Customer Reviews

Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs: Evolution, Extinction, and the Future of Our Planet

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Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs is a meaningless title. The dinosaurs are long since gone and the major portion of this book deals with the dating of the dramatic change from the Eocene hot greenhouse earth to the cold Oligocene snow ball earth. A better title would be "Greenhouse after the Dinosaurs (and a clutter of other unrelated things)". This volume seems to have been written with no master plan or aim. It is a collection of after thoughts, anecdotes and dropped sections from the authors voluminous and generally top grade other writings. That is what is so frustrating in trying to review the present volume. Some sections are excellent and relevant to understanding questions of the day in evolutionary biology and paleogeology. These include one of the best discussions yet of "Punk Eek" puctuated equilibrium and it's tremendous effect on evolutionary theory today, plus a meaningful and incisive examination of the events in the "last days" of the dinosaurs and the impact of the bolide out of the sky on the Cretaceous Tertiary Extiction, together with a fine and comprehensible presentation on the revolution in classic taxonomic methodologies brought about by the "invasion" of the standard historic principles by the new field of cladistics. All these sections are presented with a history of the individuals involved, "the Young Turks vs. the Old Guard", the personalities of the players often with the authors personal obervations. There is so much good information and insightful observation here that makes the book worthwhile reading through more than once. But there is also a lot of clutter; the search for paleomagnetic dates and who made the coffee on that trip gets to be a little tedious. This along with other side issues seems like deliberate filler. Yes but --I'm glad I have the scholarly volume warts and all.

Prothero has done it again - by adding personal stories, opinions, and photos, he takes a comprehensive discussion of the science around climate change & extinction and makes it fun to read! I must disclose that Don is a personal friend of mine, and I was lucky enough to work with him in the field several summers collecting paleomag samples. I can say that Don's style, which is so well characterized in his book, is what got me into geology as a profession.

Don's encyclopedic knowledge of his subjects lets him show how a topic is connected to other topics, and throw in the spice of "behind the scenes" trivia as well. I never fail to be amused (and a little horrified) at how the insanely competitive personalities of the early 20th-century fossil collectors in the western US defined paleontological study for the rest of the century! But Prothero never leaves you scratching your head; his explanations are clear, and include the actual data needed to draw conclusions (my pet peeve with many pop-science books these days.)

One thing Don makes clear is that science can be messy, and our understanding of past extinction & climate change episodes is far from complete. What we do know, however, is critical for confronting the human-induced warming we are experiencing now on planet Earth.

During the first Congressional hearing on the IPCC report on human-induced climate change in 2007 Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher floated a rather unusual idea. Citing warmer global climates of the distant past, like that which dominated the Eocene about 56 to 34 million years ago, Rohrbacher implied that the current warming trend was just the symptom of a natural phenomenon. If past warming events were triggered by unknown causes, Rohrabacher suggested "dinosaur farts" as the cause of the Eocene hothouse, then perhaps present rises in temperatures had nothing at all to do with human activities.

For years anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming critics have claimed that what we are going through now is just part of a cycle that has been going on for millions of years. It's not our fault and there's nothing we can do to stop it, they say, so we might as well kick back with some umbrella drinks and enjoy the endless summer. This logic might comfort politicians with oil company money lining their pockets, but it just isn't so. As paleontologist Donald Prothero points out in his forthcoming book (due out in late June), Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs, studying the climates of the past only bolsters the case that humans are altering the global environment in dramatic ways.

As the old uniformitarian saying goes "The present is the key to the past", but the converse is also true. By studying ancient climates and environments we can learn something about how the gases in the atmosphere, the constant shifting of the continents, and the paths of ocean currents influence the atmosphere. Fossils of extinct plants and animals also provide windows into these lost worlds, and while the triggers of ancient climate change might be debated these traces allow us to better understand how our planet has evolved.

The traditional way to tackle such a large (and relevant) subject would be to tell the story by the earth's chronology, starting during the Cretaceous "greenhouse of the dinosaurs" and working towards the present. This approach would be fitting of titles like Prothero's own After the Dinosaurs, but in his newest book he takes a different tack. In the tradition of Edwin Colbert's A Fossil Hunter's Notebook, G.G. Simpson's Attending Marvels, and W.B. Scott's Some Memories of a Paleontologist, Prothero's book delivers scientific information through autobiography. During the course of the book we encounter new scientific techniques, leading academics, and debates just in the order Prothero did.

The advantage of this technique is that it makes the book much more personal. Despite the widespread interest in global climate change there are few people who would want to sit down with a by-the-numbers explication of paleoclimates. Prothero's method is much more entertaining, but it makes some key points difficult to follow. At times it feels more like a straight autobiography than an autobiography meant to highlight scientific discoveries. Careful attention is required, and readers who want to know of paleontology's relevance to discussions about modern climate change may want to skip to the penultimate chapter of the book first and then start from the beginning.

Arguably the most important chapter of Prothero's book, however, has little to do with ancient climates. In the last chapter he lays out a no-nonsense assessment of what it takes to become a paleontologist, and this especially important during a time when job opportunities for paleontologists are shrinking. It is a romantic profession, scores of children dream of digging up fossils for a living, but only a minuscule fraction of those enthralled children ever become paleontologists. Even of those who publish papers and conduct research, few get to turn paleontology from a job or hobby into a full-blown career. It is not a career path to be taken on a whim.

No doubt Prothero's words will break a few hearts, but not everyone should feel dismayed. For those who truly need to become paleontologists, those who feel they have no other path to the fulfillment of their dreams, there is some hope. Becoming a paleontologist is by no means easy, but passion is an integral part of profession.

Admittedly there are some parts of the book (like the section on paleomagnetism) that drag and others (the section on the end-Cretaceous extinction) that seem to wander far afield of the book's main premise, but this is forgivable. Prothero has not only given us another popular summary of why paleontology is important for the public to understand but a personal narrative of debate and discovery. Whether you are looking to understand the evolution of earth's climate or gain an insider's view into the profession of paleontology, Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs is well-worth picking up.

The title is probably too "pop" for a book that treats fossils and magnetic dating in such detail. But I was able to follow along as a mechanical engineer, the sure sign of good authorship when a nonspecialist understands the topic afterwards. The description of a much warmer world where the poles were tropical was especially good -- I did not realize that the equatorial regions were not much hotter and had never considered that it was still dark for 6 months above the Arctic Circle. It was also surprising to find out that there is not universal agreement that an impact caused the instantaneous extinction of all the dinosaurs. Is this similar to the "unanimous" scientific agreement that global warming is a dire immediate threat?
The final chapter on the climate change "emergency" was unconvincing. The author just spent a whole book convincing us that for much of its history the Earth was naturally warmer and the atmosphere sometimes contained ten times the CO2 it does now. Natural changes in the orbit and inclination of Earth and continental drift have plunged us into ice ages far more challenging to life than anything contemplated by melting even all the existing ice caps. So how is it that a scientist so well educated in the long history of the planet can underestimate human adaptability and overestimate our power over nature so much?

Ok, you may be saying, same last name. Suspicious. Yes, Don is my older brother and I got this for a Christmas present. Still, I think this is quite a work and something to throw on the fire if one is tempted to debate a doctrinaire Global-Warming-Denier. There's a lot more heat than light in this debate. So get the facts and they are here. Yes, we're warming. Yes, we probably would anyway, but not this fast. Here is the science, and I can attest my bro is not bought and sold by any political faction. If there's one thing that is true of him, he is dedicated to objective science and letting the chips fall where they fall, even if it doesn't happen to suit him. This IS the facts. Plus, this book does a couple of other things rather well. If you had any doubts about extinction or climate change over the last few million years and you want to know, right down to the grassroots source, all the studies are cited here. This is one vast hotlink into the subject if you're itching to read up right to the sources and know all the controversies and all the certainties. Plus, I found out all sorts of interesting things about my brother's career I didn't know and some of the adventures he's had kicking up dust from the Oregon coast to New England in search of fossil and paleomagnetic evidence. He's far more the Indiana Jones than even I knew. And last really good reason to read this is that Sarah Palin won't, and considering her reading level, probably can't.

First off, I truly enjoyed this book from a paleontological point of view and as one who enjoys reading of the history and experiences of other paleontologists - especially of their discoveries throughout many parts of the world that are unavailable to me. Yet, this book is not for those wanting a light hearted read of the developments leading up to the determination of climatic changes over time and how it affected prehistoric life, particularly since the demise of the dinosaurs up to the Eocene-Oligocene cooling period. It is full of details that truly flesh out the history of life from early times to the present, even speculating on the future. Its strong focus on describing the efforts of those before us in the field, kept me focused on the book and reevaluate what I had previously known about these scientists. I strongly recommend this book to paleontologists and those well versed in scientific reads. And as the author, Prothero, states, he wanted to focus on the human aspect of this field. Well he succeeded quite well.

It is a timely book due to the enormous discussion of modern and future climatic changes (warming). Everyday one reads or watches some topic related to this phenomenon and this book can provide the tools for everyone to understand the methods used to analyze past climate to what the future may hold for the planet. The thorough discussion of paleomagnetism and how it is used to interpret the data is extremely well done, based on the author's own work as a graduate student to much later as even he re-evaluates his own (previous) work and uses new information to re-write paleohistory.

A negative for me was the small and faint type used within the book. Is this a sign of age? No, I believe it to be a poor choice by the editors in my opinion. The small size of the book is handy to carry around and read at one's leisure, which is what I did over the period of time I read the book.

Therefore, I would still rate this book at 5 stars due to the quality of detail and history of an extremely important and timely subject despite the small font size. Having a good bibliography and index was also an enormous plus. So even though it is not all about dinosaurs - but more so the changes in climate from the time of dinosaurs to much later in Earth history (including future), I believe that many - both amateur and professional - can enjoy this book for what it provides and either learn and/or refresh themselves in what other scientists brought forth in this fascinating field of paleontology/earth history and the possible intpretations of climatic conditions in the future.

Last, I felt the author did a great service to those interested in becoming paleontologists in the final chapter of his book. Many young people believe it is a breeze to get through an intense program in this field and get a great job...not so. Prothero lays down the difficulties ahead for students, using his own experiences (as he does throughout the book) as excellent examples. (I loved the field work expeditions and the trials he and his students went through at times...a factor still common today in many remote areas.) I applaud him on being clear on this aspect for I have known too many students thinking this a "Jurassic Park" sort of lifestyle. It is not...as Prothero has described his dedication and perserverance, especially when analyzing samples pertinent to his dissertation and continued research (work 12-16 hrs at night). It is hard work, but extremely rewarding by those who work hard and try to understand the earth, its life (past and present), and possible future.

This book is a fascinating update of North American paleontology, with a clear overview of paleoclimatology with lucid presentation of some of the inherent controversies given our current state of knowledge. I've referred back to this volume several times since I finished it, an indication of its quality as a source.

I greatly enjoyed learning about the author's career in paleontology from when he first started in the 70's leading up to his current and ongoing work. The book mixes technical scientific research with personal reflection and succeeds in making science(as it properly should be)one of the humanities, rather than as cold and detached form of study. The details can get a bit overwhelming at times and the book is kinda scatter-shot, but I can think of no better book to illustrate the current state of paleontological research and the passion that fuels scientific discovery. :D