_Dinosaur Lives_ by Horner and Dobb

[Amado Narvaez <anarvaez@umd5.umd.edu>]

    I just discovered this book at a local book store. Specifics:
_Dinosaur Lives: Unearthing an Evolutionary Saga_ by John R. Horner and
Edwin Dobb. Harper Collins: New York, 1997. ISBN 0-06-017486-2.  244
pages. Illustrated with black and white photograaphs and drawings. List
price: $24.00
    This is more or less a sequel to Horner and Gorman's _Digging
Dinosaurs_, documenting in narrative form the research and discoveries by
Horner et al since the earlier book's publication. Pretty much identical
in size and format.
    Chapter 1 and the Afterword detour slightly from the narrative
description of field work. The former reveals how Horner feels about the
way the movies JP and LW depict dinosaurs, especially in the light of his
recommendations. The familiar story of the Velociraptor tongues is
related, but also an incident I had not seen discussed elsewhere involving
the scene when the T. rex foot is planted on the ground and the question
of which part of a theropod foot touches the ground first--the "toes" or
"heel." There's mention, too, of a deleted scene involving a T. rex
tooth. Rather than reveal the details here, I'll let readers discover that
for themselves.
    The Afterword is entitled "What's a Dinosaur Worth?" and discusses
peripherally the "Sue" history and the relationship (and sometimes
conflict) between professional paleontologists, amateur fossil hunters,
and commercial fossil hunters. Lots of compliments for the amateur, some
cynicism toward the commercial "entrepeneur."
    Throughout the book Horner emphasizes the importance of carefully
documenting fossil discoveries. There is an interesting anecdote about how
retracing Charles Gilmore's footsteps based on his field journal led to a
correction of information in the journal involving the misidentification
by Gilmore of "fossilized shell fragments of a freshwater clam." Horner
points out that this "misidentification" is a classic illustration of the
scientific method. An original hypothesis is made about a discovery, and
often years later a reinvestigation in the light of later discoveries
sheds important light on the subject that suggests a completely new
interpretation.
    Surprisingly, there is no index to the book, and no bibliography,
which is a deviation from _Digging Dinosaurs_. No foreword, either. (Would
have been interesting if Spielberg, Muren, or Tippett had written one, 
nicht wahr?)

----- Amado Narvaez