• The Modern Scholar

  • Behold the Mighty Dinosaur
  • By: John Kricher
  • Narrated by: John Kricher
  • Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (168 ratings)

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The Modern Scholar

By: John Kricher
Narrated by: John Kricher
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Publisher's summary

Dinosaurs have been a source of fascination ever since their discovery in England early in the 19th century. Before their extinction, dinosaurs dominated Earth's terrestrial habitats for about 160 million years, far longer than primates. Dinosaurs present the ultimate puzzle in forensic science, but we have learned a great deal about them in the last 50 years. This lecture series will explain the evolutionary and ecological relationships among dinosaurs, what it might have been like to be present in the Mesozoic Era, and the question of what ultimately brought about the total extinction of all dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Although extinct, dinosaurs have never been more a focus of science than they are today.
©2007 John Kricher (P)2007 Recorded Books, LLC

What listeners say about The Modern Scholar

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Intriguing

Any additional comments?

Such a great series of lectures about dinosaurs. Very comprehensive. Gives a history of paleontology and goes into the evolution of dinosaurs throughout the Mesozoic era. Also discusses the role of dinosaurs in pop culture and details all the things they got wrong/got right in Jurassic Park (among others). Very entertaining lecturer. Recommended to anyone interested in dinosaurs.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • C.
  • 04-18-09

Outstanding

Audio lectures don't get any better than this. In this series, John Kricher takes us through his subject both broad an deep. Starting with delightful lighter chapters about discovery history, pop culture and movies about dinosaurs, he does not fall short when comes down to the details. In perfect pace, perfect structure, perfect sequence, he takes us from one interesting aspect to the next. At any moment he make us feel the solid science behind his facts. It is unbelievable how much can be derived from looking at just the fossil bones, in comparison with properties of living creatures. Prof. Kricher manages to pursue 30-minutes-long, complex arguments without ever loosing the reader. I am stunned by this performance, I wish more of my teachers had been of this quality. This book cannot be recommend highly enough.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

explore with Indiana Jones

Fascinating, inspiring, and memorable to the end. Listens like an audiobook, not a lecture. Explains what we know, don't know, and how we find out answers to the first questions that come to the layman's mind. The professor's narration is delightful. I only wish he had narrated the other half dozen audiobooks on natural history that I have listened to.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

John Kricher is a terrific teacher

In order to explain a complicated subject the teacher has to be very very well versed in the subject to explain it clearly, and John Kricher is clear without being condescending.

Professor Kricher touches lightly, but intelligently on the history of dinosaur hunters and their Museum directors, the earth's geological timeline and which dinosaurs existed in which era, and the anatomy of the subgroups of dinosaurs. If the man did not go deeply into each topic, it is because it would have taken several semesters of intensive course work to just to scrape the top of the geology, comparative anatomy, and the social history of the people who originally found and named the prehistoric bones. I enjoy listening to scholars who obviously enjoy their subject. I recommend this work to anyone interested in geology and history, not just dinosaurs.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very informative most entertaining

Where does The Modern Scholar rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Modern Scholar is among my favorites for history, science and technology lectures.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Modern Scholar?

The authors time line description of the chronological order in terms of one year. It gave me a sense of how much time elapsed between first life and first complex life.

What does the narrator bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The authors narration is wonderfully inspiring. Plenty of explanations of terms and theory
that are very understandable.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did in fact listen to it in one sitting.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good, not great, intro to the topic

The substance here is a little fluffy. It sounds more like the material from a professor's attempt at keeping a group of unwilling undergrads fulfilling a gen-ed requirement, which is a step down from a lot of the other Modern Scholar series. There's a LOT of unnecessary "but I'll talk about that in lecture X" and two distinct times where the lecturer goes into two different extended metaphors to explain geologic time. The chapter divisions are a bit unusual as well, feeling more like something chosen for effect rather than by logic. However, I can't really fault it for not going that deep, and it certainly succeeds as a very broad overview.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dinos Dinos Dinos!!!

Where does The Modern Scholar rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This was the first one I've read from this series, and if the rest are as good as this one, I'll definitely be buying more!

What other book might you compare The Modern Scholar to and why?

I actually haven't read any other "real" dinosaur books, so I can't really compare. I've read Dinopedia and others like it, and I loved Jurassic Park, but this was my first dino text book.

Have you listened to any of the narrator’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Nope, this was my first of his, and I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't perfect, he swallowed and smacked his lips pretty audibly and quite often, but other than that he was clear and engaging.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I did, actually! I love dinosaur stuff, but I wasn't sure how I'd like a whole dino text book, but I really loved it. I kept telling my husband so, too. "Man, I love this book!" It even made me laugh a few times, Dr Kricher has a pretty good wit.

Any additional comments?

All in all, I'd DEFINITELY reccomend this text to anyone even remotely interested in dinosaurs. It was informative without being dry, a great listen (or a great read too, I imagine). I loved it so much that I read it all in just two sittings. I'm sad that Audible doesn't have any more dino texts from Dr K, I'd have scooped them right up! I give it a superb 9.5/10 (the .5 taken away for that lip smacking :-p )

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I had no idea!

If you could sum up The Modern Scholar in three words, what would they be?

Concise, Informative and Entertaining.

Any additional comments?

I had no idea, honestly! I have fairly good grasp of the late Paleolithic up until today. I even have a fair grasp of the big bang to the formation of the solar system, plants and early life. But what about this middle bit. The missing bit. The bit about dinosaurs. Nope had no idea. Out with some cartoon imagery and basic names of dinosaurs from a child I knew nothing. Now I do. It is actually, ironically, the most interesting period, and the bridge.

I always scoffed at it as a time of some kind of irrelevant giant lizard birds and some crazy safari clad men going about digging up bones (fossils). Oh how wrong was I! It is so much more, it really is, and it is not irrelevant at all.

So if this is how you ended up here to find out about the mesolithic I can tell you this title is very enlightening while being concise and informative. A real find and contrast to the great courses perfectly practised more intensely academic style. I like that a great deal but this is more what a lecture hall is like actually in the real world. It is a bit more casual, a bit less scripted. Have a listen it will bring back your student days - but this time giant lizard birds are brought to life. ;) Enjoy!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Me
  • 05-25-12

Worth every moment!

Would you listen to The Modern Scholar again? Why?

Already have - about 3 times!

Any additional comments?

Professor Kricher knows his subject and makes it accessible and interesting! It was like being a kid again and discovering how cool dinosaurs were for the first time. He doesn't just talk about the dinosaurs but also the history of fossil hunting, the personalities of the people who found and studied the fossils, and there's even a chapter of dinosaurs in film. Finishing this lecture had me searching (fruitlessly) for other audiobooks about dinosaurs.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Highly Recommended

I am always pleased with "The Modern Scholar" series. This title is no exception. I highly recommend it.

The lessons cover all aspects of dinosaurs. So it's inevitable that there will be a lesson topic you don't care for as much.

This program is geared toward "non-experts". But the final few lessons concerning modern theories is really great, and should interest everyone including the experts.

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