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marieintheraw's review
2.0
This was such a bummer. It focuses on who can "own" dinosaur bones, but like managed to make it drawn out and boring?
jasonwalko's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
Yeah this one’s pretty neat kinda sorta, I agree with the people saying that this has a tendency to go on totally unrelated tangents that have nothing to do with the actual story. I don’t need to know about how the Mongolian people slaughter goats or about the entire history of Mongolia’s political turmoil and we really didn’t need an entire biography of Mary Anning right smack in the middle (her story is very cool and interesting and definitely worth reading about but it did not need to be in this book). But I didn’t hate this, in fact I thought the story was pretty cool but I wish it focused more on the actual trial rather than being a biography of this Prokopi guy every person that he ever interacted with and also a lot of tangentially related historical figures. Probably could’ve taken out the Roy Chapman Andrews stuff too but that stuff was kinda relevant I guess. The author did a pretty good job of keeping it all objective. I went in expecting to side with the Mongolians here but I didn’t end up liking any of the people involved except for maybe Bolort. There really should’ve been a clearer point made about how a lot of this fossil hunting/poaching stuff has roots in imperialism because both sides are kinda playing that angle here and the Roy Chapman Andrews stuff also ties into that. Also this Prokopi guy was such a weird dude lol I feel like the book tries to make him sympathetic but at the end of the day he’s a guy who made a living pillaging the earth for profit. So yeah cool story but lots of unnecessary stuff and could’ve been slimmed down a lot.
Also the audiobook narrator would do these weird foreign accents for the Mongolian people which was kinda weird. I mean she did it for the British people too but still. Not sure how to feel about that.
Also the audiobook narrator would do these weird foreign accents for the Mongolian people which was kinda weird. I mean she did it for the British people too but still. Not sure how to feel about that.
kvmeehan's review against another edition
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
This is a well written and informative book. But the narrator of the audiobook used some sort of vague foreign accents for several of the people quoted in the book, that just came off as distracting, not adding anything positive to the listening experience.
lydzzz357's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
kel_sea_bb's review against another edition
2.5
I was disappointed by this book. While I enjoyed Williams’ writing, The Dinosaur Artist is overall too long, too broad, and unfocused.
This book primarily suffers from a framing problem. It’s billed and presented as a story of a specific fossil smuggling/smuggler and lawsuit, and I would expect some background on specific characters in the narrative. What I was NOT expecting was a huge amount of information about the history of the American Museum of Natural History and a full history of Mongolia. Bios and full family histories are presented for people who aren’t impactful in the narrative, which feels distracting and unnecessary.
This framing issue makes the book feel too broad and sprawling. If I had picked up a book expecting a history of paleontology this would have fit the bill, but the story being told needed a harsh edit down. She also presents the international fossil thieves (all white men!) in a VERY flattering light, when I found myself completely unwilling to root for them, which made enjoying the narrative difficult.
Specific to the audiobook, the readers tone and cadence was fine, but there is a noticeable tinny echo in the recording which is VERY distracting at first, and there are a LOT of mispronunciations of standardized words (names of famous people like Antonin Scalia, dinosaur names, and others) which feels extremely unprofessional. I also didn’t appreciate the bizarre accents applied to the Mongolian speakers and no one else, including brits and Americans from accented regions.
This book primarily suffers from a framing problem. It’s billed and presented as a story of a specific fossil smuggling/smuggler and lawsuit, and I would expect some background on specific characters in the narrative. What I was NOT expecting was a huge amount of information about the history of the American Museum of Natural History and a full history of Mongolia. Bios and full family histories are presented for people who aren’t impactful in the narrative, which feels distracting and unnecessary.
This framing issue makes the book feel too broad and sprawling. If I had picked up a book expecting a history of paleontology this would have fit the bill, but the story being told needed a harsh edit down. She also presents the international fossil thieves (all white men!) in a VERY flattering light, when I found myself completely unwilling to root for them, which made enjoying the narrative difficult.
Specific to the audiobook, the readers tone and cadence was fine, but there is a noticeable tinny echo in the recording which is VERY distracting at first, and there are a LOT of mispronunciations of standardized words (names of famous people like Antonin Scalia, dinosaur names, and others) which feels extremely unprofessional. I also didn’t appreciate the bizarre accents applied to the Mongolian speakers and no one else, including brits and Americans from accented regions.
madmollyann's review
4.0
This was such a fun read. Yes, it was complex. Yes, I learned more about Mongolian political history than I expected. But I appreciated the twists and turns. The necessity to step back and learn about seizure law before plowing on through the next complicated turn. If you’re willing to head off on some tangents to get your head around a fascinating story, jump right in.