Patrons of Paleontology
Patrons of Paleontology

Author: Jane P. Davidson

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2017-08-21

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 0253033586

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In the 19th and early 20th centuries, North American and European governments generously funded the discoveries of such famous paleontologists and geologists as Henry de la Beche, William Buckland, Richard Owen, Thomas Hawkins, Edward Drinker Cope, O. C. Marsh, and Charles W. Gilmore. In Patrons of Paleontology, Jane Davidson explores the motivation behind this rush to fund exploration, arguing that eagerness to discover strategic resources like coal deposits was further fueled by patrons who had a genuine passion for paleontology and the fascinating creatures that were being unearthed. These early decades of government support shaped the way the discipline grew, creating practices and enabling discoveries that continue to affect paleontology today.

Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life
Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life

Author: Kitty Blount

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 0756638364

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Provides in-depth entries on early Earth's climates, conditions, animal and plant life forms that flourished and floundered throughout each era, along with biographies of notable figures.

Beasts of Eden
Beasts of Eden

Author: David Rains Wallace

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2004-05-18

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0520237315

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Stories in Stone
Stories in Stone

Author: David B. Williams

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2019-08-19

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0295746475

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Most people do not think to observe geology from the sidewalks of a major city, but all David B. Williams has to do is look at building stone in any urban center to find a range of rocks equal to any assembled by plate tectonics. In Stories in Stone, he takes you on explorations to find 3.5-billion-year-old rock that looks like swirled pink-and-black taffy, a gas station made of petrified wood, and a Florida fort that has withstood three hundred years of attacks and hurricanes, despite being made of a stone that has the consistency of a granola bar. Williams also weaves in the cultural history of stone, explaining why a white fossil-rich limestone from Indiana became the only building stone used in all fifty states; how in 1825, the construction of the Bunker Hill Monument led to America’s first commercial railroad; and why when the same kind of marble used by Michelangelo clad a Chicago skyscraper it warped so much after nineteen years that all 44,000 panels of it had to be replaced. This love letter to building stone brings to life the geology you can see in the structures of every city.