Dinosaur Fossils

Griffins, cyclopes, monsters, and giants - these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? Through careful research and meticulous documentation, Adrienne Mayor convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact - in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans.

When every action and decision may determine the fate of everyone who has ever lived, the right choice is not always clear. For one man, there is no choice at all. Captain James Douglas sets off on a mundane transport and supply mission that quickly descends into disaster. Leading a fledgling society through a wild and hostile world was not part of his brief. Nor was the custodianship of all human life, history, and endeavor. Worse still, an enemy hides among his passengers, while the knowledge of a boy, just days out of school, may be all that stands between mankind and extinction.

Mary Anning was only 12 years old when, in 1811, she discovered the first dinosaur skeleton - of an ichthyosaur - while fossil hunting on the cliffs of Lyme Regis, England. Until Mary's incredible discovery, it was widely believed that animals did not become extinct.

Learn how fossils teach us about dinosaurs.

What dinosaur would you be if you had a bony ridge rising from the back of your skull and three horns poking up from the front? Answer: a triceratops! This book will keep you guessing as you find out how human skeletons are like—and unlike—those of dinosaurs!