What do you think?
Rate this book
Discovering the Mammoth
The fascinating saga of solving the mystery of this ancient animal who once roamed the north country—and has captivated our collective imagination ever since.
Long after the last mammoth died and was no longer part of our diet, this awe inspiring creature still played a role in human life. Cultures around the world interpreted the remains of mammoths through their own world view and mythology.
When the ancient Greeks saw deposits of giant fossils, they knew they had discovered where the gods had vanquished the titans. When the Chinese discovered buried ivory, they knew they had found dragons’ teeth. But as the Age of Reason dawned, monsters and giants gave way to the scientific method. Yet the mystery of these mighty bones remained. How did Enlightenment thinkers overcame centuries of myth and misunderstanding to reconstruct an unknown animal?
The journey to unravel that puzzle begins in the 1690s with the arrival of new type of ivory from Russia. It ends during the Napoleonic Wars with the first recovery of a frozen mammoth. The path to figuring out the mammoth was traveled by a colorful cast of characters, including Peter the Great, Ben Franklin, the inventor of hot chocolate, even one pirate, and it culminates with the creation of the science of paleontology.
Long after the last mammoth died and was no longer part of our diet, this awe inspiring creature still played a role in human life. Cultures around the world interpreted the remains of mammoths through their own world view and mythology.
When the ancient Greeks saw deposits of giant fossils, they knew they had discovered where the gods had vanquished the titans. When the Chinese discovered buried ivory, they knew they had found dragons’ teeth. But as the Age of Reason dawned, monsters and giants gave way to the scientific method. Yet the mystery of these mighty bones remained. How did Enlightenment thinkers overcame centuries of myth and misunderstanding to reconstruct an unknown animal?
The journey to unravel that puzzle begins in the 1690s with the arrival of new type of ivory from Russia. It ends during the Napoleonic Wars with the first recovery of a frozen mammoth. The path to figuring out the mammoth was traveled by a colorful cast of characters, including Peter the Great, Ben Franklin, the inventor of hot chocolate, even one pirate, and it culminates with the creation of the science of paleontology.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published August 8, 2017
11 people are currently reading
977 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 4, 2019
Grāmatai ar šādu nosaukumu vienkārši nevar paiet garām, tas nebūtu normāli. Ieraudzīju, paņēmu un stiepu uz kasi. Mani mamuti ir aizrāvuši no bērnības, un vēl astoņdesmitajos cerēju, ka kaut kur uz kādas Arktikas okeāna salas vēl klīst šīs sugas pārstāvji. Neizslēdzu arī iespēju, ka kādu atkausēs un tas atdzīvosies. Diemžēl nekas no tā nav piepildījies, nu visas cerības uz gēnu inženieriju.
Vispār jau ir diezgan dīvaini atklāt kaut ko, ko paši vien esam noslaktējuši. Cilvēkiem mamuti savulaik bija spēcīgs pārtikas atspaids. Autors pat iet tik tālu, ka nedaudz atbalsta hipotēzi, ka cilvēki aiziešanai no Āfrikas un migrācijai pa visu pasauli ir izmantojuši tieši mamutu takas. Bet tas tik tāds pieņēmums.
Senajiem grieķiem ar mamutu kauliem nebija nekādu problēmu, tie tika ieskaitīti ciklopos. Ja pareizi paskatās uz mamuta galvaskausu, tad var labi redzēt vienas lielas acs dobumu. Otra teorija bija Titāni, kuru krituši karā ar dieviem. Visiem viss bija skaidrs un nebija nekādu brīnumu. Problēmas sākās apgaismības laikmetā, kad laiku pa laikam būvējot kādu pagrabu, tika uzieti mamuta kauli. Situāciju sarežģīja apstāklis, ka milžu skeleti tos atrokot ātri izira, atstājot tikai cietākās skeleta daļas. Protams, ka vainoti tika racēji, jo tiem rokas auga no ne tās vietas. Uzņēmīgi ļaudis to, kas palika pāri, izstādīja kā milžu atliekas.
Un te sākas īstā mamutu atkal atklāšana. Septiņpadsmitajā gadsimtā ķirurgi un dakteri aptuveni zināja, kāds izskatās cilvēks un tādēļ lēnām nonāca pie secinājuma, ka mamuta skelets nevarētu būt milža skelets. Papildus problēmas radīja fakts, ka neviens tā īsti nebija redzējis beigtu ziloni un tādēļ mamutam reizēm pienācās vieta ūdensdzīvnieku kārtā. Un es te nemaz nesāku runāt par reliģisko aspektu, kur visiem mamutiem vajadzēja apslīkt visneiedomājamākajās vietās. Kad noskaidrojās, ka mamuts varētu būt zilonis, viss nostājās savās vietās, bija skaidrs, ka tie ir no Hanibāla ziloņu ekspedīcijas. Taču ar laiku šie ekspedīcijas ziloņi parādījās tādā skaitā, ka vecie ģermāņu milži ar’ šķita tīri laba ideja.
Populārākā mamutu atlieka bija mamutu ilkņi, tos gan uzskatīja par ziloņkaula paveidu un izmantoja tāpat kā pretindi, universālu ārstniecības līdzekli pret visādām kaitēm. Astoņpadsmitā gadsimta sākumā ziloņkauls un mamuta atliekas bija kaut kas līdzīgs bitkoinam, kurā visi sagrūda naudu un tirgus nogāzās. Ar laiku atklājās, ka lielākā ziloņkaula daļa nāk no Sibīrijas, kur to ieguva no milzīgiem apakšzemes kurmju līķiem, jo šie kurmji mira ieelpojot gaisu un redzot sauli. Viss liecināja, ka tā arī ir, izņemot faktu, ka vienīgie, kas šos kurmjus redzēja bija ziloņkaula vācēji.
Es atvainojos, ja jums jau likās, ka grāmata ir trakoti interesanta. Vietām ir, bet lielākoties tā ir visnotaļ garlaicīga lasāmviela ar sīku un smalku zinātniskās polemikas izklāstu. Autors vietām atkārtojas, reizēm lēkā hronoloģijā un lasot ir pamatīgi jācīnās ar miegu. Ja dikti neinteresē mamuti, tad lasīšana būs pārbaudījums. Pat man bija grūti saprast, kādēļ pašas interesantākā daļa bija izlaistas. Piemēram, atbilde uz jautājumu, vai piramīdu būvniecības laikā uz zemes vēl bija mamuti, par mamutu migrācijas ceļiem. Tā vietā mēs dabūjam visnotaļ pasausu paleontoloģijas rašanās vēsturi, kas koncentrēta uz mamutiem. 8 no 10 ballēm, faktoloģiski iespaidīgs informācijas krājums, bet ikdienas lasīšanai pārāk garlaicīga.
Vispār jau ir diezgan dīvaini atklāt kaut ko, ko paši vien esam noslaktējuši. Cilvēkiem mamuti savulaik bija spēcīgs pārtikas atspaids. Autors pat iet tik tālu, ka nedaudz atbalsta hipotēzi, ka cilvēki aiziešanai no Āfrikas un migrācijai pa visu pasauli ir izmantojuši tieši mamutu takas. Bet tas tik tāds pieņēmums.
Senajiem grieķiem ar mamutu kauliem nebija nekādu problēmu, tie tika ieskaitīti ciklopos. Ja pareizi paskatās uz mamuta galvaskausu, tad var labi redzēt vienas lielas acs dobumu. Otra teorija bija Titāni, kuru krituši karā ar dieviem. Visiem viss bija skaidrs un nebija nekādu brīnumu. Problēmas sākās apgaismības laikmetā, kad laiku pa laikam būvējot kādu pagrabu, tika uzieti mamuta kauli. Situāciju sarežģīja apstāklis, ka milžu skeleti tos atrokot ātri izira, atstājot tikai cietākās skeleta daļas. Protams, ka vainoti tika racēji, jo tiem rokas auga no ne tās vietas. Uzņēmīgi ļaudis to, kas palika pāri, izstādīja kā milžu atliekas.
Un te sākas īstā mamutu atkal atklāšana. Septiņpadsmitajā gadsimtā ķirurgi un dakteri aptuveni zināja, kāds izskatās cilvēks un tādēļ lēnām nonāca pie secinājuma, ka mamuta skelets nevarētu būt milža skelets. Papildus problēmas radīja fakts, ka neviens tā īsti nebija redzējis beigtu ziloni un tādēļ mamutam reizēm pienācās vieta ūdensdzīvnieku kārtā. Un es te nemaz nesāku runāt par reliģisko aspektu, kur visiem mamutiem vajadzēja apslīkt visneiedomājamākajās vietās. Kad noskaidrojās, ka mamuts varētu būt zilonis, viss nostājās savās vietās, bija skaidrs, ka tie ir no Hanibāla ziloņu ekspedīcijas. Taču ar laiku šie ekspedīcijas ziloņi parādījās tādā skaitā, ka vecie ģermāņu milži ar’ šķita tīri laba ideja.
Populārākā mamutu atlieka bija mamutu ilkņi, tos gan uzskatīja par ziloņkaula paveidu un izmantoja tāpat kā pretindi, universālu ārstniecības līdzekli pret visādām kaitēm. Astoņpadsmitā gadsimta sākumā ziloņkauls un mamuta atliekas bija kaut kas līdzīgs bitkoinam, kurā visi sagrūda naudu un tirgus nogāzās. Ar laiku atklājās, ka lielākā ziloņkaula daļa nāk no Sibīrijas, kur to ieguva no milzīgiem apakšzemes kurmju līķiem, jo šie kurmji mira ieelpojot gaisu un redzot sauli. Viss liecināja, ka tā arī ir, izņemot faktu, ka vienīgie, kas šos kurmjus redzēja bija ziloņkaula vācēji.
Es atvainojos, ja jums jau likās, ka grāmata ir trakoti interesanta. Vietām ir, bet lielākoties tā ir visnotaļ garlaicīga lasāmviela ar sīku un smalku zinātniskās polemikas izklāstu. Autors vietām atkārtojas, reizēm lēkā hronoloģijā un lasot ir pamatīgi jācīnās ar miegu. Ja dikti neinteresē mamuti, tad lasīšana būs pārbaudījums. Pat man bija grūti saprast, kādēļ pašas interesantākā daļa bija izlaistas. Piemēram, atbilde uz jautājumu, vai piramīdu būvniecības laikā uz zemes vēl bija mamuti, par mamutu migrācijas ceļiem. Tā vietā mēs dabūjam visnotaļ pasausu paleontoloģijas rašanās vēsturi, kas koncentrēta uz mamutiem. 8 no 10 ballēm, faktoloģiski iespaidīgs informācijas krājums, bet ikdienas lasīšanai pārāk garlaicīga.
May 20, 2023
Sometimes I make up stories about books I am reading. The story I made up about this one is that, sadly, they accidentally published the unedited version!
Without this excuse, it is hard to believe this mess of typos ever passed through a copy editor. Obviously McKay did a pile of research, and much of that is a slog to read. An index was started, but never completed, and was published with the book as it was. In a way the incomplete index matches the unedited text.
The title was the highlight here. In case it wasn’t obvious—this book itself was a disappointment.
Without this excuse, it is hard to believe this mess of typos ever passed through a copy editor. Obviously McKay did a pile of research, and much of that is a slog to read. An index was started, but never completed, and was published with the book as it was. In a way the incomplete index matches the unedited text.
The title was the highlight here. In case it wasn’t obvious—this book itself was a disappointment.
September 25, 2017
Extremely comprehensive look at mammoths & early studies of them, from believing they were giants or unicorns! Rather dense but author knows his topic! Unbelievable amount of typographical errors - where was the editor? As a former editor, I'd be happy to do some proofreading for the publisher! (Library)
March 17, 2018
I wish that my review captured the fascination of this book better. McKay has managed to put so much history and information into a little over 200 pages. There are wonderful nuggets of explanation scattered all through it.
As a fantasy writer, I love the accounts of legends. If you are an ancient Sicilian, and you find a fossil of a mammoth skull, the opening where the trunk attached may well look like a single, giant eye--a Cyclops. (The actual eye openings are a good bit smaller, and easy to miss.) The Chinese thought the mammoth remains were those of dragons. Even after people began to think that these creatures might be some kind of elephant, early European investigators were handicapped by their lack of knowledge of the modern species.
How could anything like an elephant live in the arctic climate? Yet there they were, frozen into Had the climate changed? How did these bones fit together, anyway? Often, by the time a scientific expedition could reach a carcass, it had been cut apart for its ivory and the meat fed to dogs.
This was a challenging book to read, and it's difficult to review. I am inclined to go read it again to get the slow, wandering progress of piecing together the mammoths' story sorted out better in my own mind. There are hundreds of years of history here, and many different individuals. Some of them were, as Prairie Home Companion says, real different.
Many of them were incredibly brave. How much nerve did it take to set out into 18th century Siberia on a journey that would surely take months, in some of the harshest winters anywhere? How about the Russians who went into the Gobi desert with the unreliable permission of the Chinese Emperor? Oh yes, if the physical challenges of long-distance travel in the 18th and 19th centuries wern't enough to deal with, our explorers also had quarrelsome bureaucracies and continent-wide wars to deal with.
McKay makes a convincing case for the idea that inquiries into mammoths shaped much of modern science. Geology, paleontology, climate change, the notion of extinction itself, are all involved. If you have an inquiring mind yourself, especially if you enjoy seeing the evolution of ideas, go read this.
As a fantasy writer, I love the accounts of legends. If you are an ancient Sicilian, and you find a fossil of a mammoth skull, the opening where the trunk attached may well look like a single, giant eye--a Cyclops. (The actual eye openings are a good bit smaller, and easy to miss.) The Chinese thought the mammoth remains were those of dragons. Even after people began to think that these creatures might be some kind of elephant, early European investigators were handicapped by their lack of knowledge of the modern species.
How could anything like an elephant live in the arctic climate? Yet there they were, frozen into Had the climate changed? How did these bones fit together, anyway? Often, by the time a scientific expedition could reach a carcass, it had been cut apart for its ivory and the meat fed to dogs.
This was a challenging book to read, and it's difficult to review. I am inclined to go read it again to get the slow, wandering progress of piecing together the mammoths' story sorted out better in my own mind. There are hundreds of years of history here, and many different individuals. Some of them were, as Prairie Home Companion says, real different.
Many of them were incredibly brave. How much nerve did it take to set out into 18th century Siberia on a journey that would surely take months, in some of the harshest winters anywhere? How about the Russians who went into the Gobi desert with the unreliable permission of the Chinese Emperor? Oh yes, if the physical challenges of long-distance travel in the 18th and 19th centuries wern't enough to deal with, our explorers also had quarrelsome bureaucracies and continent-wide wars to deal with.
McKay makes a convincing case for the idea that inquiries into mammoths shaped much of modern science. Geology, paleontology, climate change, the notion of extinction itself, are all involved. If you have an inquiring mind yourself, especially if you enjoy seeing the evolution of ideas, go read this.
September 13, 2017
Interesting discussion of how people learned about mammoths and what they really were over several centuries of speculation, false theories, and world-wide discoveries, marred by some sloppy editing.
October 12, 2017
This got tedious and in need of a good editor.
October 20, 2017
DNF. Could not keep my interest
August 4, 2019
Reviewed on Books Cats Tea | Instagram
3.5 stars
Discovering the Mammoth is a fascinating look at the evolution of the mammoth in human understanding. It is a specific look at how we have come to identify, categorize, and understand where mammoths and their ancient cohabitants fit into the history of the Earth and with us.
[see blog for dwarf elephant skull mistaken as for a giant's skull image.]
From giants to unicorns, elephants to hippos, the mammoth has had a colorful and lucrative history. Through the book, we learn the cultural, social, and budding scientific context concerning the discoveries of mammoth bones, tusks, and remains. This extensiveness may well be part of the downfall of the book for a casual reader. McKay does a thorough job in detailing the men who would go on to make studies, statements, and conclusions about the mammoth after it became a topic of interest to Western thinkers. There are so many people that were involved with piecing together the mammoth mystery as well as numerous expeditions that either intentionally or accidentally found bones and tusks, that the details (again, to a casual reader) begin to blur towards the end. And, like some works of nonfiction do, there were tangents of side expeditions and stories that were not so crucial to the main story.
A pet peeve of mine in nonfiction is that with a book that relies heavily on descriptions and location, photos and maps should always accompany the text for a better understanding. While this book does have a few images situated in the middle of the book, there are no indicators as you read that an example is provided for you to see. The images are labeled on their central pages as “figure X,” but nothing in the text prompts you to stop and see for yourself. My other issue with the text itself is that there are numerous missing or incorrect words such as “the” instead of “they” and small pieces of sentence structure (“a”, “an,” “the,” “from,” etc.). They are quite distracting which leaves you with a sense that the book was rushed. It would have done well to have a careful reading to catch these.
Despite the issues I had with the text and physical book itself, I did enjoy the read for the most part. While the names that appear may lose their specific individuality in the sea of numerous other people, the work makes it clear that this book’s information is coming from a knowledgeable person with a passion for the subject. The in-depth nature of the content such as the evolution of the ideas on why the bones were found in such an uninhabitable place, or the change in thinking from scala naturae to Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae and taxonomy were fascinating to me. I enjoyed reading the changing views and ideas on the mammoth mystery.
Discovering the Mammoth may sound like it is a book that focuses on the mammoth itself. However, the mammoth is the tapestry that pulls a larger picture together. It is one of human curiosity, scientific evolution, and the pitfalls of authority and position. This book seeks to look at this bigger picture, rather than the end result. I think it would appeal to anyone interested in science, history, or paleontology.
3.5 stars
Discovering the Mammoth is a fascinating look at the evolution of the mammoth in human understanding. It is a specific look at how we have come to identify, categorize, and understand where mammoths and their ancient cohabitants fit into the history of the Earth and with us.
[see blog for dwarf elephant skull mistaken as for a giant's skull image.]
From giants to unicorns, elephants to hippos, the mammoth has had a colorful and lucrative history. Through the book, we learn the cultural, social, and budding scientific context concerning the discoveries of mammoth bones, tusks, and remains. This extensiveness may well be part of the downfall of the book for a casual reader. McKay does a thorough job in detailing the men who would go on to make studies, statements, and conclusions about the mammoth after it became a topic of interest to Western thinkers. There are so many people that were involved with piecing together the mammoth mystery as well as numerous expeditions that either intentionally or accidentally found bones and tusks, that the details (again, to a casual reader) begin to blur towards the end. And, like some works of nonfiction do, there were tangents of side expeditions and stories that were not so crucial to the main story.
A pet peeve of mine in nonfiction is that with a book that relies heavily on descriptions and location, photos and maps should always accompany the text for a better understanding. While this book does have a few images situated in the middle of the book, there are no indicators as you read that an example is provided for you to see. The images are labeled on their central pages as “figure X,” but nothing in the text prompts you to stop and see for yourself. My other issue with the text itself is that there are numerous missing or incorrect words such as “the” instead of “they” and small pieces of sentence structure (“a”, “an,” “the,” “from,” etc.). They are quite distracting which leaves you with a sense that the book was rushed. It would have done well to have a careful reading to catch these.
Despite the issues I had with the text and physical book itself, I did enjoy the read for the most part. While the names that appear may lose their specific individuality in the sea of numerous other people, the work makes it clear that this book’s information is coming from a knowledgeable person with a passion for the subject. The in-depth nature of the content such as the evolution of the ideas on why the bones were found in such an uninhabitable place, or the change in thinking from scala naturae to Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae and taxonomy were fascinating to me. I enjoyed reading the changing views and ideas on the mammoth mystery.
Discovering the Mammoth may sound like it is a book that focuses on the mammoth itself. However, the mammoth is the tapestry that pulls a larger picture together. It is one of human curiosity, scientific evolution, and the pitfalls of authority and position. This book seeks to look at this bigger picture, rather than the end result. I think it would appeal to anyone interested in science, history, or paleontology.
December 27, 2017
Since childhood, I've been fascinated by mammoths and mastodons. I have not idea why; I just do. This book is a satisfying history of the discovery, confusion, and understanding of the woolly mammoth. The bones of this extinct beast were, at first and for a long time, thought to be that of giants - human giants. Later, they were interpreted as victims of the Biblical Flood or casualties of Roman invasion forces. All wrong, of course. So how did we actually come to understand them to be what we now know them to be? That's what this book explores and does so quite engagingly. Sometimes, it gets a bit too deep into some of the politics of the day but if you don't care about that stuff, you can skim past that with little lost. Overall, this is a fascinating read and a great bedtime nightstand kind of book. Cool section of photos and illustrations.
Major beef: typographical errors (of which there are quite a few in the later chapters).
Major beef: typographical errors (of which there are quite a few in the later chapters).
January 17, 2023
Don't really have much to say about this one. It's an easy read with a lot of interesting information on the history of paleontology and how various discoveries were often interpreted at the times they were made, before we had the scientific knowledge that we have now. Mammoths, for instance, were often thought to be the remains of elephants washed north by the Great Flood before religion started losing a lot of the power it had once held.
Interesting read if you're just looking for a short book you can probably get through in a day.
Interesting read if you're just looking for a short book you can probably get through in a day.
September 9, 2024
No one is more bummed than me that I didn’t love this. Some interesting passages interspersed with a lot of needless historical minutiae that really doesn’t add much. I didn’t find myself more invested in the story by knowing the life story of the explorers who made the important discoveries. That combined with some pretty egregious typographical errors made this a lot more difficult to get through than I thought it would have been. Still though, it is an interesting story that just needed a lot more polish before publication.
Would give 2.5 stars if I could
Would give 2.5 stars if I could
July 3, 2021
What a lovely read! For all of my childhood (and still now) I've been obsessed with mammoths - and this book only fuelled that obsession. Very interesting but incredibly dense. This book needs a but more work in the story-telling department, but in regards to information: it's a solid 10/10. John J McKay, thank you for this lovely experience you've given to me, I hope many others feel the same way I did after reading!
December 2, 2017
Discovering the Mammoth is a fascinating Tale
I always thought that there were only a few Mammoth in existence, but this book makes clear that there were many fossil remains. How they were discovered is the theme of this book, but I was disappointed that the book did not deal with theories of how they went extinct. Still interesting tale
I always thought that there were only a few Mammoth in existence, but this book makes clear that there were many fossil remains. How they were discovered is the theme of this book, but I was disappointed that the book did not deal with theories of how they went extinct. Still interesting tale
October 14, 2018
Really enjoyed this nonfiction book about the history of the mammoth. The author has done a great job of showing how ongoing exploration led to newer more accurate understanding of what the mammoth really was. The book reads like an adventure story and is very entertaining.
I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway but the opinions expressed are solely my own.
I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway but the opinions expressed are solely my own.
August 4, 2020
Needs a proofreader but still worth reading. Even after humans forgot about mammoths we still interacted with their remains, trying to explain enormous bones (giants’ bones), tusks (unicorn horns), and carcasses eroding out of the permafrost (very large burrowing rodents). Investigating mammoths forced a reckoning with geologic time, extinction, and evolution.
October 10, 2017
McKay's book is supposed to be a history of the mammoth, but instead he spends too much time exploring the history of palaeontology that his subject never really comes alive. Sadly, I was bored one third of a way through the book and gave up.
July 28, 2020
Discovering the Mammoth meticulously pieces together how we "rediscovered" these Ice Age giants. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2017...
January 1, 2022
A fun read, a little dry at times, but unavoidable when piecing together how exactly human beings discovered the mammoth. I knew little bits here and there, but it was really interesting to see laid out in one story.
September 19, 2017
Excellent information regarding the history of paleontology in re to the mammoths and mastodons.
February 27, 2018
I liked it, but too much "first this, then that" and too little analysis/synthesis.
March 7, 2018
This book read at times like a travelogue of explorers rather then an examination of the history of the mammoth. This makes parts of the book drag significantly.
April 28, 2018
Not what I expected, but the unexpected was pleasantly fascinating.
September 15, 2018
Really, really dry. It couldn't sustain my interest, at any rate.
Read
June 23, 2024DNF
May 3, 2025
2.5 stars. Definitely feels like a rough draft with all the grammar and spelling errors in a published book.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews