41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another Dinosaur Textbook?, September 19, 2001
NOTE: I haven't read this book cover-to-cover (I have a loaner copy from Blackwell), so keep that in mind when reading.
Another dinosaur textbook? This book competes directly with older dinosaur textbooks by Spencer Lucas and Fastovsky & Weishampel, as well as quasi-textbooks like the one by Dingus & Rowe. Martin's book covers much of the same ground, but has a different overall focus. Whereas F & W's text is largely focused on dinosaurs themselves, Martin's new book focuses largely on using dinosaurs to teach broader, more all-encompassing concepts. In fact, it does this to such a degree that the title might better be "Introduction to Science via Dinosaurs." Of the 16 chapters in the book, only 11-15 deal directly with the different groups of dinosaurs. (A better organization for the book might be to put these chapters much earlier in the book, since the terms detailed in them are used in most of the earlier chapters!) Other chapters discuss topics of great importance to paleontologists, and therefore certainly deserve coverage in a book such as this! They include discussions of how science works (in the context of defining things and scientific methodology, Chapters 1-2), how/why paleo and geology are sciences (Chap. 3), history of dinosaur studies (Chap. 4), anatomy, histology & classification (Chap. 5), taphonomy (Chap. 6), ichnology (Chap. 7), eggs & nests (Chap. 8), feeding habits (Chap. 9), evolution (Chap. 10), and extinctions plus birds as dinosaurs (Chap. 16). Some concepts are covered elsewhere in the book, too (e.g., histology in the theropod chapter, genetics in the evolution chapter, paleobiogeography covered throughout the text, etc.)
Aside from the above criticism, the organization of the book is pretty good. Each chapter opens with a hypothetical scenario designed to illustrate the importance of understanding the material presented in each chapter; the chapters end with summaries, suggested review/discussion questions and, in many cases, URLs for further information. The book contains numerous pictures and schematics, mostly in color (though most photos are, sadly, shrunken, darkened, and restricted to the page margins such that things described in the captions are invisible in the actual photo) - color photos are largely absent in other dinosaur textbooks (but their inclusion in Martin's book is probably the culprit for the high price for a cloth-back book!) Key terms (and names) are presented in bold throughout the book, though a few of the terms emphasized are rarely, if ever, used in day-to-day paleontology (e.g., "panaramittee"). There is a fairly extensive glossary and a nicely complete index.
The text is quite explanatory, and mostly straightforward. In many instances, it's downright lighthearted (particularly in figure captions, which often use things like "English professors" for scale!)
One thing that Martin's book presents that may scare some readers away is a quantity of math (algebra). Math is virtually absent in other dinosaur texts, but is used well here to demonstrate how paleontologists can quantify and analyze various aspects of their research (e.g., calculating the discharge and momentum of moving water to explain taphonomic sorting, speed as determined from footprints, the volume of an ellipsoid egg, Archimedes' displacement principle, and how radiometric ages are determined). Martin thoughtfully breaks using each equation into basic, numbered steps (something even most math books never do), making the appearance of the math much less daunting. Of course, for everything Martin covers in the book, one could easily complain that any one subject is not detailed enough, or that some things were not covered at all, but as with all dinosaur textbooks, one must keep in mind that typical undergraduate courses, for which this book is clearly designed, are meant to do precisely what this book does: use dinosaurs as a locus for introducing many other sciences...that's "introducing," not "covering exhaustively." Even the 16 chapters in this book may be too many for a standard 12-week semester!
The book is enough up-to-date to include important new finds as the feathered Caudipteryx, new Jurassic ankylosaurs, etc.) It is also quite even-handed in covering "hot-button" topics (e.g. presenting both the "pro-" and "anti-theropod" points of view on bird origins, as well as scientific ethics, including private collecting).
Martin's book is a serious contender in the small but growing realm of texts aimed at using dinosaurs to introduce students to science as a whole. It is less "dinocentric" than others, but perhaps that is for the better, because it thus more adequately covers other scientific disciplines, thus providing a better overall tour through science as a whole. Martin notes in his preface that he considers himself an educator above all else, and this book clearly is intended to educate. Only the shrunken photos and rather prohibitive price (for a non-hardback) hold it back.
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