Donald R. Prothero

A skeptical look at famous cryptids - Bigfoot, the Yeti, Nessie, the Great Sea Serpent, and Mokele Mbembe (the alleged modern dinosaur from the Congo) - rounded off with a look at cryptozoology and monster belief as a sociological phenomenon.

Believers in the aforementioned critters will likely dismiss this as yet another reductive debunking by narrow-minded exponents of the mainstream (ignoring Loxton having started out as a youthful monster enthusiast and insisting that only increasing show more knowledge, not any antipathy towards cryptozoology or cryptozoologists, have turned him into a skeptic). For the rest of us, however, it's a delightful look at well-known zoological myths, their cultural history, and the subculture of cryptozoology enthusiasts. There can be no scientific study of the Loch Ness monster, but there can and should be one of how and why people believe in Nessie. show less

California’s Amazing Geology by Donald Prothero is what I was always looking for: a book to help me understand what the present theories are about how this state has come about.

The author provides a basic introduction to geological terms and concepts and then explores, in great detail, each specific geologic area in California and the processes by which they came about. He then considers gold, oil, beaches, and fossils in particular.

As an old earth advocate I am not bothered by the show more consideration of time in terms of the development. You learn quickly how much the strike-slip faults between the North American and Pacific plates defines California. I will never be able to look at the state in the same way again.

The author does well at showing you how you've never understood the beach. Apparently, at least in California, you’ve never visited the same beach twice: the sand grains are being continually moved across the shoreline until they eventually fall into some deep sea canyon or another, which is why it is dumb to build on barrier islands or think sea walls can hold in the beach. The water is cycling; it’s the energy in the waves which creates the illusion of water going in and out. If caught in a rip current, swim parallel to shore to get out of it; trying to swim back to shore will just exhaust you and you will drown.

Our planet is weird. But all these processes allow for life to persevere. show less

Enjoyable and thought-provoking at the history of life on earth, form the first simple single-celled organisms up to Australopithecus, by telling the story in 25 key fossils which either indicated the existence of or refined the knowledge about each creature and its place in the evolutionary story. I was particularly taken with the fossils from the very earliest times, such as the bizarre Ediacaran creatures, basically an alternative form of life which became an evolutionary dead-end, show more showing that our evolution was not a foregone conclusion, that nature had alternative plans. It also cover the great individual stories of how the fossils were discovered and the person who discovered each of them, such as the incredible Mary Anning, a woman from a poor family in England with no education, who became a leading fossil collector who made major discoveries of Ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, but was never given the recognition from male-dominated Victorian science that she deserved. the book also lists the museums where each fossil can be seen, as well as a bibliography for each chapter listing further reading on each fossil and its era. I found this an excellent book geared for the adult layperson, easy to read yet not talking down to a non-scientific audience, highly recommended for anyone fascinated by fossils and the story of life on earth. show less

This book represents something of a debunking of the creature formerly known as "Baluchitherium," as it seems inevitable that the supposed largest land mammal that ever lived would generate a mythology that would be hard to dismantle in the wake of its earlier popularization. Among other points it's noted that these creatures went extinct rather earlier than one time thought, that the arid environment where they lived wasn't kind in terms of preserving fossils, which contributed to serious show more over-estimates of the size these creatures attained and it doesn't help that the localities where their fossils are found are not exactly friendly to foreign scientists. As for why they went extinct the current suggestion is that the emergence of early mastodons so changed the shared environment that these creatures were undermined and faded away. Also, I'm inclined to agree with the other reviewer that this book could have been better edited. show less