Customer Reviews

Terrible Lizard: The First Dinosaur Hunters and the Birth of a New Science

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TERRIBLE LIZARD is a first rate history of the period in the early 19th century when a group of individuals began, for the first time, to understand the fossils that had been known for some time as the remains of giant reptiles who lived in a time that predated human history. But it is also very much an adventure story, and like all good adventure stories, it has a hero, a heroine, an excellent set of supporting characters, and, of course, a dastardly villain. In a word, the story told is how Gideon Mantell undertook much of the work in formulating the earliest conception of giant reptiles who lived eons before humans but had his achievement appropriated by the gifted but ambitious and devious Richard Owen.

The heroine of the story is Mary Anning, who sparked the interest of the early geologists by her uncanning ability to unearth fossils and near complete skeletons from the area around Lyme Regis in southern England. Hers is a somewhat sad story, for while she repeatedly spurs science on by her remarkable discoveries, she lives her life in a perpetual struggle against poverty. Nevertheless, the way her contributions, despite her being merely the daughter of a carpenter who died while she was a child, gain her the respect and esteem of some of the leading scientists in England, is inspiring.

The hero of the story, and the individual around whom much of the book revolves, is Gideon Mantell. Despite working as a physician with a brutally demanding schedule, Mantell managed to build up a first rate collection of fossil remains, and became the first person to identify and describe most of the first dinosaurs to be discovered. Ignored at first because of his social and amateur status, Mantell gradually gained the respect of his peers and gained admittance to the Royal Society. Despite this, he was never able to obtain patronage or a scientific position that would have allowed him to pursue his studies full time. His plight is the source of much of the pathos of the book.

The villain of the story is the overly ambitious and somewhat sadistic Richard Owen, who provided us with the word "dinosaur" but who also attempted to claim as his own much of the work done by Mantell and others. In contrast to Mantell, Owen early in his life obtains positions that allow him to study anatomy full time, and enjoys the patronage of the nation as he gains more and more power. His arrogance, dishonesty, lust for power, and his unremitting attempt to coopt the credit rightfully belonging to others, made me wonder if the title of the book in part refers to him.

Along the way, we encounter a number of other extraordinary characters, from the famed French anatomist Georges Cuvier to William Buckland--who with Mantell was the first to describe the dinosaurs--to the great geologist Charles Lyell to Charles Darwin.

A thoroughly enjoyable history that I can heartily recommend to anyone interested in intellectual history, paleontology, or just a flat out adventure tale.

Deborah Cadbury does the burgeoning genre of popular science proud with this book. It has all the necessary elements. A human interest story with heroes and villians, an interesting historical setting and a good scientific foundation. The history and science revolves around the gigantic fossilized bones that were being discovered throughout southern England in the early 19th century. Paleontology and Geology were just beginning as sciences. Evolution was a concept but not yet a theory as this was pre-Darwin's ORIGIN OF SPECIES. Indeed in 1812 when an uneducated and simple villager named Mary Anning found a gigantic skeleton on a beach under the Dorset cliffs, there was nothing else to call it but a monster. The word "dinosaur" didn't exist. It was coined in 1842 by Richard Owen, one of the principal characters in this story.

Mary's discovery started the great quest to identify, categorize, name and date these bones. We meet Gideon Mantell, the poor son of a shoemaker who by dint of hard work and education became a country doctor and a member of the scientific community. He is the sympathetic character this story revolves around and the author wants us to embrace him. Mantell was one of THE DINOSAUR HUNTERS which is in fact the more appropriate title used for this book's edition in Britain. Mantell was typical of these amateur paleontologists who were combing southern England in the hopes of making some great discovery. It's true that only some were eccentric but it's also fair to say they all shared an obsession for bones. Mantell filled his home with fossils, developing one of the finest private collections in England. His devotion to the world of dead creatures came at a cost. It drained all the life out of his marriage and his wife left him in 1839. Mantell did at least have some success, discovering the skeleton of what would later be named the Iguanadon. That's about the only success he had though and his life story as told here is one of disappointment and bitterness with a sad ending.

If Mantell is the sympathetic character then the opposite emotional responses should be directed towards Richard Owen. Cadbury paints a very unflattering portrait of the man (Sir Richard eventually) who founded the Natural History Museum, invented "Dinosauria", and was consulted by royalty, prime ministers, and academia on all things fossilized. The author says he was "instinctively predatory" and if Cadbury rather than her publishers chose the title for the book, then it's very appropriate as it's quite clear from her writing who she sees as the TERRIBLE LIZARD.

Mantell is reminiscent of William "Strata" Smith in THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD. The same disdain as shown by the scientific elite and similar financial difficulties. Smith's story however had an ultimately redeeming end. Not so here. Mantell had to sell his fossil collection to the Natural History Museum and following a carriage accident which badly damaged his spine and left him with severe backaches he declined rapidly. He died from an ovedose of the opiates that he took to relieve the pain. Owen's success had been at the direct expense of Mantell as he had been quite willing to claim Mantell's work as his own. From his well connected position within the scientific community Owen was very effective in preventing recognition for others and garnering it for himself. A bit of poetic justice arrived by way of Thomas Huxley who discredited some of Owen's work (specifically his view on the differences between human and ape brains). In doing so Huxley did in large measure what Owen had done to Mantell. Owen had also argued that Dinosaurs were proof against evolution. He reasoned that since evolution said life progressed it was impossible then that ancient and extinct creatures should be more splendid than those living today. Since fossils proved that dinosaurs were in fact many times more magnificent that the reptiles Owen saw around him, then evolution must be wrong he said. If Huxley embarrassed him then Darwin's stunning and well reasoned theory of evolution published in 1859 pretty much put paid to Owen's arguments. He outlived Darwin but only to his chagrin as he finally accepted the reality of Darwinism and the sting of being bettered scientifically.

I've read quite a few of the current slew of books attempting to popularise science in the wake of Dava Sobel's Longitude, but I think this is the best. Not only is it a gripping drama with a wonderful parade of characters, and tragedies and triumphs galore, but more importantly it covers the most dramatic change in our perception of ourselves and the world. Consider: at the start of the book in the early nineteenth century religion still reigned supreme, the Bible was the literal truth, and the study of what came to be known as geology and biology was the province of enthusiastic amateurs. But then, from the cliffs of Lyme Regis and from the quarries used to provide the stones for the growth of the new industrial towns and cities came these extraordinary fossils, these remains of the most incredible animals, plus clear evidence for those who could see of the unimagineable lengths of time involved in the formation of the various strata of rocks in which these remains were embedded. The resulting debate was surely one of the most momentous in scientific history, culminating in the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859. I think Cadbury tells the story superbly. I particularly enjoyed the way the story starts in Jane Austen territory - Lyme Regis, early years of the century, keen young doctors and clergymen collecting plants and fossils - and then as it centres more on London gets darker, entering the familiar world of Dickens, with child deaths, disfigurements, and the crushing of hope beneath the merciless wheels of ruthless ambitions etc. etc.. Great stuff

This is the American edition of a book published in England in 2000 or 2001 simply as "The Dinosaur Hunters."

The book is a fairly straight-forward telling of an Anglo-centric version of the dawning of the notion early in the 19th Century that there had been a pre-Adamite world inhabited by large-scale beasts that would in the course of time come to be known as dinosaurs. All the usual British suspects are present:

~ Mary Anning, the self-taught woman with the wonderful eye for fossils who went out and retrieved those strange sea-beasts, the icthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, in return for little more than subsistence-level remuneration.

~ William Buckland, who obtained formal recognition (in England) of geology as an academic discipline.

~ Gideon Mantell, the provincial medico with a passion for geology and big, exotic, long-dead beasts.

~ Charles Lyell, whose magnum opus on geology would bear unexpected, long-term fruit, some of which he would find bitter.

~ Richard Owen, bright, clever, acquisitive, unforgiving, politically astute, scholarly star player who reached the heights and then had the misfortune to outlive his glory days.

~ And a couple of guys named Darwin and Huxley.

Such is the Anglo-centric nature of the narrative that the only really significant non-English character is the very, very French Baron Georges Cuvier, a truly international academic superstar. And even he is presented solely in the light of his (generally erroneous) interactions with the main British figures. So Anglo-centric is the author's account of the recognition of dinosaurs that only mid-way in the book, when Mary Anning finds a fine specimen of a pterodactyl, does Ms. Cadbury casually mention that the first specimen of this weird flying creature had been discovered in Bavaria--by an Italian, no less!--a full fifty years earlier and long-since described in print by Cuvier.

Over and above the story of scholars and collectors struggling to see the hitherto unseen and mightily wrestling with wretchedly inadequate and incomplete data to draw conclusions, some dead on and others dead wrong, Ms. Cadbury has seen fit to cast the book as a tale of rivalry, as a decades-long duel between that verray parfit gentil scholar, Gideon Mantell and that all-too successful academic bounder and social climber, Richard Owen. Well ... maybe. But the notion of life-long duel is a bit strained when one recollects that Owen died a full forty years after Mantell. On the other hand, Owen did get into undoubted, no holds barred conflict with a far more formidable controversialist and adversary, Thomas Huxley, Darwin's ferocious attack dog. The net effect of that series of combats was to dropkick Owen from star of scholarship to mere footnote, but Ms. Cadbury simply makes casual reference to their jousting.

This book is clearly intended as popular history and is resolutely non-rigorous in both text and citations. As such, it is successful enough within its own terms. For a reader who wants no more than a competently written narrative that introduces a handful of larger-than-life characters and a bit of scientific history, this will do as well as any and better than some.

Four stars.

If you have an interest in fossils, the Regency/Georgian period of English history, or anything Darwin - then I think you will enjoy this book as much as I did. This is my definite must read of 2001.

I picked up the story because of my fascination for Georgian and Regency England, and that is where this book begins. I kept reading because Cadbury has a wonderful style - and tells the story (and it is quite a story) without drama. It unfolds beautifully in fact. From the first discoveries and theories of the rocks and geology of Britain to the final acceptance of a world beyond the bible's theory of creationism.

I just loved how Cadbury refrained from turning this into some kind of tabloid/overly dramatic presentation. The story itself is dramatic enough and has tension, jealousy, pride, and a fair amount of mystery in it to keep the reader thoroughly absorbed. There are 4 main characters in this book - beginning with Mary Anning who without training or even education began to uncover the most amazing fossil shapes in and around Lyme Regis - following in her father's footsteps. Until this time the fossils had been sold without really knowing what they were - but in 1812 she uncovered what could only be the skeleton of a monster and the search for an explanation of what it was and how it got there began. Even at this stage the research was done with rudimentary knowledge of geology and formations - and any explanations conflicted with the accepted church teachings that god created earth in a week. After all - how could monsters have ever roamed the earth in another time? God created all things perfectly in 7 days.

The main defence for the church, the man who tried to marry religious doctrine with the increasing evidence of other generations of strange prehistoric creations, was William Buckland. His role became increasingly more difficult as evidence mounted both in England and in France.

However this is mainly the story of two men - Gideon Mantell, a rather poor English Doctor who dedicated all his spare time to trying to piece together the past from his obsessive fascination with fossils - and his rivalry with the pathologically jealous Richard Owen.

That in itself makes a story to rival the worst excesses of an Aaron Spelling TV series. Owen's strange behaviour and jealous protection of what he felt was his territory ended up crippling more than one avid researcher to the period, and certainly ended up crippling Mantell.

The story comes together so well. Cadbury has carefully pieced together each stage of the journey to discovery of our Dinosaur age, and its influence on later thinkers such as Darwin - as well as deftly writing of the personal troubles of all the main characters in the book. I found this book compulsive reading and highly recommend it.

An excellent read, an excellent *story*, told by a very capable author. I actually picked up TERRIBLE LIZARD on a fluke, but I'm glad I did; while a little too light on the science for even my non-scientific tastes, it reads as well as many novels. The story of Gideon Mantell, in particular, is a page-turner, and ultimately a depressing one, while William Buckland's sad and desperate attempts to reconcile reality with Biblical myth is almost funny. I finished the book particularly disliking Richard Owen, and you probably will, too.

I can see this tale, as it's told here, making an interesting film.

Over the past fifty years I have read several histories dealing with the early history of paleontology and geology. This is by far the most readable and interesting book on the subject that I have ever encountered. Instead of only relating the finds by well known early fossil collectors and moving in a progression from one to another, the author places them in the context of the history of the times and their relation to one another. It is a fascinating saga of people and their discoveries in an easy to read style with excellent documentation.
Anyone interested in the subject shoud not overlook this book!

I loved this book. It's mostly about Gideon Mantell, the guy who first recognized dinosaurs for (more or less) what they are; its setting lets it include information both about dinosaurs themselves, and the rise of the idea of evolution in the 19th century and the furor it caused. It's an entertaining read on top of that, so it has an awful lot going for it. The "villain," Richard Owen, is like the 19th-century version of David Attenborough except that Attenborough isn't a dick. The book isn't as much about the conflict between Mantell and Owen as it claims to be - Owen doesn't even show up until around halfway through - but the point is valid.

Well, there was a lull in the first 1/3 of the book, but it picks up steam and towards the end I literally could not put it down. My wife had to keep reminding me that it was time to eat and to put that darned book away! Let me say that if the subject matter interests you, I cannot imagine a better written book. The strentghs are numerous. The book is dramatic, in it gets you to care about poor Gideon Mantell and, whilst showing all of Richard Owen's legendary near-evil personality, it does also show a more balanced view of this notorious figure in the history of biology/science. But the human touch is the key in both of these figures that the book points out. Another key is the easy, very vernacular language of the book. There is nothing technical and is very easy to read, even for early teens. Also, towards the end the book touches on Owens late battles with Huxley and Darwin. This is a fascinating section where we see the once invicible Owen finally meeting his match in Huxley and the battle that ensues. There is also in the space of about one page about the best, simplest summary of Evolution I've ever seen (and I've read the Origin of Species twice over). Highly, highly recommended. (for $3-$4 used, what are you waiting for??)

The early years of 19th Century Britain brought shocks to society even more severe than the execution of monarchs and a global war. Scrabbling over cliffs and following the slashes in the land made for canals and railroads, people were discovering fossils. The transformed bones and shells of ancient creatures weren't new. They had been used as medicine and charms to ward off "evil spirits" for centuries. The new finds, however, were more perplexing. Large teeth and massive bones suggested that creatures of unimaginable scale had once inhabited the Earth. In Britain, two new sciences emerged around the novel discoveries - geology and paleontology. Cadbury traces these developments with an enthusiastic account of the people drawn to the new sciences.

After a diversion describing Mary Anning, a young villager who found fossils on coastal cliffs, Cadbury traces the thinking on what fossils implied. Biblical creation had already been challenged on many fronts, particularly among French scientists. The British finds launched a major challenge to standard views of Earth's history. Gideon Mantell, interested in the fossil ammonites at a young age, went on to carve a major life as a geologist. In early 19th Century Britain, paleontology had yet to break off from geology, although fossils were the key to relative placement in time. Cadbury describes how Mantell's love for fossils was given an unexpected boost by his "day job" as a doctor. Medicine laid a groundwork in anatomy which would prove beneficial in later years.

Mantell, through incredible adversity, persisted in amassing large fossil collections. Not only were the collections massive numerically, but some of the bones retrieved implied tremendous creatures. Cadbury does a fine job of explaining the impact these discoveries had on educated Britain. Christian theology remained the foundation for learning, and the fossils clearly challenged church dogma. British Christianity responded with the "Bridgewater Treatises" - an attempt to mortise Nature into theology. Darwin's insight was decades away, and Cadbury explains how this venture was but one of the various notions preceding natural selection. The "fossil" debates took place mostly in the academic arena. The growing scientific societies skirted the issue of divinity, but it was clear data was challenging dogma.

As Mantell's efforts continued, new figures emerged to investigate the puzzling artefacts. Among the students of ancient life, Richard Owen emerged as the champion of analysis. Owen, a domineering figure in Cadbury's account, rose rapidly in importance. He had no qualms about demolishing another's propositions, nor, indeed, their career. His stature in British scientific circles precluded effective challenges and Mantell became one of his chief victims. His final effort to destroy a career and an idea brought him against the giant of 19th Century British science - perhaps all science. He rejected Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Between the paucity of his ideas and the constant harassing of "Darwin's Bulldog", Thomas Huxley, Owens' career began to wane. Cadbury doesn't call for a period of mourning.

Cadbury's approach and writing style makes this book a delightful read. Although her science is lacking, her depiction of the chief personalities is excellent. A number of illustrations from the period enhances the text with a feeling of timeliness. The utter lack of citations, however, is unforgiveable. Having detailed many circumstances, Cadbury provides merely a "Notes and Sources" section without even page attribution.
[stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]