Reviews

The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt by William Nothdurft, Josh Smith

stormblessed4's review against another edition

Not for me.

melomindy's review against another edition

4.0

Quite an interesting read as dinosaurs are super cool and paleontology is fun! They did use the title an awful lot in the book though.

alexctelander's review against another edition

2.0

One would not think it that surprising to discover that dinosaur fossils had been discovered within the Sahara Desert of Egypt, considering the immense history this country already has, but apparently from an archaeological perspective, this is pretty rare. What is even more amazing is that these dinosaur fossils were actually the largest ever found. Yet they remain relatively unknown due to the stupid efforts of archaeologists and patrons during the early twentieth century when they were discovered. Sadly, this book lacks in that it could be a third shorter and pertain more to the actual subject at hand than going on fictional tangents. It creates a question of what is real and what is not, most important in the study of fossils many millions of years old.

Originally published on November 25th, 2002.

For over 500 book reviews, and over 40 exclusive author interviews (both audio and written), visit BookBanter.

karingforbooks's review against another edition

funny informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

I don’t know how much of it will stay with me because it’s super science heavy - specifically the names of dinosaurs. It was well written and well done and I enjoyed reading it and learning about a quest to rediscover lost finds. 

annie139d7's review

2.0

This was not my book. In general, I found it to remain tangental to paleontology throughout. It was constantly more interested with the various researchers and their challenges in the field than with the dinosaurs themselves. This is not necessarily a negative, but it was not what I wanted form the book. Additionally, if the book did choose to focus more on the researchers, I would have wanted it to delve deeper into the history of paleontology than it actually does. Also perhaps expand upon the blatantly rude or racist statements it quotes when discussing the past. Personally I also found it hard to get past the fact that one of the main paleontologists, Josh Smith, recently left his position at U of Washington after allegations of sexual misconduct. Finally, as an archaeologist, I found it really annoying how the book uses archaeologist and paleontologist correctly but never explains the difference. I only find this important to do as many people are confused about what each person studies, as is abundantly clear in the reviews of this book. I would suggest this only if you have a passing interest in the subject and want a very boiled down and publicized reading of this discovery.

alexctelander's review

2.0

One would not think it that surprising to discover that dinosaur fossils had been discovered within the Sahara Desert of Egypt, considering the immense history this country already has, but apparently from an archaeological perspective, this is pretty rare. What is even more amazing is that these dinosaur fossils were actually the largest ever found. Yet they remain relatively unknown due to the stupid efforts of archaeologists and patrons during the early twentieth century when they were discovered. Sadly, this book lacks in that it could be a third shorter and pertain more to the actual subject at hand than going on fictional tangents. It creates a question of what is real and what is not, most important in the study of fossils many millions of years old.

Originally published on November 25th, 2002.

For over 500 book reviews, and over 40 exclusive author interviews (both audio and written), visit BookBanter.