Donald R. Prothero's science books combine leading research with
first-person narratives of discovery, injecting warmth and
familiarity into a profession that has much to offer
nonspecialists. Bringing his trademark style and wit to an
increasingly relevant subject of concern, Prothero links the
climate changes that have occurred over the past 200 million years
to their effects on plants and animals. In particular, he contrasts
the extinctions that ended the Cretaceous period, which wiped out
the dinosaurs, with those of the later Eocene and Oligocene
epochs.
Prothero begins with the "greenhouse of the dinosaurs," the
global-warming episode that dominated the Age of Dinosaurs and the
early Age of Mammals. He describes the remarkable creatures that
once populated the earth and draws on his experiences collecting
fossils in the Big Badlands of South Dakota to sketch their world.
Prothero then discusses the growth of the first Antarctic glaciers,
which marked the Eocene-Oligocene transition, and shares his own
anecdotes of excavations and controversies among colleagues that
have shaped our understanding of the contemporary and prehistoric
world.
The volume concludes with observations about Nisqually Glacier
and other locations that show how global warming is happening much
quicker than previously predicted, irrevocably changing the balance
of the earth's thermostat. Engaging scientists and general readers
alike, "Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs" connects events across
thousands of millennia to make clear the human threat to natural
climate change.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!