The Terrible Lizard The First Dinosaur Hunters and the Birth of a New Science

by Cadbury, Deborah

• ISBN13: 9780805067729
• ISBN10: 0805067728
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-06-06
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Summary

The dramatic story of the discovery that forever changed man's perception of his place in the universe. In 1812, the skeleton of a monster was discovered beneath the cliffs of Dorset, setting in motion a collision between science and religion and among scientists eager to claim supremacy in a brand-new field. For Rever William Buckland, an eccentric naturalist at Oxford University, the fossil remains of a creature that existed before Noah's flood inspired an attempt to prove the accuracy of the biblical record. Gideon Mantell, a naturalist who uncovered giant bones in a Sussex quarry, also became obsessed with the ancient past, risking everything to promote his vision of the lost world of reptiles. Soon the eminent anatomist Richard Owen entered the fray, claiming the credit for the discovery of the dinosaurs. In a fast-paced narrative, Terrible Lizard reveals a strange, awesome prehistoric era and the struggle that set the stage for Darwin's shattering theories-and for controversies that still rage today.

Author Biography

Deborah Cadbury is an award-winning TV science producer for the BBC

Table of Contents

Picture Credits	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. ix
An Ocean Turned to Stone	p. 3
The World in a Pebble	p. 33
Toast of Mice and Crocodiles for Tea	p. 58
The Subterranean Forest	p. 80
The Giant Saurians	p. 101
The Young Contender	p. 129
Satan's Creatures	p. 148
The Geological Age of Reptiles	p. 165
Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw	p. 182
Nil Desperandum	p. 202
Dinosauria	p. 229
The Arch-hater	p. 254
Dinomania	p. 280
Nature without God?	p. 302
Epilogue	p. 323
Notes and Sources	p. 327
Select Bibliography	p. 363
Index	p. 365
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