300 million years ago, the earth was ripe for animal growth. The oxygen content was high and the age of reptiles was just beginning to compete with their amphibian forebears. There was a massive increase in life of all kinds. The promise for a continuity of life seemed unlimited. Then in seemingly a geological wink of the eye, the earth became virtually inhospitable for all species. For those like myself who wish to know the what and the why of the Permian Extinction, Peter Ward's GORGON held a similar bright promise of shedding light on a mystery that far predated the even quicker exit of the dinosaurs. Ward's book, sorry to say, does not live up to its hype.

Most of GORGON relates his various journeys to the Karoo in South Africa over a decade long search to learn the answer to the question that perplexed us both: why did the earth become very nearly as inhospitable to life as the moon? Ward details the trying times that he, his wife, and his crewmates faced when they battled the elements, the natives, and a far from co-operative Afrikaans regime that was then being rent apart by civil rights issues that resulted in its collapse. We read of the bugs, the heat, the many sleepness nights, the frigid cold, and his inability to ascertain the true cause of the Extinction. All of this may have been fascinating to those readers who enjoy the human side of a story that leads to scientific advancement. But in this case, there was far too much of the former and hardly any of the latter. It was not until the very last chapter that Ward gets to the nitty-gritty of his book. He writes of a supercontinent that was plagued by the one-two punch of dropping levels of oxygen and the poisonous effluvia of volcanic ash from the Siberian traps. Since the fossil record suggests the extreme speed with which these confluent events overlapped, there was no time, historically speaking, for the world's species to adjust. Thus they died out. And the Gorgon of the title, a magnificent beast brought alive by the computer animations of the Discovery Channel, Ward relegates to the most superficial of symbols, a bystander who much like many of the readers of this book could hardly have understood what forces of nature were buffeting them. For a more balanced and informative view of the same topic, I suggest WHEN LIFE NEARLY DIED by Michael Benton. In this book, the Gorgon takes its rightful place at the top of the food chain.

Come at this one looking for popular science and you'll be disappointed. Come at it open to insight on South Africa and feel the hair stand up on the back of your neck. What the author reports of the scars between English speakers and Afrikaans speakers in mid twentieth century South Africa-- well, it gives you a new perspective on JRR Tolkien, who was born to a British family stationed in the Orange Free State. When JRR was two, his mother packed up JRR and his younger brother Hilary and went back to England. When JRR was three, his father died still in the Free State, of TB. When JRR was four, the Anglo-Boer war sent all the English speakers in the Free State down to Cape Town, in such numbers that they rode packed into open cattle cars. You can say JRR was too young to remember, but what would his mother have told him about it later? And a lot of the Anglo-Boer War was about gold and diamonds-- the One Ring, and Galadriels Ring of Adamant, perhaps?

Very light on paleontology. Reads more like a personal diary than a book about science. Disappointing over all with very little about Gorgons--the subject of the book.

I came across this book in the bookstore and could not put it down. That and the fact that it was on sale convinced me to buy the book. I think it's very well-written. It just flows well. I've probably only read a third of it, but I skim most books anyway. If I weren't so busy, I would read some more of it. This book is probably good for someone who has some appreciation of science but is probably not good for a paleontologist. If your spouse is a geologist or a paleontologist, get him/her a subscription to a more scholarly work instead.

This is a pretty good book about an interesting topic, although I found that the book spent less time talking about the lost prehistoric world, its inhabitants, and how the extinction came about than I expected. Rather, the book mainly focuses on:

1) the people involved in ferreting out the historical mystery;
2) describing the kind of work that the scientists did (think lots of digging and scraping in remote South African locations);
3) the personal relationships (and tensions) between the various team members; and
4) the author's editorial comments about South Africa and its society.

I was disappointed that the book focussed on the process rather than the resulting scientific conclusions, but overall it is a pretty interesting book nonetheless. People more interested than I am in the four topics listed above should find it interesting indeed. And if you are thinking about becoming a paleontologist, you should definitely read this book!

TMR