Time Traveler: In Search of Dinosaurs and Other Fossils from Montana to Mongolia

Front Cover
Macmillan, Mar 15, 2003 - Nature - 368 pages

"A superb introduction to paleontology as it really is and how it is done, from fish to dinosaur, bird, and mammal." —Edward O. Wilson

Michael Novacek, a renowned paleontologist who has discovered important fossils on virtually every continent, is an authority on patterns of evolution and on the relationships among extinct and extant organisms. Time Traveler is his captivating account of how his boyhood enthusiasm for dinosaurs became a lifelong commitment to vanguard science. Novacek writes of the alluring perils of fieldwork with affection and discernment, and he illuminates the most exciting issues in paleontology today.

 

Contents

1 DINOSAUR DREAMER
3
2 THE CANYON OF TIME
12
3 EARLY EXPEDITIONS
25
4 THE PLATEAU OF THE DRAGONS
35
5 THE ROOKIES
51
6 JOURNEY OF DEATH
57
7 THE PALEONTOLOGICAL CHAIN GANG
66
8 RED ROCKS
82
17 WHALES ON MOUNTAINTOPS
182
18 A MAN AND HIS HORSE
196
19 PAMPA CASTILLO
211
20 BONE HUNTERS IN PATAGONIA
224
21 ABOVE THE CLOUDS AND THE CONDORS
234
22 THE LAND OF SHEBA
250
23 TO THE FOOT OF THE FLAMING CLIFFS
278
24 THE CRETACEOUS CORNUCOPIA
293

9 BACK TO THE BONES
89
10 THE PITS
95
11 THE AGE OF MAMMALS REVISITED
104
12 ROAD CUTS AND FOSSIL VERMIN
113
13 BADLANDS BONES AND BONE HUNTERS
123
14 HELL CREEK IS FOR DINOSAURS
136
15 THE CURIOUS BEASTS OF OLD BAJA
152
16 BAKING BELOW THE BUTTES
164
25 LAST CHANCE CANYON
314
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
323
NOTES
327
SELECTED READING LIST
351
INDEX
355
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
367
Copyright

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About the author (2003)

Michael Novacek, senior vice-president and provost of science at the American Museum of Natural History, is the author of Time Traveler, Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, and Terra. He lives in New York City.

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