Translated by Chris Spence
Illustrated by Alain Bénéteau
Foreword by Carl Zimmer
181 pages
Published 2009 (English translation published 2012)
Read from December 11 to December 14
Rating: 3 out of 5
I always despair at the general apathy toward science. Public apathy flows into a feedback loop with publishers’ capitalist calculations: amateur interest in scientific primers is sporadic to nonexistent, thus few of them get published for a general audience, thus there’s no way for the public to learn basic science. Plus, with any introductory text in a fast-moving field like paleontology, there’s always the probability that it’ll be outdated within a few years.
I’ve long been interested in the tetrapods (and the ecosystems) that evolved before the dinosaurs, but outside of a few books like Beasts Before Us, there really aren’t any popular introductions. I don’t know enough to know what parts of Earth Before the Dinosaurs might already be outdated — though 2009 feels like a long time ago, in paleontology years, so the concern was hard to avoid as I read it.
Whether it’s because of the original author or because of translation, the text alternates between patronizing and densely technical. The book belabors the importance of using precisely defined terminology, instead of lazy pop science metaphors like “missing link” and “transitional fossil,” yet ironically throws around a ton of jargon without defining it. (I know what sarcopterygians and temnospondyls are, for example. but I’ve been obsessed with evolution and paleontology for thirty years or more.)
Steyer’s central topic is evolutionary relationships, so we get an entire chapter on embryology but not much at all about my primary interest, which is paleoecology.
The best part of the book, by far, is the luscious artwork by Alain Bénéteau. It amply makes up for any deficiencies of the writing and structure of the book.
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