Time Traveler: In Search of Dinosaurs and Other Fossils from Montana to Mongolia

by Michael Novacek

Book Overview

"A superb introduction to paleontology as it really is and how it is done, from fish to dinosaur, bird, and mammal." --Edward O. Wilson Michael Novacek, a renowned paleontologist who has discovered... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374278806
• ISBN13: 9780374278809
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

fascinating and well written

My freshman year in college, I decided to indulge my interest in dinosaurs and earth history by taking a *rocks for jocks* geology class. It was fascinating. I learned (and sadly haven't really retained) all kinds of info on rock formations, evolution, and paleontology. When I read the excerpts of this book a few months ago, I noted the author and bought the book when it came out. Novacek is a world famous paleontologist who takes us on a journey of his past field work and interweaves that with info on the animals whose bones he uncovers along with the geology of the sites he's worked. He also throws in some hilarious stories of adventures in fossil hunting that make me quite happy to stay home and leave the actual travels to him. "Time Traveler illuminates some of the most exciting issues in current paleontology-- dinosaur and mammal evolution, continental drift, mass extinctions, and new methods for understanding ancient environments and the geologic time scale. By revisiting our planet's past and his own, Novacek teaches us how to understand the prospects for the future not only of paleontology but of our global ecosystem." I will say that if you only have a glancing interest in this type of material, this book would probably bore you to tears but if it's something that intrigues you, you might find it as fascinating as I did.

A magnificent memoir from a revered scientist.

This book is a must-read for any aspiring paleontologist. Novacek's clarity is unparalled in science narrative. He tells his stories in the same lively manner that you would expect to hear from an old friend around a camp fire. You feel as if you are on expedition with Novacek himself.Unlike many accomplished scientists who are not professors (Novacek is with the American Museum of Natural History, not a university), he is able to pontificate in a relevant manner for the scientist and the lay-person alike.This book is less about dinosaurs and more about being a dinosaur hunter. If this perspective interests you, you can't beat this book.Most shocking, is the fluid and crisp prose with which you are engaged. Career writers and authors should envy Novacek's writing abilities. I recently finished _Prey_, a novel by Michael Crichton, and its writing was inferior to Novacek's. This alone should earn him a nomination for one of the yearly science-writing awards.

The Making of a Paleontologist

After Michael Novacek wrote _Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs_, a very successful non-specialist account of his fossil-hunting expeditions in Mongolia, he found that readers told him that they especially enjoyed his descriptions of the expeditions and life in the field, perhaps even more than the substantial paleontology he included. With that in mind, he has now written _Time Traveler: In Search of Dinosaurs and Ancient Mammals from Montana to Mongolia_ (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux), which does not scrimp on scientific information, but still consists mostly of stories about how paleontologists do what they do. Interested in fossils even as a boy, in graduate school he got interested in extinct insectivores, which are now represented by hedgehogs, shrews, and moles, but which were much more diverse in the past. Novacek admits that these aren't the showiest of ancient animals: "they might be more aptly called vermin than beasts." But in an evolutionary sense, they have vast importance; from such shrewlike creatures came rodents, bats, elephants, whales, and of course, humans. He shows us what sort of work he has done on the creatures, and why it has been important.The book's main attraction is his stories of field work all over the world. They are told with good humor, and occasionally with forgiveness. He starts as a novice, worried that the graduate students are going to play tricks on him, and eventually ends up leading expeditions himself, to Baja, Mongolia, the Andes, and Yemen. Reading these tales makes one realize that there truly must be a fantastically strong appeal for this sort of work, if Novacek still likes it after all the difficulties he experienced, from mildly irritating to potentially lethal. "Our hands were swollen and blistered from swinging sledges all day, and our backs were sore from cradling heavy plaster blocks as we climbed the steep slope back to the vehicles. The work was hard. But I liked the routine, I felt useful; we were a chain gang in the service of science." There are a few tales worthy of Indiana Jones, like how his party is ominously detained by the militia in Yemen. In the Andes, he is tangled in the stirrup of a horse and dragged down painfully, temporarily ruining his legs. He is bitten in the groin by the world's most deadly scorpions in Baja. He discovers that a desert can bloom into swarms of insects denser than that in a rain forest because they are attracted to sweat. There are bar fights. Shrapnel from a colleague's hammer on a specimen severs one of his arteries. "As some of my college mates would say, `It's a lot of trouble for a few old bones.'"Novacek's animated tales and explanations of how he has done his work give genuine insight into his passion. He has included lots of real science here about plate tectonics, evolution, and much more. For those who never graduated beyond childhood dinomania, it will tell them what they missed. Best of all, this book ought to be in the hands

A Wild and Wonderful Journey...

I picked up Time Traveler completely on a whim the other day. Normally I am a reader of fiction and poetry, but the cover caught my eye and I decided to take a chance on a scientific writing. Was I surprised? Yes. Thrilled even, by the fantastic, ebullient style, the interesting tales and the creative manner in which Dr. Novacek integrated science and adventure. For the most part you'llfeel like you're reading a great novel, then you remember that all of the events really happened and the author is here to tell the tale... his brushes with death are numerous and never fail to get the heart pounding (a great workout in itself!!) Best of all, I came away with a basic scientific understanding of the expeditions themselves - how to pick a location and the reasons why certain fossils are (or aren't) found there (I can't wait to startsearching in my own backyard!) The geography of remote places like the Chilean Andes and Yemen is clarified by maps interspersed throughout the book. Dr. Novacek writes in a way that presents information to the novice and the professional alike - and the reader is left neither confused nor thirsting for more... A great read whether you're in the biz or not.

Thrilling Account of Fossil Hunter

After reading Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs (Dr. Novacek's vivid account of his Mongolian expeditions), I was eager for more. Happily, Time Traveler does not disappoint and I devoured every page of this exuberant romp through the world of fossil hunting. Follow Novacek around the globe as he escapes a cave full of poisonous snakes, gets dragged over rugged mountains by a skittish horse, attends a rather curious party in the middle of Yemen, and, oh yeah, finds some incredible fossils along the way. His adventures as a paleontologist are sure to inspire anyone, young or old, to travel to the far corners of the globe in search of the past and the present. The illustrations and especially the maps are extremely useful, and always seem to pop up right when you need them. Although the book focuses primarily on Novacek's expeditions, he takes great care describing in layman's terms the scientific ideas behind his pursuits. I would recommend this to anyone with a taste for adventure - especially those who fear there is nothing left to discover on our planet. Time Traveler is sure to excite both armchair and professional explorers alike.