Amazon.co.uk Review
Using his geological background to full advantage, Osborne digs into the past to recover fragments of historical and scientific documents that authenticate his stories. Their language sets an appropriate tone to support the introduction of perfectly plausible fictional characters. Encompassing a wide array of sources, from seemingly unpromising geological strata and the mining of alum, or the discovery of fossil reptiles and ammonites from Jurassic age sea-cliffs, through hyena bones from Kirkdale cave and the ice age Lake Pickerin to well-known local heroes such as William Smith and Captain James Cook, Osborne excavates deep "shafts" through rich seams of the particular into the more general.
The Floating Egg makes rewarding reading for the general reader, and those with a more specialised interest will never guess what the title refers to. It's worth reading the book to find out. --Douglas Palmer
