Book Review: The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs

When I was little (9 or 10 years old), my two favorite dinosaur books were Bob Bakker's The Dinosaur Heresies and Greg Paul's Predatory Dinosaurs of the World (PDW). I was lucky enough to get a copy of the former as a birthday present, but never owned a copy of the latter until recently, having to satisfy myself with ordering it via interlibrary loan. Both of these lavishly illustrated books portrayed dinosaurs as active, dynamic animals. Needless to say, my interest and imagination were sparked. I learned that Tyrannosaurus could cruise along at speeds approaching 45 miles per hour, that Velociraptor and Deinonychus were the same genus, that all dinosaurs had mammalian metabolism, Pterodaustro was pink from its diet of shrimp, and that some dinosaurs had feathers.

It was a tragic day when I realized that most of my dinosaur facts were wrong.

But, it was also an important stage in my growth as a scientist. I learned that publication in a book, or scientific job title, or pretty illustrations, weren't sufficient to establish scientific fact. Some really cool and exciting ideas (like the sprinting T. rex) couldn't hold up to scientific scrutiny, or simply weren't testable. And other ideas (like the feathered theropods) just needed the right specimen (which eventually arrived).

Despite their shortcomings, The Dinosaur Heresies and PDW were momentous publications for my generation. They inspired many young paleontologists and spun off numerous artistic clones (you don't have to look far to see the influence of Greg Paul's "running theropod" pose, for instance; see the example at right). Thus, it was with some excitement that I got my copy of Greg Paul's The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (hereafter just the "Field Guide") in the mail. In many respects, this is the modern heir to PDW.

The book itself is quite pretty, in a durable yet inexpensive hardcover format (I got my copy for under $25). The pages are chock-full of illustrations, ranging from black and white skeletals to full color paintings. The first part of the book includes well-written, succinct text (although certainly with a "Paulian" spin to its claims) that provides a birds-eye view of dinosaur biology. The highlight of the book, however, is the "Group and Species Accounts."

Pretty much every known dinosaur is included, and a great number are illustrated. Images include shaded skull reconstructions, black and white skulls, complete skeletal reconstructions, and color pencil drawings. This is classic Greg Paul (see his website for some samples), with the poses and attention to skeletal detail that we all expect. Many of these have never been widely available in any form - a boon for dinosaur enthusiasts! A number of his paintings are also included; most have been published before, but some are updated based on new information. I am not sure if I like the color pencil drawings as much of the rest of the artwork; many of them lack the "pop" of the skeletals or paintings. Some of this could be a consequence of the scale at which they are reproduced; I get the sense that many of the illustrations would look better if printed at a smaller size.

The species accounts are generally pretty good, although of course there is not sufficient space to go into the supporting evidence (or not) for some statements. For instance, the talk about "enemies" of some taxa is perhaps a little colloquial but at least vaguely supportable - one would think that similarly-sized herbivores and carnivores in a formation were indeed "enemies". Other facts - like stating that ceratopsids defended themselves by "rearing like a bear and tilting [the] frill up to intimidate [the] attacker, followed by a short fast charge with horns and/or beaks" (p. 257) are pure (if plausible) speculation. To his credit, Paul (p. 62) notes that the "reliability of these conclusions varies greatly." Unfortunately, I'm afraid this caution will be lost on the average reader.

My only real major beef, which has been echoed by many others (see this thread on the Dinosaur Mailing List, for instance), is with the taxonomic games played in the book. I do not think that the work is a Major Disaster in taxonomy; as Paul readily admits, the Field Guide is a popular book that is not intended as a valid nomenclatural statement. Publishing scientists are generally going to ignore any taxonomic assessments. One major reason is that many of the generic lumpings form polyphyletic or paraphyletic groups. For instance, Paul's Chasmosaurus (including Chasmosaurus, Mojoceratops, Agujaceratops, and Pentaceratops) is hopelessly paraphyletic by all recent phylogenies (see the Sampson et al. one, for instance, or even Lull's 1933 phylogram, if you're not a fan of cladistics). Similar problems plague the hadrosaur naming scheme in this book - it's not just a matter of having one's "genericometer" set to "broad". On the last point, though, one wonders why the rather morphologically conservative and firmly monophyletic "leptoceratopsids" all got to retain their separate genera! Prenoceratops and Leptoceratops are far more alike than Styracosaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus (all lumped in Centrosaurus by Paul!).

Rather than a scientific issue, the primary problem is that this stuff is going to be soaked up uncritically by the lay public (as we saw with Dinosaur Heresies and PDW). I don't think it's a catastrophe on the scale of Jurassic Fight Club (most of the basic content in the Field Guide is accurate), but it will still be a nuisance in the long term. I'll have to deal with kids who want to know why I'm following an outdated ceratopsian classification, but that's probably about the worst that's going to happen. A dino fanboy (speaking with a voice a la Professor Frink) will tell me that prosauropods slashed their enemies with razor-sharp claws, because he read it in a book by a paleontologist. The world is not ending. My hope is that discussions about what we know and don't know will inspire the next generation of researchers!

Flaws aside, every dinosaur enthusiast should get a copy of The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. The skeletals alone are worth the price of admission. This book is visually appealing, fun, and a great reminder of why we all loved dinosaurs in the first place.

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The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, by Gregory S. Paul, 320 pages, published by Princeton University Press. ISBN13: 978-0-691-13720-9. $35 list price.

Book Review: Am I Making Myself Clear? A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public

It's no secret that paleontology fascinates the public. New prehistoric-themed television air practically weekly, and even comparatively minor discoveries make the science section of the local newspaper. But, it's also fair to say that we paleontologists have a love-hate relationship with the news media. On the one hand, the exposure educates the public and shows the importance of an "esoteric" field like paleontology to skeptical funding committees. Yet, nearly everyone has some horror story about how they were taken for a ride by the press. Stories are misreported or overhyped, and television programs are sometimes painfully inaccurate. How is one to navigate this potential minefield?

Enter Am I Making Myself Clear? A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public, a trim, timely book by science writer and former NY Times editor Cornelia Dean. The title indicates great ambitions, and Dean generally delivers on these, speaking with the authority and candor of someone in the trenches.

Fifteen chapters cover practically the entire spectrum of scientific communication, from print and electronic media to public policy and the legal witness stand. Dean's writing is concise and readable, with an appropriate number of relevant anecdotes sprinkled throughout. Her perspective as a journalist adds quite a bit to the narrative, particularly in the sections on working with reporters. Although I like to think that I know at least a little about the media, I found numerous tidbits to incorporate into my own efforts. Don't be disappointed if an hour-long interview doesn't produce any attributed quotes in a news article; your information is still crucial for reporters who may not know the field. Thank reporters who do a particularly good job. Use press releases judiciously. It's ok - in fact, even a good thing - to cite opposing points of view during an interview. Sound bites are your friend, if you prepare them carefully.

The short format of the book (indeed, it's just slightly larger than pocket-sized) means that many topics are covered in only the briefest fashion. For instance, the scant 17 pages devoted to book writing and publication is surely only the beginning for someone who is truly serious about such an effort. I personally would have liked to see a little more on preparing a public lecture. Thankfully, a carefully chosen bibliography offers some excellent suggestions for deeper reading.

One message echoes throughout the entire book: We scientists can't just sit back and let the journalists do the talking for us. As citizens, we have a responsibility - an obligation, even - to get involved. Sure, there might be bumps on the road, but in the shifting social, political, and economic sands of the early 21st century, communication is more important than ever before. If you are at all serious about communicating science to the public, you must read this book.

Citation
Dean, Cornelia. 2009. Am I Making Myself Clear? A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 274 pp. $19.95 (hardcover) - available for $13.57 on amazon.com.

A Few Quick Peeks Before Fieldwork Hiatus

Sorry for the massive delay in posting - as many of my readers probably experience, summer is a busy time for fieldwork, catching up on research projects, and the like. In the morning, I'm heading into the field for the next three weeks. Upon my return, you can look forward to the following posts:

• A full review of the Asus Eee PC 901 as an option for field paleontologists. I bought one a few months ago as an ultra-light travel laptop as well as a machine for the field. Its extended battery life (up to 8 hours under the most ideal conditions, allegedly) is particularly intriguing to me. . .will it hold up to the hype?
• A look at how to use ImageJ for basic measurements from digital photographs, including lengths and angles.
• More open source journal goodness, with a focus on one or two publications in particular.
• And, much more!

And finally, a link. . ."Does publication in top-tier journals affect reviewer behavior?" This study, published recently in PLoS ONE, asks an interesting question with direct relevance to all of us who publish.

And another link. . .an interesting piece of free software called paleoPhylo was just published in the latest issue of Paleobiology. It slices! It dices! It draws temporally-calibrated phylogenies using R!

See all of you in a few weeks.

Book Review: Charles R. Knight, Autobiography of an Artist

Charles R. Knight was one of the most influential paleontological artists of the 20th (and latest 19th) century. His iconic paintings of Tyrannosaurus, Brontosaurus, woolly rhinos, and other prehistoric animals have influenced the direction of scientific thought, inspired movies and toys, and motivated paleontologists for decades. Every paleontologist, whether consciously or not, owes a debt of gratitude to Knight and his work.

I was particularly thrilled to receive a copy of Knight's autobiography for my birthday recently. This slim paperback, largely written by the author himself, is a fascinating glimpse into one of paleontology's vivid imaginations.

The story opens in Knight's childhood, with his earliest recollections of visits to the newly-founded American Museum of Natural History, among other memories. He details his early loss of vision in one eye, a sometimes strained relationship with his stepmother, and an early trip across the Atlantic to visit his father's family. The prose offers a window into a lost (but not necessarily simpler) time, as we see the stirrings of an interest in natural history.

The next phase of the book covers Knight's initial training in art, from sketches to stained glass. A parade of characters passes by at this and other points in the book, from the obscure, to the eccentric, to the famous. We learn about Knight's first wildlife art, and then his near-chance meeting with paleontologist Jacob Wortman. So began a paleo-art career that was to span decades.

The rest of the book largely functions as a travelogue, with occasional vignettes of paleontological characters. Most fascinating for me, as a dinosaur paleontologist, were the pages devoted to Knight's collaboration with Edward Drinker Cope. Knight describes in detail the faded glory of Cope's home at 2102 Pine Street, packed to the brim with papers and bones. Curiously, despite the tremendous influence that Cope had upon Knight's early art, the men only knew each other for a few months before Cope's death.

Perhaps because Knight wrote the book as an autobiography rather than a paleontological treatise, the reader gets only the briefest glimpse into Knight's imagination and thoughts on prehistory. The book is focused on people and places, rather than on the fossils. Some readers may be disappointed by this, but I found the format quite engaging from start to finish. Judicious editing by Jim Ottaviani helps the book flow along quickly--the manuscript was left unfinished by Knight, so I am sure it took a little bit of work to whip the text into shape.

The book is greatly augmented by a few pages of text from some notables--forewords by Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen, and afterwords by a number of paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History. Illustrations by Mark Schultz bring to life many of the distinctive characters (including what is probably the earliest description of a "crazy snake guy"). Finally, memories from Charles Knight's granddaughter, Rhoda Knight Kalt, add a unique perspective and a fitting tribute. If you're looking for an enjoyable read in the field this summer, make sure to pack this book!

Charles R. Knight, Autobiography of an Artist, by Charles R. Knight (with forewords, introductions, and afterwords by a number of other folks), 112 pages, published by G. T. Labs, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Tyrannosaurus rex, The Tyrant King--Reviewed

For those who are interested, I have a book review of Tyrannosaurus rex, The Tyrant King, (edited by Peter Larson and Ken Carpenter), in the latest issue of the on-line, open access journal Palaeontologia Electronica. Go check it out (both the book and the review), and let me know what you think!

The latest issue of PE also features articles on Jurassic ammonites, ?Paleocene dinosaurs, and special photography techniques, along with book reviews (including one by Laelaps blogger Brian Switek) and an editorial.

Reference
Farke, A. A. 2009. Review of Larson, Peter L., and Carpenter, K., eds. Tyrannosaurus rex, The Tyrant
King. Palaeontologia Electronica 12, Issue 1, R2:2 pp.

Workshop for the Digital Paleontologist

If you're a grad student interested in using mathematical techniques in your paleontological research, this workshop is for you! John Alroy and colleagues are presenting the fifth annual Paleobiology Database Summer Course in Analytical Paleobiology, hosted at the campus for the University of California's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara.

The rest of this post is taken directly from the announcement to the VRTPALEO list by John Alroy. I never had the chance to participate in this workshop (field season and all, and then I was too old of a grad student), but wish I had!

About the course
Since 2005 the Paleobiology Database has conducted a five-week intensive course in analytical paleobiology at the University of California's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara. In 2009 the course is scheduled to run from 30 June to 4 August, following NAPC. It will be supported primarily by the Paleontological Society with additional contributions from NESCent, the Palaeontological Association, and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Topics will include community paleoecology, quantitative biochronology, diversity curves, speciation and extinction, phylogenetics, phenotypic evolution, and morphometrics. Both simulation modelling and data analysis methods will be employed. The course will combine lectures and labs. Students will be given hands-on instruction in programming using R and trained in other analytical software. In addition to the course coordinator, each week a new instructor will be present. The instructors are expected to be John Alroy, Gene Hunt, Tom Olszewski, Pete Wagner, and Mark Webster.

There is no fee for registration, and students will be housed for free in apartments on the UCSB campus. Students are urged to apply for travel funds from their home institutions. If such funds are not available, travel expenses may be reimbursed for up to $400 if coming from the United States, $600 if coming from Western Europe, or $800 if coming from other countries. Students are responsible for meal expenses. There are no other charges of any kind, and no other major expenses are likely.

How to apply
Participating students should be in the early stages of their own research in any area related to paleontology. They should have a background in basic statistics, and preferably also programming. The ability to understand rapidly spoken English is essential. The course is open to undergraduates and advanced graduate students, but first or second year graduate students are particularly encouraged to apply. We also strongly encourage applications from women, minorities, and international students. Applications from professionals who have completed their studies will be considered, but strong preference will be given to students.

Applications should be submitted in PDF format to John Alroy (alroy@nceas.ucsb.edu). The review process will begin on 15 February 2009, and applications received by midnight Pacific time on that day will receive priority. Applications should consist of a one page statement. Do not include separate documents such as a curriculum vitae. No form needs to be filled out.

The statement should include a brief description of current research plans, a list of degrees earned stating the year of graduation in each case, a brief list of relevant classes taken, and an account of the student's previous use of statistics and programming. Students who do not employ English as a primary language should describe their experiences learning and speaking it. Applicants are encouraged to explain why the topics addressed by the course are of special interest to them, and which of these subjects are taught at their home institutions.

Applications must be accompanied by a recommendation letter, also in PDF format, written by the student's academic advisor and e-mailed separately. Obtaining a recommendation from anyone who is not an advisor must be explained. It is important that the recommendation give details about the applicant's personal character and abilities, not just credentials and descriptions of research projects. Recommendation letters also must be received by the end of the due date.

Book Review: Microvertebrate Fossil Assemblages

Microvertebrate Fossil Assemblages: Their Role in Paleobiology and Paleobiogeography, edited by Julia T. Sankey and Sven Baszio (Indiana University Press, 2008)

Indiana University Press’s Life of the Past series has unleashed a wealth of scientific and popular books on various aspects of paleontology. The latest offering, Microvertebrate Fossil Assemblages: Their Role in Paleobiology and Paleobiogeography, continues this fine tradition. The editors, Julia Sankey and Sven Baszio, are no strangers to the world of microvertebrate fossils (those tiny teeth, vertebrae, scales and other bones from fish, reptiles, non-avian dinosaurs, birds, and amphibians), having published many papers of their own focusing on microvertebrate assemblages from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Here, the editors have brought together a fine collection of papers primarily addressing this very topic. The general nature of the volume’s title does not entirely accurately reflect the papers within, however – the vast majority of the 13 chapters focus on continental microvertebrates from the Cretaceous of western North America. It may disappoint workers of Cenozoic or Paleozoic strata, or those who study marine facies, to see such small notice given to non-Cretaceous, non-terrestrial deposits. Despite this debatable “shortcoming,” there is much to admire here.

The first chapter, by Sven Baszio, lays out potentials and pitfalls of microvertebrate assemblages for answering a variety of questions. Clearly, much progress has been made in this front since the first major screenwashing efforts of the 1960s. A second chapter, by Jamniczky et al., addresses a method for estimating the sufficiency of a sample for characterizing a microsite. Such statistical rigor is clearly needed. Schiebout et al.’s contribution represents the only section of the entire volume that does not dwell largely in the Mesozoic – here, the authors document associations of Cenozoic-aged mammalian fossils within pedogenic concretions.

The next three chapters address microvertebrate assemblages and their role in paleoecological reconstruction. Brinkman examines the role of microvertebrates in reconstructing guild structure within the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada. He pays particular attention to the role that taphonomy plays in how we reconstruct extinct ecosystems. Chapters by Sankey and DeMar and Breithaupt report on assemblages from the Aguja Formation of Texas and the Mesaverde Group of Wyoming, respectively.

A chapter by Fiorillo represents the only paper focused primarily on functional morphology. Here, Fiorillo uses microwear to examine potential variation in diet within sauropods from the Morrison Formation. Somewhat surprisingly, he reports that microwear patterns did not vary within taxa (regardless of where they lived), suggesting uniform diets. Unfortunately, no statistics are presented to validate this conclusion. This is a minor point, but a nagging one for my brain, which thrives on the “numbers game”!

The remaining chapters are largely systematic in nature. Sankey and Longrich each have their own chapter addressing theropod teeth from the Lance and Hell Creek Formations. Sankey provides a particularly useful table of measurements, and both chapters are well-illustrated. Apparently, the two authors come to somewhat different conclusions on systematics of isolated theropod teeth. In particular, Longrich floats the hypothesis that teeth referred to Richardoestesia (R. isosceles and R. gilmorei) all come from the same animal known as Paronychodon! This thus implies a heterodont dentition. Many of the small theropod taxa from the Lance and Hell Creek Formations are known only from teeth – it will take some well-preserved jaw material to sort out the true identity of most of these morphotaxa.

Currie and Coy report on a bird tooth from the Belly River Group; this tooth is particularly unusual for its serrated morphology. Welsh and Sankey then describe numerous types of eggshell from the Aguja Formation of Texas – clearly, a wide variety of dinosaur taxa were nesting in this area!

The final two chapters of the book, by Gardner and Böhme, and Gardner, focus on the less “glamorous” side of microvertebrate fauna: amphibians. Despite the fact that amphibians don’t have the cachet usually afforded dinosaurs, the chapters in question are important for clarifying the systematics and taxonomy of these groups. The numerous photographs in Gardner’s contribution on frogs will be very useful for those of us who have struggled with identifying frog material in the past.

Now, on to the “nuts and bolts” of the book itself. The hardcover volume is a convenient size and attractively jacketed, as is typical of the IUP series. The dust jacket art, by Russell Hawley with coloration by Nick Longrich, presents a dynamic reconstruction of many of the animals revealed in Cretaceous vertebrate microassemblages. In terms of the chapters themselves, the editors did a remarkably fine job of proofing the manuscripts, and typos are scarce (not always the case in some recent IUP volumes). One minor annoyance is the fact that none of the chapters have an abstract or summary at the beginning (and many don’t even have a summary at the end!). This makes it somewhat difficult for the casual reader to determine quickly the overall gist of an individual contribution. The illustrations are generally very well-reproduced, with good contrast and clarity. The book itself has a list price similar to comparable volumes ($59.95), but a quick search on Amazon (or a trip to the SVP meetings) will find some decent discounts.

My initial reaction to the papers in this book is that there is still a long way to go in understanding even the best-studied microfaunas of North America. Gardner’s chapter on frogs, and Sankey and Longrich’s chapters on theropods, particularly highlight this point. The taxonomy and systematics of these clades, even within the heavily-sampled Bug Creek fauna, or the Belly River Group fauna, is not yet settled in some cases. This should give heart to those of us early in our careers! And, the “guild analysis” presented by Brinkman also may point the way to other future studies. Finally, it never hurts to have more samples, focusing on different horizons and collecting methodologies.

So, who should buy this volume? I would say that anyone working in the Late Cretaceous of North America would do well to purchase a copy, as would those who work on some of the taxa detailed within (small theropods, frogs, etc.). Kudos to the editors and authors on this interesting contribution!