The Modern Scholar: Unearthing the Past

Paleontology and the History of Life

By: Dr. Jeffrey W. Martz

Narrated by: Dr. Jeffrey W. Martz

Jeffrey W. Martz of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is widely renowned for his expertise in the field of paleontology, a science that lies at the crossroads of biology and geology. Paleontologists seek to unearth and re-create life hundreds of millions of years old, and the work of paleontologists offers us detailed glimpses of the prehistoric world. These fascinating lectures delve into the techniques and processes of paleontologists while providing a better understanding of this often misunderstood science.

©2013 Jeffrey Martz (P)2013 Crescite Group, LLC

Good introduction to the subject

This series of lectures failed to hold my interest when I began it, but I'm not sure if that was the fault of the material or of my concentration.  When I picked it up again earlier this week, I found myself fascinated by the information, first on what paleontologists actually do, and then the timeline of the history of life on earth.

Don't look for a professional narrator here; Dr. Martz is a pretty typical lecturer with a lot of the essential flaws of one.  He sometimes speaks quite fast, sometimes gives us asides that pull us out of the narrative thread, but nothing he does is so distracting that it took away from the course material.

A lot of people have complained about how basic the information is, and that's true, but at a grand total of four hours and eight lectures, how could it be anything other than a basic course? I found it interesting enough that I'd like to explore more about the subject, and to me that's a strong recommendation. If you want more than a good overview of the subject you'll have to look elsewhere.

Bottom line here is that I learned a lot, and got a good sense of the discipline of paleontology, and the awesome progress of the evolution of life on earth.

Good science presentation

Learned some new stuff! Also got a great refresher on info I’d learned in the past.

great introductory level lectures.

This was a great listen. I really appreciated the assumption that the reader was science-literate.

excellent

loved it. very interesting and uses effective methods to put things into an understandable scale and perspective

An excellent presentation of a fascinating subject!

Dr. is a skillful, knowledgable lecturer who was able to convey his knowledge in a way that is understandable to a non-paleontologist.

Too short

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

High-schoolers

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment

Any additional comments?

It was far too short a lecture series! I was surprised to find that so much information was crammed into so few lectures. It felt more like someone was reading out a wikipedia page than delivering an actual scholarly lecture.