Note from Jen: Shirley sent this to me to post on the evening of 11/30 -- but I didn't see that email, so posting now and counting in our November totals.
Why Dinosaurs Matter by Kenneth Lacovara Audio Book: 4 hours, 30 mins. Hardback Book: 192 pages
The first new thing I learned from this book is that penguins are dinosaurs. Crocodiles, alligators, and komodo dragons which I thought likely were descendants and mutations of dinosaurs - are not. It all has to do with their skeletal structure depending on how hip sockets, etc. are either open or closed is one of the defining points in paleontology that define a creature and determine its heredity whether a dinosaur or not -that is the question. He also makes a good point of the distinction between archaeologists and paleontologists. While both study things that lived in earlier times than us by digging up the earth, it is highly regarded as insulting to their fields to lump those who study geology, those who study ancient civilizations and those who study bones and artifacts all under the category labeled archaeology. I liken it to all people who work at the Library regardless of their position being considered, “Librarians,” by folks who do not understand the difference that all employees working for a Library do not carry Library Science degrees and that the true Librarians have devoted years of their life to pursue degrees in their field. Administrative Assistants for example, are not Librarians. We love the Library. We love books and all things in Libraries which is what led us to come into a Library to get a job. Libraries make us happy but we are not Librarians unless we chose that career path and went to Library School to obtain the credentials that allow us to add LIBRARIAN to our titles. Japanese, Korean, Chinese people may have lineages of Asian ethnicity but they are each distinct cultures and not to be considered the same nationality no more than Australians and folks from New Zealand, while there may be a compatible alliance, they are two distinct countries and each has their own national pride. So it is with paleontologists, archaeologists and geologists. Between the author and Sheldon Cooper, I am learning a lot about the variousists of the world. Not to mention in this book you will be introduced to more new types of dinosaurs than you could ever imagine. Man, there have been so many new discoveries it is incredible! Author Dr. Kenneth Lacovara is a noted paleontologist himself with a number of new dinosaur discoveries and is a Scientist of note with credits to his name such as he is the founding Dean of the School of Earth & Environment, Director of the Jean and Ric Edelman Fossil Park, which he led the effort to create, he has been in Discover magazines Top 100 Scientists of the Year three times so far for his discoveries and is an elected fellow of the prestigious Explorers Club in New York just to name a few. Not too shabby on the credentials, huh? Man, this guy is good so when he says and he does say it in this book that our place on this planet is just as precarious and potentially fleeting as the dinosaurs. He echoes that oft quoted George Santayana adage that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. The forces that killed off the dinosaurs – the noxious gasses emoted from the asteroids that hit the earth are being reproduced by man today. He sees that mankind is killing off the planet and something has to be done to preserve humankind before man becomes a thing of the past like our predecessors on this planet the dynosaurs. He notes a lot of historical findings presenting his research and others showing there weren’t just the 3 ages of dinosaurs science accepted for so long – he has discovered there have actually been 5 known ages of differing species of dinosaurs on the planet with much different adaptations to their physical forms. He is still studying the information to see why some completely disappeared all together while other new forms appeared. As Spock would say, “Fascinating.” If you are a fan of the earth and dinosaurs this book will be a fountain of new information to amaze your friends and trivia buddies with. Good book. I love learning new things. Congratulations Dr. Lacovara! You rock! Or should I say, You Fossil, hmmm, maybe not.
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