Fossil History

Spectacular fossil finds make today's headlines; new technology unlocks secrets of skeletons unearthed 100 years ago. Still, evolution is often poorly represented by the media and misunderstood by the public. A potent antidote to pseudoscience, Written in Stone is an engrossing history of evolutionary discovery for anyone who has marveled at the variety and richness of life.

Raptors like Velociraptors were small, deadly dinosaurs. These carnivores and omnivores may have looked like birds, but they couldn't get off the ground. Go back to a time when these deadly hunters walked the earth.

Tyrannosaurus rex and its relatives were fearsome meat eaters and deadly predators. Their strong teeth and jaws could crush bone. Go back to a time when these mighty carnivores walked the earth.

Allosaurus and its relatives were fierce and dangerous predators. Dinosaurs in this group had deadly claws and razor-sharp teeth.

In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, David Norman discusses how dinosaurs were first discovered and interpreted and how our understanding of them has changed over the past 200 years. He looks at some of the amazing discoveries that have enabled us to gain new and unexpected insights into dinosaurs as animals with natural histories and behaviors and considers some of the biggest questions in dinosaur biology, such as the implications of them having warm blood.

Darwin gathers his large ape family to tell them a tale, the ascent of man is retold once more in the eyes of the apes, he teaches them many tricks which they can use to outwit man and remove him from his current place of dominion, "they can't do anything without their witchcraft," he tells them, he even gives them secret plans to cause mayhem in the peoples households."

Dinosaurs such as Triceratops had deadly horns, bony frills, and sharp beaks. Some of these powerful plant eaters were so strong, they could knock down trees.

Dinosaurs like Stegosaurus had stiff plates on their bodies. Some used their plates to heat themselves up or cool themselves off. This book takes listeners back to a time when these scaly herbivores walked the earth.

Bird-footed dinosaurs like Iguanodon were plant-eaters that could walk on two legs. Many of the dinosaurs in this group could run away from hungry predators. Others traveled in large herds to stay safe.

Klaus and Doris have just made the discovery of their lives - a complete Neanderthal skeleton buried in a newly opened sinkhole. But on removing it, something else tumbles free. Something that switches on, and then calls home. Soon the owners are coming back, and nothing will stop their ruthless search for their lost prize.

Edmontosaurus and other duckbilled dinosaurs had beaks and strong teeth to eat tough plants. Many of these plant-eaters could communicate with other dinosaurs using the crests on their heads.

Ankylosaurus and other armored dinosaurs were the tanks of the prehistoric world. Sharp spikes and rock-hard plates protected these plant eaters from dangerous predators.

Long-necked dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus looked down on the earth from above the treetops. These mighty plant eaters had long tails, necks, and bodies.

Odd meat-eaters like Carnotaurus were quick and deadly hunters. They had sharp teeth, good eyesight, and could run on two strong legs.

Brains Through Time examines how vertebrate nervous systems evolved in conjunction with other organ systems and the planet's ecology. Surveying an enormous range of information on genes and proteins, sensory and motor systems, central neural circuits, physiology, and animal behavior, the authors reconstruct the major changes that occurred as vertebrates emerged and then diversified.

If you think dinosaurs are cool, wait till you learn what covered Earth 430 million years ago. That’s long before dinos even existed. There wasn’t much on land - some really tiny plants and even smaller animals like millipedes and mites. But offshore life was another story. Six-foot-long relatives of modern scorpions roamed the open water, gobbling up smaller creatures. Fish were out there, too. There just weren’t many of them, and they were much different than today’s fish.

Twelve million years ago, rhinos, elephants, and camels roamed North America. They would gather at nearby watering holes - eating, drinking, and trying not to become someone else’s lunch. But one day, in what we now know as Nebraska, everything changed. The explosion of a supervolcano a thousand miles away sent a blanket of ash that buried these animals for millennia. Until 1953, when a 17-year-old farm worker made an unbelievable discovery.

As a woman raised in the 1950s, Henrietta Ballantine has always had to prove herself. Homeschooled to challenge her intellectually, Henrietta spent her childhood with a strict Russian tutor and an overbearing mother for whom she could do nothing right. It’s her science-driven father who finally manages to give Henrietta refuge within the Smithsonian’s glorious walls. There she learns a love of ancient things, of secrets hidden in the ground. Of fossils.

Deckard O'Shea has come to terms with his family's birthright, even if it is one he would've never chosen. His world as he knows it is in shambles as King Arthur's true nemesis, Jakobus, has orchestrated mayhem and panic. Along with the newly formed Keepers Division of the military, Deckard dons the legendary sword Excalibur in a war torn England and struggles to survive against ruthless axis powers and special forces known as Harvesters led by the devil himself.

Inspired by Nathaniel Rich’s Losing Earth: A Recent History, the acclaimed book that grew out of an August 2018 issue of the New York Times Magazine solely dedicated to it, Saving Earth tells the human story of the climate-change conversation from the recent past into the present day. It wrestles with the long shadow of our failures, what might be ahead for today’s generation, and crucial questions of how we understand the world we live in—and how we can work together to change the outlook for the better.