Adrian Lister

This was excellent and would be a great companion read to Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle. I really enjoy stories of scientific discovery such as [a:Glyn Williams|59609|Glyn Williams|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]' [b:Naturalists at Sea: Scientific Travellers from Dampier to Darwin|17802943|Naturalists at Sea Scientific Travellers from Dampier to Darwin|Glyn Williams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1366556143s/17802943.jpg|24904614] show more which touched on only a small part of Darwin's expeditions. Darwin's Fossils is much more detailed and I really like the idea that Lister had of taking each stop along the way and talking about how each of Darwin's fossil discoveries impacted his eventual development of the theory of evolution.

The book also gives insight into how impactful Darwin's discoveries were to science and scientists back in the UK and Europe at the time. I had not realize how much just his fossil findings came to be celebrated even before the voyage's end. So many of his original fossils are still in museum collections. It is neat to see them in photos with the original catalog numbers Darwin gave them when they were shipped back to his contemporaries in the UK. show less

A very well illustrated summary of what is known about Mammoths (although a few of the illustrations are poorly designed with respect to the trough that goes down the middle of an open book). I would have liked a little more technical detail about the differences between Mammoth species, but this may have been more suited to a different book. The authors seem to discount (rightly?) the idea that humans caused the extinction of mammoths, but they also point out the limitations of the show more arguments from climate change. I would love to know more about the interaction of humans and mammoths. I would also like to know more details about the full range of mammoths fossil deposits. But again, this would have required a much bigger and more difficult book. This volume provides a very enjoyable introduction to these creatures. show less

I think most people who know something of Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution know it was in some way inspired by his study of finches and their beaks. Adrian Lister's book seeks to shine a light on how his study of fossils while traveling on the Beagle in South America and the South Pacific contributed as well. Darwin not only found a great deal of prehistoric mammals and marine fossils, but he also was able to figure out how coral atolls formed. And Lister is able to point out how his show more study of these items would have influenced his thinking in regards to evolutionary science.

For me the book was at its best when recounting the history of Darwin's travels. It bogged down, however, when it got into the detail of some of the mammal fossils and why each was significant or different from what was previously known. I don't doubt Lister is correct in his assessment on how those travels shaped and influenced Darwin's thinking and helped him to unravel the mysteries of evolution, but... I just didn't find it compelling or more than merely interesting. show less

An amazing book covering in readable detail the species known as mammoths. Not an evolutionary ancestor of elephants, but a separate evolutionary line, mammoths were amazing creatures similar to modern day elephants. Because of the permafrost near the Artic Circle, entire frozen mammoths have been discovered leading to a plethora of information on this species. Scientists have been able to analyze DNA, dissect, look at stomach contents - all sorts of analytical work that cannot be done on show more dinosaurs because no frozen sample exists. Fascinating, excellent read! show less