Maybe you know a dino loving kid or maybe you were one. Maybe you never lost the Jurassic fever. I’m here to tell you that the adventure of digging up the ancient past, fantastic creatures, and distant worlds can be as exciting as it ever was.
Let’s start with “The Fossil Hunter,” by Shelley Emling, which recounts the life and discoveries of the young Mary Anning and the dawn of paleontology. In 1811 Mary Anning, at the age of 12, uncovered a skeleton of strange bones on England’s southern shores. The bones matched no known creatures and sparked a reckoning between science and religion throughout the Western world. Emling shares the Dickensonian tale of Anning’s start as an impoverished girl hunting trinkets (fossils) to sell to becoming the leading (if under-recognized) paleontologist of her time.
“Why Dinosaurs Matter, ” by paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Lacovara is a small, charming book chocked full of wit, facts and humor. Nestled within its pleasing facade are insightful observations and reflections on what dinosaurs have to teach us.
If you’d like to read about fossils closer to home, consider “Big Bone Lick: The Cradle of American Paleontology,” by Stanley Hedeen. Found in what is now northern Kentucky, the Big Bone Lick is a salt deposit riddled with the bones of extinct giant bison. The site has held different meanings and played different roles over time: as a source of salt for people and animals, an inspiration for legends, a curiosity for 18th and 19th century Europeans, and eventually a key to the development of modern paleontology.
While dinosaurs are fascinating for being so different and exotic, the remains of ancient human species are intriguing for their similarity to us. “Cafe Neandertal: Excavating Our Past In One of Europe’s Most Ancient Places,” by Beebe Bahrami follows archaeologists studying our ancient ancestors, giving us a front row seat at heated debates and the surprising discoveries.
Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park,” and the movie franchise that followed brought dinosaurs to life to unprecedented degree. Not surprisingly, Crichton was neither the first nor the last to bring dinosaurs into the world of fiction. What creature could possibly lend itself better to fiction? “Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur,” by Ian McDonald takes us to a dystopian future where dinosaurs are transported from the deep past and used for entertainment. Join Taz, a lonely young adult, on his quest to become a dinosaur buckaroo.
Anna North, explores themes of identity and self-actualization in the novel “Bog Queen.” Forensic anthropologist Agnes, is called in to investigate when a remarkably well-preserved body is pulled from a peat bog in northwest England. The pressure rises when the body turns out to be much, much older than anyone expected. The narrative alternates between the stories of two exceptional women, one in contemporary England and one in Celtic Europe, as they struggle to push the boundaries of what is expected of them.
Want to see more about paleontology and archeology? Check out this list of nonfiction books or this list of fiction books on paleontology and archeology.
