The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt

A fun, easy read that won't be winning any Pulitzer's for non-fiction. A hard-working, driven German paleontologist discovers a great fossil site in the inhospitable western Egypt desert, and an equally driven team of American paleontologists return 89 years later, to solve some of the site's mysteries.

I'm vey much into both science and dinosaurs, so this book should have really grabbed me. Instead, I found it a dry, dusty account of what should have been an exciting discovery, marred by a tendency to time-shift between centuries. It needed more focus, and less digression into Ernst Stromer's career.

"The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt" tells the tale of a little known account in the history of dinosaur hunting. In part, it is the story of a luckless German paleontologist named Ernst Freiherr Stromer von Reichenbach. On the eve of World War 1, he uncovered an amazing cache of Cretaceous-age dinosaurs, which he discovered in the Great Western Desert of Egypt. Encountering many problems, he eventually wrangled having the bones sent to Munich, only to have them destroyed by allied bombing in World War II. This is in part, the story of a man who lived his life upon the principles he believed in; it cost him dearly. Standing against Hitler and the Third Reich, ruined his reputation. It is also the story of Josh Smith, a paleontologist at the show more University of Pennsylvania, who found the story of Stromer and went to Egypt to attempt to recover the dinosaurs Stromer had lost. It is a story that keeps you turning pages long after you should have went to sleep. If you have any interest in the story of a real Indiana Jones, this is the read for you. My daughter bought this tome for, bless her, and it is a really good book. Read it! show less

I loved this book! I bought it a few years ago on a whim, and just now got around to reading it. First, it's the story of a paleontologist, Ernst Stromer, who made some amazing fossil discoveries in Egypt around the turn of the last century, only to have them destroyed during World War II. Second, it's the story of some modern paleontologists who return to the same desert hoping to replace some of the specimens that were destroyed, and not only the fossils they find, but another really cool discovery they make about the climate of the area back in the Cretaceous. Well-written and interesting, and this was a good time for me to read it, since I'm taking a paleontology class in school right now. Lots of the geological things they talk show more about in the book are parallel things I'm learning in class, which made it an especially interesting read. show less