The Dinosaur Hunters

by Deborah Cadbury

In "The Dinosaur Hunters" Deborah Cadbury recreates the remarkable story of the bitter rivalry between two Gideon Mantell uncovered giant bones in a Sussex quarry, became obsessed with the lost world of the reptiles and was driven to despair. Richard Owen, a brilliant anatomist, gave the extinct creatures their name and secured for himself unrivalled international acclaim.

Genres: History, Science, Nonfiction, Dinosaurs, Palaeontology, Natural History, Biography

374 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Deborah Cadbury is an award-winning British author and BBC television producer specialising in fundamental issues of science and history, and their effects on modern society.
After graduating from Sussex University in Psychology and Linacre College, Oxford she joined the BBC as a documentary maker and has received numerous international awards, including an Emmy, for her work on the BBC's Horizon strand.

She is also the highly-acclaimed author of The Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, The Feminisation of Nature, The Dinosaur Hunters, The Lost King of France and Space Race.

(Source: Wikipedia, HarperCollins)

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping account of the men (and few women) who first figured out what's up with the dinosaurs. This book not only offers some great scientific information on what dinosaurs are, what eras they lived in and a lot (A LOT) of information about bones, but it also deals with the people behind the science, the driving forces of knowledge. Ultimately, its main event is the clash between Richard Owen (not so good of a guy) and Gideon Mantell (comparatively a very good guy). Easy reading but packed with interesting morsels of brain food, I'd recommend this to all the curious nerds out there.

[Elentarri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brisk, informative and interesting narrative history of obsession, ambition, jealousy, pride and social climbing that resulted in the discovery of dinosaurs and the upheaval of existing beliefs. Cadbury makes use of the 19th century discovery of dinosaurs in England, and the intense personal and scientific rivalry between Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen, as a means to illustrate the the development of the scientific disciplines of Palaeontology and Geology, not to mention the fundamental shift in understanding of the Earth's history that challenged long-held biblical-centred beliefs about creation and man's place in it. The book uses the personal diaries and letters of figures like Mantell, Owen, and Rev. William Buckland, and Mary Anning to enrich the narrative. It does make me wonder how far/faster discoveries and elucidations would have progressed, if everyone (especially Richard Owen) was more inclined to work together.

[Dfordoom · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Dinosaur Hunters Deborah Cadbury skilfully weaves together the story of the gradual unravelling of the mystery of dinosaur fossils with the story of one of the great scientific rivalries of the 19th century. When the first dinosaur fossils were found nobody knew what they were. Since they belonged to animals that had no exact modern counterparts it was difficult to know exactly how to piece together a whole creature from fragmentary remains. Even deciding which bones belonged to which creature was a puzzle. Two men who made an enormous contribution to the solving of these enigmas were Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen. Mantell was a doctor but fossils were his great love and his contribution was made at great personal cost. Owen was a man of considerable talent and immense ambition, and was burdened with few scruples. As far as Owen was concerned there was only room for one hero in this story and he intended to make certain it would be him. If that meant that Mantell would miss out on the recognition that was his due that was too bad. Victorian scientists were certainly a colourful lot, and Dean Buckland, who also plays an important early role in the story, was as colourful and eccentric as any. Another fascinating supporting character in the saga is Mary Anning, a working-class woman with no formal training whatsoever who just happened to have a phenomenal talent for finding fossils.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really interesting book that reveals a lot about the work of Britain's first paleontologists. Richard Owen doesn't come off well having been revealed as a bully who was not above abusing his position to do his rivals down or helping himself to their work. Which makes his downfall at the hands of Huxley and Darwin all the more sweet.

[Kamil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rat race in science never been more visible (mentally and physically) than in 19th century! Imagine you creating something from nothing, every discovery gives you goosebumps and makes you feel valuable, and you know that for all cost you must be the first one to tell it to the world. In this very informative book we can experience a huge amount of knowledge which was put by scientists of those times into both - paleontology and geology. Also we can get know a little bit more about scientists themselves - their life, work, greed for fame. From dust, stone and rocks they dug creatures which burns minds of humanity till now and were much precious than all gems of the world.

[Laurie Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dark horse favorite of 2017!

Typical. I plucked this out of a "Free Books" bin at the library; anticipating it might be dull, set it aside to look at a later —little knowing until I did, I’d actually saved the best for last.

Oh yes, it does present a thorough history of 19th century “undergroundology.” But the title really means what it says, and—as seems only appropriate, being a Dickens era tale—it’s all about the characters.

Mary Anning – The most remarkable. A “dull child,” born in poverty, after a near-death experience in which she is struck by lightning, she becomes suddenly lively, intelligent - “the greatest fossilist the world ever knew.”*

William Buckland – The most fun. A merry eccentric, he keeps snakes, frogs, guinea pigs, a jackal and a bear in his rooms in Christ Church, Oxford. Mary’s first patron, he remains her loyal supporter and avid fund-raiser throughout her life.

Gideon Mantell – The Tragic Hero. Mantell is a physician whose responsibilities conflict with his fossil-collecting. His whole life is dogged by domestic discord, excruciating spinal pain and one-upmanship from his despised arch-rival:

Richard Owen – Stand aside, Quilp. The worst kind of Villain! Owen is a fine scholar, but he lies, cheats, steals (others’ research), ruins careers and always succeeds in coming up roses with the Queen, the Church and anyone else (including Dickens!) who happens to count.

Charles Darwin – A Nervous Nelly. Fearing public response to his book, Origin of Species, he retreats to his rural home “writhing on his sick bed, fearing persecution,” leaving one of “the Devil’s Disciples,” Thomas Henry Huxley, to lead the charge against “parson-led science.”

Thomas Henry Huxley – The Bravest. Owen finally meets his match! It is worth reading the entire book just to witness the scene in which Huxley socks it to Owen’s mouthpiece, Samuel Wilberforce, at the annual meeting for the British Association for the Advancement of Science on June 30, 1860. (The furore was such that “Lady Brewster fainted and had to be carried out.”) My hero!

It wouldn’t surprise me if any one of these people turned up in a Dickens book. A fan of at least two of them, he allegedly pleaded with Richard Owen to write zoological articles for his journal Household Words, and, following her death in 1847, wrote about Mary Anning in All the Year Round: “the carpenter’s daughter has won a name for herself, and deserved to win it.”

My only quibble with the work is that the author includes a bit too much description of lizards’ teeth for my tastes, and, for all her meticulous research, seems to attribute Gideon Mantell’s spinal condition to his physical labours, instead of its root cause: a very severe case of lumbar scoliosis.

Reviewed April 30, 2018

* British Journal of the History of Science, vol. 28 (1995), p. 257-84; author, Hugh Torrens

[Kathrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant read for anyone interested in fossils and dinosaurs. The author outlines the complex and many sided history of interpreting the fossil records but does not neglect the personal, social and economic factors in play. This makes it fascinating to read and ensures the period characters come alive. It also reveals the fascinating (and slightly scary) rivalries of science. Also really great to read a history book where the contribution of women are not ignored but included. Now I want to learn more about Mary Anning.

[Kamala · Rating 4 out of 5]

i did not expect to like the book as much, as i did!

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several years ago, I read Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything which I thought was a great introduction to science and the history of the earth. Included in this book was a section on the quibbling and antagonism between Professors Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh over the discovery and credit for discovering various species of dinosaurs. After reading this, I bought a copy of Terrible Lizard which I thought would give more insight into the feud between Cope and Marsh. However, this book is about the earlier discovery of dinosaurs although Cope and Marsh are briefly mentioned towards the end of the book.

This account tells the story of the discovery of the great lizards from antiquity back in the early 19th century. In 1812, a young girl named Mary Anning discovered a crocodile-like skeleton in the cliffs of Dorset, England. This attracted scholars who tried to determine what the skeleton was and to find more ancient fossils. One of the first to jump in the fray was the Reverend William Buckland who tried to use Mary's and other fossils to understand the world before the deluge of Noah and to prove the accuracy of Genesis as told in the Bible. Then another amateur naturalist, Gideon Mantell, found giant petrified bones in Sussex which were part of one of the first discovered huge dinosaurs, the Iguanodon. Mantell, a country doctor pursued the quest of knowledge of these fossils above all else resulting in a loss of most of his family and his medical practice but he was one of the leaders in the field at the time. Then along came Richard Owen who used Mantell's work to try to take credit for discovering the dinosaurs, a term he coined. Buckland and Owen tried to fit in the various geological finds with the Bible and divine creation but later Darwin's Origin of Species was published which was in conflict with their theories and later became the accepted scientific theory.

This book was packed with scientific information on early geology and discovery. Some of it was kind of dry reading but overall I found the story to be quite fascinating. The book makes you root for Mantell and casts Owen as a real narcissist who is only seeking glory for himself at the expense of others. Good stuff!

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally picked this book up last year, after visiting Lyme Regis, in the hope of learning more about Mary Anning and her fossil discoveries in Lyme that paved the way for the 'discovery' of the dinosaurs. Sadly, she features very little in this book - it is very much more about the British scientists who first began to examine fossils with a scientific eye, with an attempt to classify them and place them in an historical and geological spectrum.

Obviously fossils had long been scientific curiosities, and in other places around the world giant bones and skeletons had been emerging from the earth for centuries. But it wasn't really until the advent of the science of geology that scientists began to examine what remains of creatures embedded within rock actually meant, what the different layers of rock signified about different eras in history, and how this new fossil record cast doubt on the Biblical explanation of human history. Two British scientists were at the forefront of these discoveries - Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen, the latter being the man who coined the term 'dinosaur'.

This book is written very much as an account of the scientific progress and rivalry of these two men - Mantell the earlier, unheralded discoverer of many of the most significant fossil finds, Owen the man who built on (and in some cases stole, or at the very least heavily plagiarised) Mantell's discoveries to achieve wealth, esteem and scientific recognition for himself. Owen is very much the villain in this book! Other well-known figures from 19th century science make an appearance - Mary Anning, who found the first ichthyosaurus skeleton that began the whole affair; Charles Lyell; Charles Darwin; William Buckland; Georges Cuvier.

It was an interesting read, although not quite the book I was hoping for. Knowing next to nothing about, and with even less interest in, geology, rock strata and scientific classification, I found this a bit tedious on occasion, but the human interest of the narrative kept me reading.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book if you love dinosaurs, are curious how the paleontology field developed and the conflicts in the geological community. This book knows how to add lovely humanising details, so you can really understand and feel the passion that some of these great men had for their fossils, I just love the idea of Gideon Mantell going to the quarry with his (soon-to-be?) wife and hunting for fossils together. This book also has no issue, with adding fairly detailed science/reasoning for how each theory existed, which at no fault of its own, is difficult to conceptualise if you've never looked at how different vertabrae are fused. Great book, I hope to go to the natural history museum soon.

P.S richard owen is a dipshit

[Nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Auch wenn das Ganze nicht der wissenschaftlichen Form entsprach (ich hätte mir Quellenangaben zu Zitaten geüwnscht, u.a.) und sich eher wie ein Krimi las, fand ich malte das Buch eine spannende Welt der Entstehung der Paläontologie (damals Geologie genannt). Einiges war mir bereits bekannt, anderes neu. Und der Umstand dass die Erforschung urzeitlicher Funde erst aktiv seit ca 200 Jahren stattfindet, beeindruckt mich wirklich. So lange ist das noch nicht aber umso beeindruckender ist die Leistung von Mantell und den anderen Pionieren der Forschung.

Wer sich für Dinosaurier und die ersten Gehversuche auf dem Gebiet der Klassifiziereung interessiert, dabei keine 100% wissenschaftliche Abhandlung möchte, dem kann ich das Buch empfehlen.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dug this. It's mostly about Gideon Mantell, the guy who first recognized dinosaurs for (more or less) what they are. Its setting lets it include information about dinosaurs themselves as well as the rise of the idea of evolution in the 19th century and the furor it caused. It's an entertaining read on top of that, so it has an awful lot going for it. The "villain," Richard Owen, is like the 19th-century version of David Attenborough except that Attenborough isn't a dick. The book isn't as much about the conflict between Mantell and Owen as it claims to be - Owen doesn't even show up until around halfway through - but the point is valid.

[G.R. Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about discovery, but also about those who made the leaps of intelligence and reason. The author's research is detailed and there is an underlying sadness for the fate of some of those forgotten pioneers.

It may be a book about dinosaurs, but at its heart it is a book that revels in the human potential to think and reason.

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book is well researched and written, historically informative, and entertaining, it is also skewed to support evolutionary theory. If you read aware of the flawed arguments often used by proponents of the evolution theory, the slant shouldn't do more than annoy and sadden you.

The story of the rivalry between Mantell and Owen is really very sad. I can only imagine what more they could have discovered if Owen had been able to set aside his predatory ambition and work with Mantell to reveal the glory of God in the fossil record.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book about the discovery of the prehistoric world! Although Cadbury focuses on the scientific rivalry between Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen, she provides a fascinating account of how people in the early 19th century reacted to fossil discoveries and coped with the revelation of an ancient (and apparently violent) prehistoric landscape.

[Simon Nørgaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I was brave enough to get a tattoo, it would say "Gideon Mantell".

[Brent L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, principally following the lives of Mary Anning, William Buckland, Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen. These four individuals were instrumental in creating the study of palaeontology in 1800s Britain.

All of the people unearthing and writing about dinosaur bones had conflicts with the established worldview of the early 1800s. The religious establishment frequently did not want to accept conclusions drawn from the bones about the age of the earth, creation of species, and extinction events.

The church was not the only difficulty facing them. Anning was perpetually impoverished and did not receive the recognition she should have. Mantell was struck by tragedies in his personal life, and also wanted for funds. Owen was more fortunate for most of his life but he used his prestige in a viciously petty way to tear down Mantell's work; before he himself was eclipsed by Darwin in the academic world. The efforts of Buckland to reconcile the fossil record with the Book of Genesis may have driven him insane.

Despite these obstacles they persevered and continued to advance the study of dinosaurs as long as they were able. It is a good thing to remember them.

[Nimue Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A glimpse into the ideas, and alien world view of the 1800s. This book is as interesting for its insights into human history as it is for the dinosaur content. You need to like fossils as much as you like mad scientists of old to really get on with this book. Back when geology was undergroundology and Mary Annings thought she was was finding crocodile remains in Lyme Regis, the Bible was the absolute authority on the history of the world. Working out that the world is a lot older and that now-extinct creatures once roamed it was nothing short of a revolution in thinking. A revolution that, more than a hundred years on, an embarrassing number of people on the Christian right are still in denial about.

I suspect I shall be borrowing ideas from this one for future Professor Elemental adventures.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very readable introduction to the discovery of dinosaurs in England in France during the Victorian times and the ramification of the discovery on beliefs.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of the 19th century scientific rivalry surrounding the discovery and interpretation of dinosaur fossils. Puts the action of "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier in its historical and scientific context.

[Nick Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to an audio adaptation read by Emma Fielding. Naturalist Gideon Mantell and anatomist Richard Owen feud over the uncovering of the prehistoric world as Charles Darwin waits to publish the revolutionary The Origin of Species.

[Ryan A. Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

With The Dinosaur Hunters: A True Story of the Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World, Deborah Cadbury presents the early history of paleontological study through the driving figures of the era.

Despite presenting itself as mainly a struggle between Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen it does not neglect the impact of others. Especially their predecessors in the fossil hunters along what would later be called the Jurassic Coast in England, including Mary Anning whose discoveries were essential to the work that came later. It is as much concerned with the personalities that make the discoveries and the politics that come with interpreting them as it is with which part of what dinosaur was found in where and when. The struggles of those most dedicated to research as they face the realities of having to live in such a class and gender stratified society. Whether it be Anning’s inability to join the Royal Society because of her sex or Mantell having to juggle his duties as a medical doctor with its interest in the ancient world, to an increasing distance from his wife and children.

These details are more concerned with the history of the science than with the science itself. In that respect the prehistoric creatures, or to be more specific, their fossils, are just drivers of the actions of the personalities with little exploration given to the creatures. Unlike in Cadbury’s later Space Race where the subject of the science is really given a far more equitable treatment with the personalities researching it. In that respect, The Dinosaur Hunters could perhaps be called a Great Man history with breakthroughs in research being the result of dedicated investigators despite, rather than because of, the wider trends of the eras in which they live. For instance, each time someone comes across something that seems to contradict the history of Earth as given in the Bible it feels like the first time such a conflict has been presented in the book, as opposed to something that was being theorised outside the paleontological bubble.

However, this Great Man version of the early development of palaeontology manages to be effective and engaging because we learn of the struggles and conflicts its subject personalities go through at the time. As time wears on it becomes more and more about Owen’s runaway success and Mantell’s comparative slide into obscurity. There is something very Mozart/Salieri about this conflict, and from the brief snippets we do get about how Owen’s theories would be superseded by subsequent research it seems Mantell is the one vindicated by history. Owen is not portrayed exclusively in a negative light, the importance of his pushing for a Natural History Museum, features in the last chapters of the book, long after Mantell and many of their predecessors are already long deceased. It does end on a note that these early studies and the conflict over them are just the first few chapters of the science, and that there is so much more still to come when Owen died in 1892.

The Dinosaur Hunters is a well-told history of early palaeontological study framed in the rivalry between two of its prominent early experts. It is not just the story of two men, but the story of the lives of many men and women more than their discoveries.

[Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

“De vackra ammoniterna, som på den lokala dialekten kallades ‘cornemonius’, vilka med sina eleganta vindlingar påminde om en hoprullad orm, gick också under beteckningen ‘ormstenar’. Man gissade vilt om vad stenarna var för något. Längre tillbaka i tiden tillskrev man dem magiska krafter och de användes även för att ge orakelsvar. Ammonitfossil kunde, trodde man, utgöra ‘skydd mot ormar och vara ett läkemedel mot blindhet, impotens och ofruktsamhet’. Ibland målades ett ormhuvud på fossilet och det användes därefter som en lyckobringande amulett. Men ‘ormstenar’ symboliserade inte alltid lycka och välgång. I vissa trakter trodde man att fossilen ursprungligen var människor, som efter att ha begått brott först förvandlades till ormar för att därefter förstenas.”

“Förutom fossil, som bokstavligt talat låg kringströdda på varje ledig plats, och uppstoppade djur, hade professor Buckland också ett antal ovanliga husdjur. Det fanns lådor fyllda av ormar och grodor i matsalen, där stearinljusen var placerade i ryggkotorna från en Ichtyosaurus. Marsvin rörde sig fritt på hans kontor. Walter Stanhope, lektor vid Oxford, beskrev ett besök i Bucklands hem: ‘Jag var noga med att lägga benen på soffan eftersom jag var rädd att bli biten av en schakal som strövade runt i rummet. Efter ett tag hörde jag hur djuret tuggade i sig något under soffan och var lättad över att schakalen hade något att sysselsätta sig med. Jag berättade för Buckland vad som stod på. ‘Mina stackars marsvin!’ utbrast han, och vid det laget hade schakalen redan tuggat i sig fyra eller fem av dem. Men det mest praktfulla djuret i Bucklands menageri var en björn som fått det storslagna namnet Tiglath Pileser, efter grundaren av det assyriska kejsardömet i Gamla testamentets konungabok. Till skillnad från sin namne, som var ökänd för sin brutala bestraffning av motståndare, var björnen Tiglath ‘tam och ömsint’. Buckland gick så långt att han till och med försåg björnen med en studentinformation. Iklädd denna mundering deltog björnen fullt ut i studentlivet, särskilt dryckeslagen.”

“Igelkotten var ett experiment som smakade gott, och både Liebig och jag tyckte att köttet var mört och bra. Vid ett annat tillfälle minns jag en rätt av krokodilkött, som var helt misslyckad - fastän filosoferna tog en bit i munnen förmådde de inte svälja. De spottade ut tuggan och förkastade maten i hårda ordalag.”

“Ironiskt nog, och kanske lite motbjudande, sändes Mantells skadade ryggrad till Royal College of Surgeons, där den placerades i Owens museum. Hans brutna ryggrad förvandlades till en patologiskt utställningsföremål i en behållare med konserveringsvätska på en hylla i Hunterian Museum.”

“Enligt kyrkans doktrin hade Gud skapat människan till sin avbild. Om darwinismens teser var korrekta, skulle det innebära att Gud var en apa - en ytterst hädisk tanke.”

“Gideon Mantells egen ryggrad, som till följd av hans skador var makabert förvriden, var under närmare ett århundrade utställd hos Royal College of Surgeons. Ryggraden var dessutom ämne för en och annan vetenskaplig artikel i patologi om deformationer i ryggraden. År 1926 monterades föremålet om, beskrevs och katalogiserades noggrant. Några år senare, under andra världskriget, utplånades Mantells ryggrad under en tysk bombräd mot London.”

[Brendan Newport · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deborah Cadbury's The Dinosaur Hunters is a definitive history of the very beginnings of paleontology, though for many decades that term wasn't employed, with the study of ancient fossils coming under the discipline of 'geology'.

The joy of this book its focus on the main characters. Mary Anning, so ludicrously mistreated by director Francis Lee in his 2020 movie, is recognised as the effective instigator of the art of dinosaur hunting. Though fossils had been found for centuries, it was Anning's findings, most notably of the Ichthyosaurus in the cliffs of Lyme which inspired the gentlemen-scientists of that century, beginning with the Reverend William Buckland.

And throughout the book, the key characters are followed. Anning of course, Buckland, Georges Cuvier, Charles Lyell and the two key ones; Gideon Mantell, the books true hero, and its 'baddie' in the form of Richard Owen. Mantell's work, both as an engaging lecturer who did so much to improve the public's comprehension of the new science and its findings, and his actual discoveries, are exquisitely detailed. Owen, despite his ultimate demise in the face of Charles Darwin and more brutally, his nemesis, Thomas Henry Huxley, is still recognised for his naming of 'dinosauria', when he realised that they were distinct from other reptiles, with some mammalian characteristics. Owen though simply didn't recognise quickly enough that Darwin's theory of natural selection was sweeping all before it.

Despite Owen's Machiavellian traits, Dinosaur Hunters emphasises just how extraordinarily polite the scientific discourse in the 19th century was conducted. Discussions and disagreements were invariably performed through written papers and letters-to-editors. No-one came to blows and conduct was expected to be gentlemanly and restrained. That of course contrasts with our 'modern' society, with its 'Cancel Culture' and established tendencies for the 'kind' element of society to send barrages of rape-and-death threats against those they determine to be satanists or Nazis, simply for not agreeing with them. And the 19th century was one of brutal existence for most, with poverty rife, no recognisable healthcare, 'transportation' to Australia for convicts, and a rigid and misogynistic class system. Yet even so, our societies cultural norms now stand-up badly against the society of 19th century England.

Illustrated throughout and with comprehensive notes and index, Cadbury's work matches any historians but with an added readability that few can match. She's a BBC TV producer, and The Dinosaur Hunters was adapted into a fictional drama by Grenada Television in 2001. Rightly, even after two decades since publication, the BBC should be rendering it into a multi-episode documentary series. Until then, we remain left with Cadbury's wonderfully written volume.

[The Final Chapter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mid 5. Cadbury has produced an excellent history of the colourful set of characters who pioneered geological research. At the outset of the nineteenth century many believed that fossils were reliable evidence for those animals which had perished in the Flood. Moreover, the commonly accepted geological age of the planet still adhered to the calculation put forward by the Archbishop of Armagh, James Ussher, who calculated in 1650 that the Earth dated from a mere 4,004 years before the birth of Christ, having amalgamated the lifespans of the biblical characters back to Adam. Yet theories were already published by the end of the previous century, most notably by James Hutton who is revered as the father of geology, that rock formations revealed strata which obviously stretched back millenia. Such theories were soon made more evident by the retrieval of fossilised creatures unknown to science, predominantly from the coastal cliffs of Lyme Regis. Cadbury introduces the reader to the remarkable figure of Mary Anning. Raised by an impoverished carpenter forced by the privations caused by the Napoleonic blockade to seek income from the recovery and sale of 'curios' from the local cliffs, Mary continued the trade to put food on the family table upon her father's untimely desth. Her most important discovery was that of an entire skeleton of an ichthyosaurus in 1812 which caused a furore in scholarly circles. The author details her efforts to collect even greater specimens which kept starvation and destitution at bay until her death from breast cancer in 1839. Though she acquired a certain notoriety, her discoveries were interpreted and gained greater fame for those to whom her exhibits were entrusted. The first answers offered as to what her discoveries entailed came from the work of a revolutionary naturalist from across the Channel. George Cuvier, the 'Napoleon of Intelligence', had survived the Terror to establish himself as the forerunner in identifying remains as those of extinct species, thereby being the first to identify and name species such as the mammoth. Yet, Cuvier regarded each species as distinct, and poured scorn on the ideas championed by his contemporary, Jean Baptiste Lamarck, who postulated that all animal species were derived from one genealogical tree and that 'transmutation' occured as species adapted to the circumstances of their environment. When the latter published such ideas in 1809 they were met with intense hostility. Such radical interpretations found no other champion in England either, where geological investigation was largely unco-ordinated,and unwilling to counter biblical interpretations. Though amateur experts sought out Mary Anning, the extent of her contribution was not acknowledged in the scolarly debate. This debate still sought above all else to reconcile fossil discoveries with biblical text. Cadbury's greatest gift to her readership is revealing the debt owed to Gideon Mantell. Like Mary Anning he was of humble origins, being the son of a mere Suffolk cobbler, and shared her her passion for fossils. Studying to become a doctor, he became greatly influenced by James Parkinson, who aside from being the first doctor to define the degenerative`disease which bears his name, inspired the young man in his quest to unravel the geological secrets to the`planet's distant past. However, his humble background served to block all acceptance of his theories that giant lizards once roamed prehistoric lands, and it wouldnt be till his ideas were confirmed by Cuvier in 1824 that the scientific community embraced his 'Iguanadon' and enabled his admitance to the Royal Society. The same year that mantell finally acquired such acclaim, his nemesis, Richard Owen, would arrive in the capital. Son of a northern draper, who had amassed a personal fortune in trade with the West Indies, Owen was trained as an anatomist and would stop at nothing including theft of body parts to further his knowledge. Owen seemed to be born with an innate capacity to foment relationships with those who could influence and smooth his rise to prominence, and to exploit simply being in the right place at the right time. Thus, he was able to take advantage of having a French mother to act as translator to a visiting Cuvier and cultivate a close friendship with the eminent geologist. As Cadbury explores in detail the 1830s would witness the contrasting fortunes of Mantell and Owen as the former overreached himself to gain acceptance, thereby ending his marriage and having to sell his collection to the British Museum. Meanwhile, after the death of Cuvier in 1832, Owen utilised his powerful connections and his naked and ruthless pursuit of power to place himself as the natural successor to the 'Napoleon of Intelligence' by being employed to collate all knowledge then accrued on geological finds and by removing his closest rivals. Robert Grant had been considered the heir apparent, but Owen abused his ties within the Zoological Society to deny Grant access to anatomical specimens and the latter faded into obscurity and penury. Owen was determined to counter those evolutionary theories advanced by the French progressionists, who continued the school of thought first articulated by Lamarck. Yet, in doing so he both criticised and plagiarised previous research by Mantell which led to a continual professional rivalry from 1841 onwards. This mutual animosity was heightened by Owen's use of his predecessors' compiling of fossil evidence to advance his own coining of 'Dinosaurus' for the reptiles thus discovered. Mantell struggled to acquire acknowledgment of the debt owed to his research by Owen and was struck by a tragic accident in October 1841 when travelling by carriage through Clapham Common - his coachman lost control of ther horses and the amateur geologist was dragged under the wheels and severely damaged his spine. Driven to excessive use of opiates to combat excruciating pain Mantell would die of narcotic poisoning in November 1852. Cadbury revels the ghoulish fact that his deformed spine would be donated to the Royal College of Surgeons and find its way into the museum collection under the auspices of Owen. Though deceased, Owen's bitterness towards his rival extended to the barbed nature of his ill-advised published obituary for Mantell. The attempt to hide beyond anonymity failed and cost Owen the presidency of the Geological Society. Yet Owen's greatest legacy in establishing the Natural History Museum lay ahead. So wrapped up was he in promoting this venerable institution, that he failed to fully comprehend the threat to creationist thought that Darwin's 'Origin of the Species' posed in 1859. Despite the fact that Owen had gradually shifted his opinion on the subject of creation, he still could not envisage Nature's works without seeing the guiding hand of God. The author reveals that in an ironic twist of fate, Owen found himself under intense criticism from the young pretender to his throne, Thomas Henry Huxley, and his ideas were rapidly overtaken. Cadbury has provided what should be a lasting testimony to the achievements of these scientific pioneers and has laced her story with the tale of a dark rivalry which has for so long obscured the role played by Anning and Mantell.

[Krisz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eszméletlenül jó könyv, mindenkinek ajánlom, akit picit is érdekel a viktoriánus Anglia történelme!
Persze a dinókutatás a fő téma, de azért mégsem. Azt mondanám, ez csupán apropója ennek a jó kis korrajznak, alapos kutatás terméke ugyanis e könyv. Így élt egy birtokát, címét elvesztett család, így élt egy vidéki orvos, így élt egy brightoni herceg, így élt egy szegény lány, egy pap, egy törtető anatómus… Így szerettek egymásba emberek, így hidegültek el egymástól. Így köttettek barátságok, így születtek az ellenségek. Zseniális.
Gyönyörűen, logikusan és időrendben látjuk, mi mikor, miért és hogyan történt. Miért volt egy felfedezés fontos, mely felfedezés minek köszönhető, hogyan jött rá egy-egy ember valamire. Páratlan elemző munka kristálytiszta eredménye ez a könyv. Cseppet részrehajló – de ezt nem vetem Cadbury szemére, azt gyanítom, Owenről sokkal lesújtóbb képet formálhatott a kézirat első verziójában!
A sztori dióhéjban: az 1800-as évek legelején Mary Anning, apja nyomdokait követve, talált egy óriási őshalcsontvázat, sokan felfigyeltek erre és jöttek az ötletek, élhetett-e az ember, az emlős előtt olyan állat a Földön, ami kihalt. Gideon Mantell vidéki orvost nagyon érdekelte mindez, rengeteg leletet gyűjtött, saját múzeumot rendezett be és teóriákat gyártott, élete alkonyán felvették a Királyi Társaságba is és doktori címet kapott mint geológus. Ő és mások sok állatot, földtani korszakot fedeztek fel, rengeteg kacskaringó volt, mire kiderült, hogy voltak növényevő állatok is, mekkorák lehettek, volt, aki két lábon járt, voltak egészen ősi halak, trilobiták… Külön érdekesség, hogy Mantell annyira elhivatott volt, hogy egy kocsibaleset után eltört a gerince (amit csak halála után derítettek ki), mégis még évekig élt és kutatott és harcolt Robert Owennel, az anatómussal, aki másképp gondolkodott a dinókról (és azért sok mindenben igaza volt). Törött gerincét tartósítószerbe tették és kiállították (Hitler lebombázta London támadásakor).
A könyv nyelvezete is remek, olvastatja magát, elrepül az idő a 300+ olvasása közben, és van benne elég kép, hogy tudjuk, milyen állatokról van szó, hogy néztek ki az embereink.

[Kevin de Ataíde · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting window onto the scientific scene of Victorian England, with scientists battling for recognition of their pioneering work with the new fields of geology and paleontology. In this narrative, we begin with the most poor and disadvantaged Mary Anning and Gideon Mantell, who nonetheless managed to make their names, Anning as a procurer of fossils and other curios and Mantell as a gifted physician with a consuming interest in geology. Anning died in misfortune, while Mantell was able to achieve the some of the highest accolades available to the scientist in his time; having sacrificed his family for it, he was never able quite to achieve sufficient recognition for the discover and description of several dinosaurs, especially iguanodon. Unfortunately, a more privileged Richard Owen arrived on the scene to monopolise the several fields of natural science, at a time when these were still generally theistic and even creationistic. The book ends with the fall of Owen after the triumph of Darwin, as the evolutionists successfully dethroned him and destroyed his legacy. As a study of human pride and selfishness, this book delivers well, and I am left with the impression that the best character in the narrative is the Anglican cleric and dean of Westminster, William Buckland. A good and mostly balanced read that I was able to hang on to until the end.

[Tomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Short Answer
An engaging and informative look at the discovery of dinosaurs, and the political and social upheaval they caused. If you're even remotely interested in the subject, this is an absolute must read.

The Long Answer
This was an impulse purchase as I rarely read non-fiction, especially historical non-fiction. But I have a fascination with dinosaurs and was curious to see where this went. I was not disappointed. The tale is very well told, clear and easy to follow while also maintaining enough humanity to make the whole situation work.

If there was to be any complaint about this book it would be the cast of characters can be quite large at times. This isn't the author's fault as they are all very relevant to the story, but early on it can be a bit to wrap your head around. To compensate individual chapters focus much more on bite size chunks of the story. This approach is the perfect solution to this problem.

Seeing everyone's personal motivations really helps. Watching science and religion trying to work together was fascinating, and the battles of class and power were riveting. It was like reading a scientific soap opera, and I loved every second of it.

[Christopher Dove · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of how remains of dinosaurs were first discovered at the start of the 19th century and the efforts of the scientific community to make sense of what was being found and how it changed thinking about the origins of life. The book starts with Mary Anning and the fossil finds she made around Lyme Regis. However, the book mainly concerns the lives of two other pioneers of the study of the prehistoroc world - Gideon Mantell and Richard Adam. Mamtell was a doctor based in Lewes in Sussex. He was fascinated by the remains of prehistoric creatures being found in the rocks and devoted his life to trying to collect fossils and to make sense of what he was finding. It was Mantell who discovered and named the Iguanadon. His passion for fossils took its toll on his medical practice and his marriage. Richard Adam is cast as more of the villain of the narrative. Although clearly an eminent scientist and anatomist he comes across as very jealous of the success of other people. For instance, not acknowledging the extensive ground work done by Mantell. A fascinating story about the beginning of the study of dinosaurs.