My Beloved Brontosaurus

On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs

De: Brian Switek

Narrado por: Brian Switek

A Hudson Booksellers Staff Pick for the Best Books of 2013

One of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Spring Science Books

A Bookshop Santa Cruz Staff Pick

Dinosaurs, with their awe-inspiring size, terrifying claws and teeth, and otherworldly abilities, occupy a sacred place in our childhoods. They loom over museum halls, thunder through movies, and are a fundamental part of our collective imagination. In My Beloved Brontosaurus, the dinosaur fanatic Brian Switek enriches the childlike sense of wonder these amazing creatures instill in us. Investigating the latest discoveries in paleontology, he breathes new life into old bones.

Switek reunites us with these mysterious creatures as he visits desolate excavation sites and hallowed museum vaults, exploring everything from the sex life of Apatosaurus and T. rex's feather-laden body to just why dinosaurs vanished. (And of course, on his journey, he celebrates the book's titular hero, "Brontosaurus"—who suffered a second extinction when we learned he never existed at all—as a symbol of scientific progress.)

With infectious enthusiasm, Switek questions what we've long held to be true about these beasts, weaving in stories from his obsession with dinosaurs, which started when he was just knee-high to a Stegosaurus. Endearing, surprising, and essential to our understanding of our own evolution and our place on Earth, My Beloved Brontosaurus is a book that dinosaur fans and anyone interested in scientific progress will cherish for years to come.

Great book, but....

A great book about dinosaurs, but sadly also a great example of why authors should NOT read their own books.

A dinosaur lovers must read

This was an awesome read. Not only did it bring back memories of my childhood love of dinosaurs but I learned new information of the life and death of those wonderful creatures. Also, the nomenclature changes and history of the science behind those long lost wonderful creatures. And yes I too wanted an Brontosaurus, sorry, Apatosaurus as a pet.

A Comprehensive and Engaging Update on the Field

The title and much of the book's content pretty much express the mixed feelings that old timers like me have trying to reconcile the old portrayal of the titanic beasts with everything researchers all over the globe have been bringing to light about peacock-like little dragons - and explains why we can't avoid the transition. Masterful work, a pleasure to read/listen.

Reminiscences of a Scientist

Remembering the fun of growing up and not out growing a boys love of exciting, enormous, extinct dinosaurs makes informative and nostalgic reading. The author takes you through the new discoveries that have changed what we know about dinosaurs. I think he must about the same age as my sons. I remember taking them to museums and to see dinosaur prints. His narration doesn’t do justice to his enthusiasm. It might be a better read than listen.

Self-inflicted wounds mar otherwise very fun read

Any additional comments?

Like the author, Jurassic Park really inspired me to pay attention to dinosaurs as fascinating animals instead of stop motion monsters, and this book was generally a fun ride through a lot of dinosauria's newest discoveries. A lot of it I already was aware of based on general interest news stories, but the book covered those things in further depth, which was great.

There were two problems with the book, though. First, the author felt the need to completely unnecessarily toss in some political jabs, making him look small and closed-minded (hardly attributes you want in any scientist). I don't have any patience for Creationists, but why go out of your way to attack them, particularly in a way that comes off as an attack on all religion? That carries over to contempt for past generations of scientists who got things wrong, but were working within the paradigms and the technological limitations of their times. A failure to understand why a different scientist may have - in good faith - come to a different conclusion is again the mark of a limited imagination, which limits his own scientific credibility. Sometimes I agreed with him and sometimes I didn't, but in all instances it was distracting, and those little windows of bitterness (that's how they came off) sadly reduced what is otherwise great joy in learning new things.

Second, the author should not have read the book himself. I have no doubt he's passionate about the subject, but his affect was flat, almost bored. There is an irrepressible, child-like joy in learning about dinosaurs, and that didn't come through. There's no shame in hiring professionals to more accurately convey the emotion of one's story, and that would have been an improvement here.