Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs

Rating:
Summary: Return to Xanadu: A Paleontologist's Paradise
Review: .....Only once in a great while does a book appear which makes a great leap forward in our understanding of paleontology and the per-history of the planet, and dinosaurs in particular. Such a book is "Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs." It is an account of the American Museum of Natural History/Mongolian expeditions to the Gobi desert in 1990-95, a place first explored by Roy Chapman Andrews of the AMNH in the 1920s, where the first scientifically studied dinosaur eggs were discovered.

.....Dr. Michael J. Novacek, the expedition leader and Sr. Vice President and Provost of Science for the Museum, gives us a riveting first-person account of these explorations, alternating with detailed chapters on the paleontological discoveries which they made. Moving from collections of bones to an appraisal of how the animals (reptiles and mammals) lived and died, he gives us a new understanding, based on discoveries still being analyzed, of the implications to existing life on the planet, including homo sapiens. Including in his analysis all of biology as well as geology, Novacek giges us pause to consider what will survive on earth after a similar passage of time. All this without leaving out the human element: 1990s Mitsubishis are just as prone to getting stuck in the mud or sand as were 1920s Dodges!
.....The expeditions start at the Flaming Cliffs in Mongolia's Gobi Desert, where the Andrews/Granger expeditions made their most important finds, and go on to desert locations, mountains and canyons such as the Nemegt Valley, with names like Tugrugeen Shireh, Kheerman Tsav, and Ukhaa Tolgod. This last location they called Xanadu, after Kubla Khan's famous "pleasure dome," because it was such a treasure trove of new discoveries. And they were not only dinosaurs, but often tiny mammals, our true ancestors.
.....Dr. Novacek presents us with the greatest assemblage of new paleontology discoveries currently available to the average reader, beautifully and amply illustrated by Ed Heck of the Museum staff.
.....No one interested in paleontology and dinosaurs can afford not to read this book. Nor can anyone interested in the course of life on planet earth. Dr. Novacek and his colleagues' work is still going on.
.....This book is highly recommended for everyone from high school to old age. Public libraries should have it in their science collections. And don't neglect "Time Traveler," a later book also by Dr. Novacek.
.....We can only hope that explorers like this will keep on going (to use Roy Chapman Andrews' phrase) to "the ends of the earth," and come back to tell us about it!

Rating:
Summary: Return to Xanadu: A Paleontologist's Paradise
Review: .....Only once in a great while does a book appear which makes a great leap forward in our understanding of paleontology and the per-history of the planet, and dinosaurs in particular. Such a book is "Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs." It is an account of the American Museum of Natural History/Mongolian expeditions to the Gobi desert in 1990-95, a place first explored by Roy Chapman Andrews of the AMNH in the 1920s, where the first scientifically studied dinosaur eggs were discovered.

.....Dr. Michael J. Novacek, the expedition leader and Sr. Vice President and Provost of Science for the Museum, gives us a riveting first-person account of these explorations, alternating with detailed chapters on the paleontological discoveries which they made. Moving from collections of bones to an appraisal of how the animals (reptiles and mammals) lived and died, he gives us a new understanding, based on discoveries still being analyzed, of the implications to existing life on the planet, including homo sapiens. Including in his analysis all of biology as well as geology, Novacek giges us pause to consider what will survive on earth after a similar passage of time. All this without leaving out the human element: 1990s Mitsubishis are just as prone to getting stuck in the mud or sand as were 1920s Dodges!
.....The expeditions start at the Flaming Cliffs in Mongolia's Gobi Desert, where the Andrews/Granger expeditions made their most important finds, and go on to desert locations, mountains and canyons such as the Nemegt Valley, with names like Tugrugeen Shireh, Kheerman Tsav, and Ukhaa Tolgod. This last location they called Xanadu, after Kubla Khan's famous "pleasure dome," because it was such a treasure trove of new discoveries. And they were not only dinosaurs, but often tiny mammals, our true ancestors.
.....Dr. Novacek presents us with the greatest assemblage of new paleontology discoveries currently available to the average reader, beautifully and amply illustrated by Ed Heck of the Museum staff.
.....No one interested in paleontology and dinosaurs can afford not to read this book. Nor can anyone interested in the course of life on planet earth. Dr. Novacek and his colleagues' work is still going on.
.....This book is highly recommended for everyone from high school to old age. Public libraries should have it in their science collections. And don't neglect "Time Traveler," a later book also by Dr. Novacek.
.....We can only hope that explorers like this will keep on going (to use Roy Chapman Andrews' phrase) to "the ends of the earth," and come back to tell us about it!

Rating:
Summary: Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs
Review: Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs written by Michael Novacek is a thrilling account of one of the largest dinosaur expeditions and finds of the 20th century.

Hidden in the Gobi desert in Mongolia are the famous Flaming Cliffs and within these cliffs are a multitude of dinosaur fossil remains. This site was known about earlier but with politics as they are not until 1993 did extensive documentation of the site occur. The American Museum of Natural History and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences teamed up to explore this site in the Gobi desert. This is by far one of the most extraordinary and miraculous fossil discoveries in history to be unearthed of Cretaceous dinosaurs and mammals. So many, in fact, that it has already helped to reshap our understanding of the dinosaur age.

I found this book to be a very easy and straight forward read. The narrative has excitement and flows well giving the reader valuable information at a steady clip. What I found interesting was the size of some of the animals found in the Gobi desert region. Whether sauropods were partial to watercress salads or treetop foliage, the question concerning the manner in which huge, absurdly small-headed beasts ate invariably comes up. The long necks of sauropods remaids one of giraffes, suggesting that these dinosaurs raised their serpentine necks into the canopy for browsing among the treetops. The necks of these sauropods varied from twenty to well over thirty feet long, making for interesting movement of the body or posture. There is a general discussion within the book that gives details of body shape to eating habits... also, the tooth patterns in the skulls help in identifing what and how they ate. Could dinosaurs have used stone to grind up the greenery that the consumed? Of course, some did. Were dinosaur warm-blooded, again of couse they have to be, is some cases. What about blood pressure in and 80 ton land animal are all and more of the questions posed in this book.

If you read this book it will pose questions about dinosaurs, but also, it will give plausable answers. What follows in the story is a journey to the Gobi and the find of the dinosaur Xanadu. The story enfolds the paleontolical lessons that can be appreciated and compares life today with that of long ago making a greater triumph for the history of life.

Interesting, educational, and fascinating in detail of a life long ago past.

Rating:
Summary: Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs
Review: Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs written by Michael Novacek is a thrilling account of one of the largest dinosaur expeditions and finds of the 20th century.

Hidden in the Gobi desert in Mongolia are the famous Flaming Cliffs and within these cliffs are a multitude of dinosaur fossil remains. This site was known about earlier but with politics as they are not until 1993 did extensive documentation of the site occur. The American Museum of Natural History and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences teamed up to explore this site in the Gobi desert. This is by far one of the most extraordinary and miraculous fossil discoveries in history to be unearthed of Cretaceous dinosaurs and mammals. So many, in fact, that it has already helped to reshap our understanding of the dinosaur age.

I found this book to be a very easy and straight forward read. The narrative has excitement and flows well giving the reader valuable information at a steady clip. What I found interesting was the size of some of the animals found in the Gobi desert region. Whether sauropods were partial to watercress salads or treetop foliage, the question concerning the manner in which huge, absurdly small-headed beasts ate invariably comes up. The long necks of sauropods remaids one of giraffes, suggesting that these dinosaurs raised their serpentine necks into the canopy for browsing among the treetops. The necks of these sauropods varied from twenty to well over thirty feet long, making for interesting movement of the body or posture. There is a general discussion within the book that gives details of body shape to eating habits... also, the tooth patterns in the skulls help in identifing what and how they ate. Could dinosaurs have used stone to grind up the greenery that the consumed? Of course, some did. Were dinosaur warm-blooded, again of couse they have to be, is some cases. What about blood pressure in and 80 ton land animal are all and more of the questions posed in this book.

If you read this book it will pose questions about dinosaurs, but also, it will give plausable answers. What follows in the story is a journey to the Gobi and the find of the dinosaur Xanadu. The story enfolds the paleontolical lessons that can be appreciated and compares life today with that of long ago making a greater triumph for the history of life.

Interesting, educational, and fascinating in detail of a life long ago past.

Rating:
Summary: An essential update
Review: Growing up in New York with the American Museum, I was an early dino fan. I made my parents get all the dinosaur books I could find, and they all had three pictures in common. The first was a poor Brontosaur being killed by an Allosaur (preferably squashing said Allosaur in it's death throes). The second was a Tyrranosaur and Triceratops locked in combat through eternity (said Triceratops preferably avenging the death of an innocent duckbill at the jaws of said Tyrranosaur). And the third was always a Protoceratops defending it's eggs from a vicious Oviraptor - the third in the unholy carnivorous dinosaur trinity, because we had never heard of Velociraptor/Utahraptor.

This was only twenty years ago, and recent discoveries have turned this whole third scenario on it's head.

The American Museum's expeditions to Mongolia have changed everything we know about Oviraptor. This one is a must for all dinosaur fans, taking us through what the expedition has learned about Mongolian dinosaurs since the seventies and describing the harrowing conditions that the expedition had to face.

Rating:
Summary: So You Want To Be A Paleontologist
Review: Michael Novacek's Dinosaurs Of The Flaming Cliffs is an excellent introduction to paleontological fieldwork and expeditions AND to the science of paleontology. The chapters alternate between the trials and tribulations of each new field season and the basics of geology, paleontology, and evolutionary theory. There is the occasional minor error [which I cannot relocate and since I just read a copy of the hardback, I cannot say if those errors have been corrected in the paperback], but these do not distract from the overall excellence of the book. This book predates the confirmation of the discovery of the end of the Cretaceous impact crater in the Yucatan, so the discussion on the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous will seem a little out of date to the knowledgable reader. I look forward to reading Time Traveler, Novaceks newest book. I highly recommend Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs to any fan of paleontology.

Rating:
Summary: So You Want To Be A Paleontologist
Review: Michael Novacek's Dinosaurs Of The Flaming Cliffs is an excellent introduction to paleontological fieldwork and expeditions AND to the science of paleontology. The chapters alternate between the trials and tribulations of each new field season and the basics of geology, paleontology, and evolutionary theory. There is the occasional minor error [which I cannot relocate and since I just read a copy of the hardback, I cannot say if those errors have been corrected in the paperback], but these do not distract from the overall excellence of the book. This book predates the confirmation of the discovery of the end of the Cretaceous impact crater in the Yucatan, so the discussion on the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous will seem a little out of date to the knowledgable reader. I look forward to reading Time Traveler, Novaceks newest book. I highly recommend Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs to any fan of paleontology.

Rating:
Summary: Mongolian fieldwork, but concentrate, here comes the science
Review: This book brings to the reader the thrill of discovery. Mike Novacek takes you along beside him as he makes some of this century's biggest discoveries and then sends you back in time to the Gobi when dinosaurs, lizards and early mammals lived and died together. If your passion is palaeontology, or you are just merely interested in prehistoric life, this book is a must.

Rating:
Summary: Good for armchair travelers and dino fans alike
Review: Two books in one: a look at the Cretaceous inhabitants of the Gobi, and an adventure narrative of the archaeological teams that study them. Read this to get a feeling of what it's like to be a field archaeologist in one of the most remote desert areas in the world.