I just finished this book. It was a pretty good read. I think it needed another run through by an editor. Not because it was a horrible bit of writing that was still wet between the bricks, but for the effect of tightening up bits. Some parts of the book were repetitive. Other parts were just a tad too obscure for the average reader (I'm lucky, I grew up with a palaeoanthropologist for an Aunt and she encouraged by passion for dinosaurs and paleontology big time). Is it worth the $14 I paid? Yup. Definitely. A good addition fot eh library that my kid(s) will enjoy later in life.
The book itself is divided in six sections. The first is the introduction and discusses the first finds of the extinct marine reptiles. He then delves each of the unique marine reptiles by order of evolution. Ichthyosaurs are the first up. These fish lizards are rather interesting. Equally so that they went extinct long before the KT Event. Next are the plesiosaurs. The long necked carnivores are still causing controversy on how they swam and what niche they filled. Then the pliosaurs (or short necked plesiosaurs) come up. These ones seem to be aggresive pursuit predators. Finally comes the mosasaurs. The mosasaurs are interesting because they seem to be close relatives of the varanids (modern monitor lizards including the Komodo Dragon) and they evolved late in the Cretaceous appearing only 25 million years before the KT Event. They are one of the most convincing arguments for a sharp event ending the reign of the archosaurs since they were speciating and emphatetically not in decline when they suddenly disappear. The final section is conclusion of how they all went extinct. The author is not totally convinced that the Chicxulub Impact was the killer. He doesn't fofer his own suggestions thougha s to what did kill the archosaurs and friends off.
What's missing from the book were the other great water reptiles of the age. Some of the crocodilians were HUGE and at least some were sea creatures. Additionally he completely neglects the giant sea turtles (frex Archelon) Also it would have been nice at the end of a book that he could have listed the various specimens or species that have been described with some sort of blurb about the critter that makes it unique.
At any rate, enjoy the book. Next up, Charlie Stross' Singularity Sky.
The book itself is divided in six sections. The first is the introduction and discusses the first finds of the extinct marine reptiles. He then delves each of the unique marine reptiles by order of evolution. Ichthyosaurs are the first up. These fish lizards are rather interesting. Equally so that they went extinct long before the KT Event. Next are the plesiosaurs. The long necked carnivores are still causing controversy on how they swam and what niche they filled. Then the pliosaurs (or short necked plesiosaurs) come up. These ones seem to be aggresive pursuit predators. Finally comes the mosasaurs. The mosasaurs are interesting because they seem to be close relatives of the varanids (modern monitor lizards including the Komodo Dragon) and they evolved late in the Cretaceous appearing only 25 million years before the KT Event. They are one of the most convincing arguments for a sharp event ending the reign of the archosaurs since they were speciating and emphatetically not in decline when they suddenly disappear. The final section is conclusion of how they all went extinct. The author is not totally convinced that the Chicxulub Impact was the killer. He doesn't fofer his own suggestions thougha s to what did kill the archosaurs and friends off.
What's missing from the book were the other great water reptiles of the age. Some of the crocodilians were HUGE and at least some were sea creatures. Additionally he completely neglects the giant sea turtles (frex Archelon) Also it would have been nice at the end of a book that he could have listed the various specimens or species that have been described with some sort of blurb about the critter that makes it unique.
At any rate, enjoy the book. Next up, Charlie Stross' Singularity Sky.
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