The Dinosaur Hunters: A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World by Deborah Cadbury
Final Rating: 5/5
“We know not the millionth part of the wonders of this beautiful world.”
I have a confession: I’ve secretly always wanted to be a Paleontologist but the healthcare field was the first to accept me, so now I just contently read about portions of “former worlds” that have and are still waiting to be discovered. I’m not afraid to admit, I kept my childhood collection of fossils and unusual stones after all these years. That wonder and interest never seem to diminish in any capacity and if you are like me and get excited when a new dinosaur is unearthed and named in the news or still look for interesting rocks when you are in the garden then you will enjoy The Dinosaur Hunters: A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World.
In this completely memorizing work Ms Cadbury takes the reins and invites the reader to take a comprehensive journey into the 19th century and experience: the dawning of incredible discoveries, consuming obsessions, distinct examples of eccentricities of genius minds, unrelenting greed and a New Year's Eve society dinner in the belly of an Iguanodon. You may think that this class of topics would be hard to follow but surprisingly this book captures the reader’s full attention and explains complicated theories and technical-scientific specifics in a very friendly manner that makes this title an absolute joy to read and a polished gem for readers that love relics of history, 19th-century England and historic individuals you would like to add to the list of answers to that fun question: If you could invite three people (living or dead) to dinner, who would you choose? Well after finishing this impressive book, I would be honoured if Mary Anning and Dr Gideon A. Mantell would sit at my dinner table (the third would be Thomas Andrews, Jr. but that name pertains to a completely separate subject of history). The brilliant contributions to the advancement of geology and palaeontology these mentioned two are shown in this title to have given are just amazing and if you have never heard of Mary Anning or Dr Gideon A. Mantell please pick up a copy or purchase Cadbury’s The Dinosaur Hunters: A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World. After reading you will never forget their names or this fascinating book.
This work is also published under the title TERRIBLE LIZARD: The First Dinosaur Hunters and the Birth of a New Science US version/ review from UK version *text only