Product Description

The story of two nineteenth-century scientists who revealed one of the most significant and exciting events in the natural history of this planet: the existence of dinosaurs. In "The Dinosaur Hunters", Deborah Cadbury brilliantly recreates the remarkable story of the bitter rivalry between two men: 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43911 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
It may seem surprising but dinosaurs are actually a British "invention" of the early 19th century. The name dinosaur was coined in 1842 by an English anatomist Richard Owen, a highly ambitious, machiavellian schemer and villain of Deborah Cadbury's The Dinosaur Hunters: A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World. Her hero is Gideon Mantell, a practising doctor, who found and first described many of the bones of the beasts that subsequently became known as dinosaurs. Full of quotes from contemporary sources, The Dinosaur Hunters brilliantly evokes the Dickensian world of early Victorian science and society. From Mary Anning, the self-taught fossil hunter of Lyme Regis to the academic and deeply eccentric Dean Buckland of Oxford University, the story tells of reputations made and lost as self-help, self-promotion, over-wheening pride, folly and social climbing all played their part in the emerging story of the geological past. The dinosaurs, although central to the story, are also a vehicle for the much larger, more interesting and important story about the struggle to understand the meaning of fossils and what they tell us about prehistory. Deborah Cadbury, an award-winning TV science producer and acclaimed author of The Feminisation of Nature has thoroughly researched her topic and steeped herself in the intricacies of the scientific debates of the time. With black and white illustrations, extensive notes, a bibliography and index, the result is one of the best popular science histories. --Douglas Palmer.

Review
'No other narrative I know illustrates the human element in scientific discovery quite so dramatically.' Richard Fortey, Evening Standard 'This is a tale of intrigue and deception, of burning ambition and failed dreams. The bitter clashes between the men who dominated 19th- century geology are exquisitely portrayed by Deborah Cadbury in this scholarly yet exhilarating book.' Independent 'This is a story we should all know, a defining part of contemporary western culture. I can't think of a better introduction.' Sunday Times 'This is a wonderful book, evoking a time when science required remarkable people to conduct it.' Observer 'This is a story we should all know, a defining part of contemporary Western culture. I can't think of a better introduction.' Sunday Times

From the award-winning author of The Feminisation of Nature comes The Dinosaur Hunters (A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World). This account chronicles the hopes, speculation and setbacks experienced by amateurs and experts alike in the early part of the 19th century, when they began discovering evidence of the prehistoric era. They gradually found out that fossil creatures were very different from any living animals and therefore had a highly significant bearing on history. Written from the perspective of the knowledge at the time, Cadbury describes scientists puzzling over fossilized bones, and struggling to form a coherent theory for their presence. Several characters were instrumental in these momentous finds in various parts of the English countryside. In Lyme Regis an amateur fossil-hunter, Mary Anning, found a ready market for the many specimens she discovered on the beaches and cliffs. An Oxford naturalist, the Reverend WIlliam Buckland, was researching fossil remains, but the interpretation of his findings was often distorted by his religious beliefs. Although a competent geologist, he rejected evolutionary theories and felt obliged to make his finds fit into the accepted biblical wisdom of the Deluge and Creation. A naturalist, Gideon Mantell, a Sussex doctor, strove for years to overcome prejudice and the snobbish attitudes of the elitist scientific fraternity before he finally managed to convince his fellow scientists that a giant herbivorous lizard once roamed around the English countryside. However, it was Richard Owen, an unscrupulous anatomist who managed to insinuate himself into the best circles, who employed all the hard-earned knowledge to his own disadvantage and unfairly was credited with the discovery of the dinosaurs. This book gives a fascinating insight into the drawing of knowledge about prehistoric times. (Kirkus UK)

Sunday Times
'This is a story we should all know, a defining part of contemporary western culture. I can't think of a better introduction.'

Customer Reviews

Fascinating
This is one of the best science books I'v ever read.
I found the story of the rivalry between Mantell and Owen gripping. Owen comes across as almost evil. He even gains possession of part of Mantell's spine after he dies.
I was so impressed with this book that I have bought two of the author's others but this is the best.

Great telling of the human drama of science
This was one of the best non-fiction books I ever read. It not only told the history of the early days of fossil hunting in the 19th century, just prior to Darwin's theory of Natural Selection, but also the human side of the tale. Those who got the glory, those who were robbed, those who were never entered in the race. Thus, it also tells of the prejudices faced by those who were not of the right class and sex. I rarely feel compelled to proselytize a book, but I bought this one as a gift for several people as a thank you.

Reading this book, it will also help you grasp how Darwinism emerged, how the geological and palaeontological findings helped show the way (though Darwin relied first and foremost on the diversity of life as evidence). But above all, it is great human drama, embedded in a story of discovery.

Absolutely brilliant!!
I've just finished this wonderful book and it's one of the best popular science/history works I've ever read. Perhaps the author was a little biased against Richard Owen, but then he was such a lying, plagerising egotist that it's hard not to agree with her presentation. Likewise, it's hard not to feel enormous sympathy for the much-maligned, brilliant and humane Gideon Mantell.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.