The Dinosaur Heresies (Penguin Science) [Paperback]

Holding to dogma is easy. Bakker knows that challenging conventional' judgment requires innovative thinking backed by solid evidence. It's precisely the problem Darwin faced when introducing evolution through natural selection. The evidence is there, it simply takes a perceptive eye and logical thinking to clarify its meaning. Bakker is able to perform those feats, bringing fine writing in to use vigorously presenting his onclusions . Much of the fossil data has an extensive history. He has an uncanny ability to make field research understood by a wide spectrum of readers. No arcane ivory-tower scientist here; evidence and conclusions are clear and unambiguous. Supporting his prose are fine illustrations ranging from serious reconstructions to clever speculation.

Bakker has contributed useful concepts to anyone wishing to nderstand evolution's processes. His discussion of predator/prey relationships, old news to biologists, is demystified for the rest of us. The ratio of hunters to hunted, strategies of attack and defense, solitary or pack hunting or defense all mark the guerrilla warfare life's been involved in over the eons. By stretching the definition, predator and prey may also include plant eaters and their fodder. We normally view predation as shedding blood and providing meat, but Bakker demonstrates the war of herbivores and plants to be just as dramatic, if slower. All these elements combine in the ecological environment in evolution's drama.

If there is a flaw here, it's in Bakker's acceptance of Gould and Eldredge's 'punctuated equilibrium' thesis. It's anomalous that a researcher so fastidious about assessing evidence can accept an idea lacking supporting data. Bakker's heretical outlook makes him a logical associate of iconoclasts like Eldredge and Gould, so perhaps he may be forgiven this lapse. It certainly doesn't detract seriously from what this book has to offer.

Bob Bakker, of course, fits that description to perfection. Not only does he have the academic credentials, but his enthusiasm and easy style shines through the text of his book.

His hypothesis is that dinosaurs were not the slow-witted, sluggish, lumbering, reptiles of Victorian orthodoxy, but instead were fast, agile, intelligent and ferocious.

He presents a cornucopia of evidence, from analysis of the ratio of carnivorous to herbivorous dinosaurs (similar to mammals rather than reptiles), to description of bone metabolism of modern "farmed" crocodiles (kept warm so they grow faster), to comparisons of heart physiology (a three-chambered reptilian heart would lack the power to pump blood up to the head of an Apatosaurus). All of this is presented clearly and lucidly within a strong conceptual framework: never do you wonder "where is he going with this?"

The evidence Bakker presents is tremendously compelling, and to my mind, overwhelming. Behind all this, however, are anecdotes and descriptions of his work which add hugely to the enjoyment value of the book: I particularly enjoy his description of all the biologists in the bar, with the mammalian specialists at one end crowing about the superiority of mammals, and the reptile specialists (herpetologists, or "herps") at the other, "muttering into their beers" about how wrong they are. Some of my best friends are mammals, but in this bar at least, I know which end I would rather sit at.

This book truly opened my eyes to the warm-blooded dinosaur view, and I've never gone back. Bakker breathes hot-blooded life into the dusty specimens in his museum. An enjoyable and informative read.