The Last Dinosaur Book
by
W.J.T. Mitchell
IN the mood for an academic read? I know I wasn't. But I went for this book anyway because once I started into it, I was oddly hooked. That's right, kids. It’s not fiction. And
it’s fascinating.
Exploring dinosaurs as
icons—which is the only way we’ve ever known them, BTW—The Last Dinosaur Book delves into the cultural iconography behind Waterhouse Hawkins, Jurassic Park, King Kong, Sinclair, Barney
and more. If you’ve ever yearned to
understand how dinosaurs shaped your world view, (and yes, you read that correctly) then this is the book for you.
The weird thing is, we think we know these beasts. We think we know how they lived and died. I mean, I know people who study dinosaur physiology, and on NSF grant money, no less. But go back 300 years and you'd be sore pressed to find anyone who even knew dinosaur bones existed. (Beyond the American Indians, who had lots of lovely myths about them.) This is because dinosaurs, my friends, are a recent ‘invention.’ You can thank people like Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Carnegie for putting them on the 'map.' Jefferson was so in love with dino remains he was among the first ever
to collect bones—he even believed mastodons roamed the unexplored west.
I’ll admit, this book was a deviation from my usual diet of
sci-fi followed by more sci-fi. But I figure dinosaurs are sci-fi-ish by nature, so why the heck not explore them from an academic's POV? Where else can you read someone shred Barney while praising Calvin & Hobbes? The author
draws unexpected conculsions, offers unique theories and perspectives and
leaves you believing that our world would be a far different place, not only
without the fossil fuels the dinosaur age died to become, but without what has become our totem
animal: the dinosaur.
So! If you're feeling like something non-fic and interesting, try The Last Dinosaur Book. Four stars!
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