Unearthing the Dragon (Hardcover)

by Mark A. Norell (Author), Mick Ellison (Author) "In October 1996 the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology held its annual meeting..." (more)
Key Phrases: jehol times, nonavian dinosaurs, paper shales, Early Cretaceous, New York, Gao Ke-Qin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Unearthing the Dragon is the first book to establish the dramatic change in our understanding of dinosaur origins, based on the new fossil discoveries in China reported by the leading US researcher in a personal account of his adventures there.

Mark Norell establishes this revolution in our understanding of dinosaurs that has occurred in the last decade. Dinosaurs are no longer thought of as lizards so much as birds. The transformation can be seen by comparing the first Jurassic Park movie with its leathery dinosaurs to the recent reconstructions in the BBC series "Walking with Dinosaurs in America" where they appear as warm-blooded feathered animals, attending their young and brooding their nests.

This transformation in popular culture is based on fossil discoveries in one profoundly important region in China: Liaoning Province. Mark Norell, the Chair and Curator, Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, is the leading US researcher on these fossils, and he has traveled to the region repeatedly over the last decade. Here he tells the story of these discoveries and his work with an extraordinarily talented group of Chinese scientists.

Unearthing the Dragon is a very personal account of being in a foreign land with a radically different culture, history of science, and code of social behaviors. In the hinterland of China, farmers, not trained researchers, often collect fossils. Local officials' trust is garnered over banquet meals and vigorous drinking sessions. Photographer and artist Mick Ellison shares in the adventures as the pair navigates forward through the world of modern China--and leads readers back to a magical prehistoric land of feathered dinosaurs revealed in the Liaoning fossils.

"Reads like Redmond O'Hanlon goes fossil-hunting in China. But that is where the resemblance stops, for Mark Norell is a master paleontologist and the fossils are some of the most wonderful and important ever found."
--Alan Walker, FRS, Professor of Biological Anthropology and Biology, Pennsylvania State University, author of The Wisdom of Bones

"Captures the sights, the sounds--even the smells--of a hard-working, hard-playing surf-dude paleontologist on the fossil trail. Rex and drugs and rock'n'roll!"
--Henry Gee, Senior Editor, Biological Sciences, Nature

"Enlightening and entertaining. Norell's knowledge of fossils and his passion for Chinese culture merge in this eminently readable account of one of the most important paleontological breakthroughs of the last century."
--Neil H. Shubin, Professor and Chair, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago

"A gritty, fast-paced pursuit in search of feathered dinosaurs. Norell's writing gives you the feeling that you are right there, next to him following the fossil trail."
--Donald C. Johanson, Virginia M. Ullman Chair in Human Origins; Professor, Department of Anthropology; Director, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University; and author of From Lucy to Language

About the Author

Mark Norell is the Chair and Curator, Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History. In the fall of 2004 he published two major research papers in Nature on feathered dinosaurs, and has previously published over 100 papers in academic journals. His research has been frequently reported in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Scientific American. He lives in New York City.

Mick Ellison is currently Principal Artist in the Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History. His photographs and drawings have appeared on the covers of Nature, Science, and on the front pages of The New York Times. His other clients include National Geographic, Natural History Magazine, Time, Newsweek, Discover, Nova, BBC and CNN. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Pi Press (May 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131862669
• ISBN-13: 978-0131862661
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #615,369 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science in a cultural setting (or Indiana Jones goes to China looking for "dragon bones"), July 22, 2005

By	S. Russell - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm a friend of the author, so the stars may be biased. I'll try to justify those stars, though. The first positive is that the book is beautifully presented, with excellent design, photographs, and drawings. As a previous reviewer mentioned, this would make a superb gift.

The second is that it presents its topic - developments over the past decade in paleontology - as a totally human endeavor, including all the errors and frustrations as well as breakthroughs and triumphs. The author makes the point that in his last book he wrote that he hoped that new discoveries would prove all he wrote to be incorrect (which indeed happened), and he hopes that this will again occur with this book. He's comfortable both arguing his position with passion while at the same time accepting that change is inevitable, and new discoveries will render his position invalid and lead to new conclusions. Anyone whose had a great science teacher knows that this attitude is science at it's best, and is especially valuable in an area like paleontology where we know a whole lot less than we don't know.

Thirdly, it is especially interesting that all this takes place as a collaboration between East (China) and West, both with long and prestigious, but very different, traditions in paleontology. For those interested in how natural science is REALLY done, this part of the book will be as intruiging as the actual scientific discoveries and conclusions. Most books on China deal with business, cultural, and/or political practices. One would imagine that science is pretty cut and dry, and that scientific "culture shock" between East and West is fairly minimal. This book will convince you otherwise!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Feathered Dinosaurs and Chinese Culture, July 26, 2005

By	Jon Linden (Warren, N.J. United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Dr. Norell has created an incredible work of non-fiction in this book. His thesis is that birds are in fact the evolutionary descendants of `Feathered Dinosaurs.' This concept was controversial although generally accepted for the past 50 years; yet there was no good paleontological evidence to support the theory. However, Dr. Norell and his colleagues both in America and in China and in several other places around the world have now shown that there is paleontological evidence for feathered dinosaurs.

Dr. Norell, "Curator, Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History" has found with his colleagues a paleontological site in NorthEast China known as the "Liaoning" region, specifically the "Jehol Biota." This particular area has incredible fossil records of the Jurassic Period (between about 110 million and 145 million years old). These fossil records clearly show, in beautifully reproduced photographs by Mick Ellison, that clearly both feathered and hairy dinosaurs existed in that period. And additionally, his research indicates that it is almost incontrovertible that feathers and hair were an evolutionary advantage which helped the organism contain body heat. This starts to lead into the topic of actual transition from cold to warm blooded animals.

In addition to the science, the book is a wonderful and close up cultural study of China. While China is the next pre-eminent modern society to emerge in our days, their ways and patterns of thought in many ways differ widely from Western thought. In addition, even within China itself, there are differences in behavior and world perspective that are hot issues all over China. The book beautifully describes these cultural aspects in both words and pictures and starts to introduce a very interesting potential humanitarian benefit.

As China develops, competition and friction will inevitably evolve between the political components of the United States and China. However, the collegiality of the scientific community, may be one of the most important connections that the United States can maintain with China for mutual benefit. In this manner, perhaps there will be some level of harmony and understanding transmitted on both sides of the ocean.

This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in the development of dinosaurs, specifically as it relates to them being the ancestors of birds. The author's style is highly inviting, and it reads like a very personal story, rather than as a scientific tome. It is a truly excellent piece of work.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unearthing the Dragon, August 2, 2005

By	Richard J. Peirce - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Unearthing the Dragon by Mark Norell is a delightfully fascinating and compelling read about Norell's experiences with Chinese culture as he travelled about the country studying its vertebrate fossils. There is especially good information and photos of his experiences including China's amazing feathered dinosaurs. This book is highly recommended for dinosaur affecionados both young and old who also would like to visit China through an admiring visitor's eyes.
Long term dino fans will remember Norell as one of the principals who discovered oviraptors sitting on their nests of eggs.