Book Review - Paleontology, An Illustrated History - Princeton University Press

 

     I don't quite remember when it was that paleontology first captured my attention, but it certainly entailed an amateur study of Archaeopteryx and all that had been written about it. I remember clearly being captivated and fascinated, and in awe that so much could be deduced from a well-preserved fossil. 

     It was probably around the same time that I was also following the intense discussions, (verging on controversy), about whether birds first took flight from the ground, or by gliding down from trees, and I was never quite sure which side I came down on!

     This impressive work by David Bainbridge covers Archaeopteryx and so much more. It presents a concise history of paleontology beginning in very ancient times when metaphysical beliefs accompanied the discovery of the remains of unknown creatures, right up to the present day.

     Along the way there are tales of skullduggery, hostility, antagonism, and conduct verging on intellectual warfare; with adventurers rivalling Indiana Jones thrown in for good measure.

     Long regarded as neither art nor science, but straddling both, paleontology coalesced into a science  in the eighteenth century.  Today it is part of an interdisciplinary suite of specializations that together enables us to look into the past with accuracy, and understand more fully the evolutionary path that humans and other more primitive organisms have travelled through time. 

     We are in fact in the golden age of paleontology with tools such as carbon dating, tomography, algorithms, mathematical reconstruction, and so on available to scientists across disciplines such as paleopathology, forensic reconstruction, evolutionary theory, diagnostic imaging, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, environmental science, climatology and even satellite imaging. The discovery of DNA and other genetic materials, and their use in interpreting fossils in precise fashion, promises to further revolutionize our understanding of the path of evolution.

     It is disturbing (in a profound way) that axiomatic truths are still widely challenged, indeed rejected, by religious fundamentalists and other fanatics who deny the validity of science (usually on their computers designed by the very scientists they dismiss), and even strive to supplant science with folklore in educational curricula. After all, why accept the evidence presented by science when you have an ancient text written by primitive peasants in other lands to reveal all!

     In my favourite sentence in the whole book  Bainbridge dismisses them with a deft touch, "Disregarding the futile distractions of creationism and its pseudoscientific rearguard battalion, "intelligent design," much remains to be discovered about how natural selection causes evolution to take place." I'll drink to that Dr. Bainbridge!

     If you have never considered picking up a book on paleontology, please change your mind. This book, written in lively prose, will both entertain and educate. How could you take issue with that?

Paleontology, An Illustrated History

Author: David Bainbridge

Hardcover - US$29.95 - ISBN 9780691220925

256 pages - 100+ colour illustrations - 6 1/8 x 9 3/4 inches (15.313 x 24.375 cm)

Publication date: 8 February 2022