Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs

by Michael Novacek, illustrated (Illustrator)

One of the fields of study opened up by the collapse of Communism is, oddly enough, that of the distant Western archeologists have for the first time in six decades been allowed to explore the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. This is the region explored in the 1930s by the famed Roy Chapman Andrews of the American Museum of Natural History. It is also the region wonderfully described in this stirring book by Michael Novacek, the current curator of the museum's department of vertebrate paleontology, who led the recent expeditions onto the high desert and into the heart of the Cretaceous Period in Asia. In 1993, Novacek's expedition found an astonishing trove of fossils in a wasteland called Ukhaa Tolgod, not too far from the Flaming Cliffs where Andrews made his most important finds. But, as with all great travel adventure stories, getting to Ukhaa Tolgod is the real tale.

Genres: Science, Palaeontology, Nonfiction, Dinosaurs, Natural History

Unknown Binding

First published August 1, 1996

Reviews

[M. D. Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than many scientists' accounts of what they do, I basically read this as part of an on-going amateur dinosaur crush. Excellent account about how annoying it is to dig up bones in Mongolia. I wish I had his job.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big fan of the megafauna, saurians.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent personal account by paleontologist Michael Novacek, who led several expeditions (1990-1994) into the Gobi Desert in search of fossils, the first such expedition from the United States since the the 1920s. Novacek provides a detailed chronicle of the many practical challenges of working in remote desert areas of a poor country still emerging from decades of totalitarian rule. A recurring theme is the difficulty of travel: rough roads (where there are roads); finicky vehicles; the need to haul water, food, and fuel; the dangers of getting lost; dust storms, scorpions, and poisonous snakes.

This account is balanced brilliantly with detailed descriptions of the bones and fossil eggs his team uncovered. The Gobi Desert is famous for producing remarkable fossils of marquee dinosaurs Oviraptor, Velociraptor, and Protoceratops. Adding in discoveries made by Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Roy Chapman Andrews, and Mongolian paleontologist Demberelyin Dashzeveg, Novacek is able to reconstruct the lives of Cretaceous dinosaurs and mammals. Novacek also discusses the relationships between different lineages of animals, especially the then-emerging understanding that birds are truly dinosaurs.

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has such passion for his subject. This book is about dinosaurs, yes, but it is also a delving in our planet's lifespan. There are so many lessons on the sciences of life, earth, and time. And how comprehensive his method of unveiling new concepts and inquisitions. The author truly allows the reader to not only understand the massiveness of our planet, but also the indescribable massiveness of time itself. To put into perspective a single million years, and multiply that by 65, is only the end of the dinosaur reign.
This book taught me a lot, and it's amazing how many things about dinosaurs I already knew, learning from an array of sources, who all probably learned their information from this book, and the expeditions this book revolves. So much that we know today about dinosaurs was learned during this expedition.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story of 1990s expeditions to Mongolia to prospect for mammal fossils in the Gobi Dessert. If you like reading about dinosaur digs and want to know more about what they found out there at the Flaming Cliffs and other areas of the Gobi, this book will be a good read. I was surprised to learn that fossils at this location could easily be found by the dozens, by those who knew what they were looking for, as they were weathering out of the red dessert cliffs and glinting in the dessert sun. The book provides the drama of the hunt and also what was for me more interesting, a window on the late Cretaceous Period as mammals emerged just before an extinction event brought an end to the Cretaceous Period and the start of the current Cenozoic Era, aka the Age of Mammals.

[Elizabeth]

As seen in The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs.

[Leo W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A splendid tale of the (modern) American Museum Mongolian expeditions. The science is seamlessly interwoven with the recollections of the expedition leader. A rare (mostly about) dinosaur book that manages to avoid being needlessly breathless.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read. I enjoy reading about these expeditions.

[Roy Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read; well balanced between discovery and technical evaluation

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novacek is a paleontologist who began organizing major fossil-hunting expeditions to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia in 1990. This book, published in 1996, essentially hops between two subjects: the story of his expeditions (the discoveries, the logistical problems); and an overview of the then-current state of scientific knowledge regarding the biology and evolution of dinosaurs and early mammals.

The first subject receives less attention than the second, so don't read this expecting a thrilling narrative of adventure and exploration. Expect, instead, a pop science book; written by a true expert in his field, but now nearly 20 years out of date (and this is a science in which new discoveries force scientists to alter old theories almost constantly). So, unless you have a particularly keen interest in the subject matter, I wouldn't call it a must-read. But it's interesting and informative nonetheless.

[Butch Byers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was headed to the Gobi in Mongolia, and this was one of the books on a suggested reading list. The passages on Mongolia's re-opening to the world in the 1990s, the great good humor of the Mongolian scientists, and traveling around the country in a time of (very) difficult logistics were fascinating. I liked the dinosaur stuff too, especially the line drawings, but I have to admit for a lay person the paleontology parts are pretty over the top! Nevertheless, if you're headed to the Gobi, especially if the Flaming Cliffs are on your itinerary (as it was on ours), its a helpful read.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book alternates between sections on dinosaur history and biology with sections on 4 or 5 years of visits to the Gobi desert in Mongolia, a paradise for paleontologists. I especially liked the part about the explorations, but some of the science was fascinating and extremely well written and easy to understand. The end, how ever, when Novacek writes about mammalian evolution, is too short and seems stuck on to the rest of the book. Reading this has led me to a greater interest in human evolution, though finding a book that is both readable and truly up to date may be hard to find.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's taken me a long time to finish this one because it's been sitting at work only occasionally getting read. Part memoirs, part lesson in paleontology, part paleontologists attempt at poetry. Informative and exciting if you like the trials and discovery inherent in paleontology. A bit outdated, but things change so fast in this science that even a recently published book becomes rapidly outdated.

[Elizabeth Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up on the free book shelf and really enjoyed it. I learned a couple of things that I hadn't known (what happened to the brontosaurus, and that they've pretty much decided that birds are dinosaurs) and enjoyed the stories of five years of exploring the Gobi.

[Cheryl Brandt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book not only because of the stories of the fossils they found and the new discoveries, but also the desciptions of the peoples they met while traveling in and around the Gobi.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but not especially well-written or edited. And some new stuff to me, especially about the finds in the Gobi, but lots of other stuff too. Not one I will b especially recommending.

[Gundopush · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have come to accept that I will never be able to shake the desire to become a paleontologist which has existed since I was about 6.