This book was sooo disappointing. It’s always exciting to read of new fossils found in various parts of the world and I looked forward to details of at least one discovery within. But following the thread of events proved as difficult as finding a nest of petrified dinosaur eggs. The book is a tie-in with a series of the same name that aired on the American A&E cable channel, which unfortunately, I didn’t see.
It’s actually a double story; that of German scientist Ernst Stromer’s dinosaur discoveries in the Bahariya Depression in the Egyptian desert in 1911 and a modern day team returning to the same spot almost a century later. One of the authors, Josh Smith, is a paleontologist who was on that latter expedition, lending an air of authenticity. He explains, “Here was this pioneer, an explorer as much as an paleontologist, who identified a number of unique dinosaurs and a baroquely complex fauna in what now is a desert, and all …his…finds were lost….we decided we wanted to recapture and rebuild his legacy.” Stromer was an exceptional gentleman whose accomplishments have been largely forgotten due to politics and tragedy. This book and TV show was an admirable attempt to bring his discoveries and their relevance to greater light.
The details of the prehistoric investigations are well written, we feel as if we’re really there in museums and deserts. A nice overview of paleohistory and dinosaur basics is easily understood, but never patronizing. Even though this is a subject I’ve read quite a bit about, I still learned a lot.
The authors give the reader credit for intelligence, but they also seem to think readers have Attention Deficit Disorder. They jump back and forth between time periods so often that it’s hard to follow events and the reader easily loses the thread. With both expeditions taking place in the same locale doing the same activities, it becomes confusing and repetitious. This might have worked better on the TV program where visual cues would’ve kept things clearer, but MTV editing doesn’t work on the page. There is also a part concerning the RAF in WW2 which would’ve have a far greater impact had it been placed later in the book. I’m guessing the editor of this book was overwhelmed by the scientific aspect, which allowed the choppy feeling of the narrative. A more cohesive and orderly arrangement of chapters would’ve done more justice to the project, as well as the dusty memory of Herr Stromer.
Cosmos Studios 2002 242 pp. ISBN 0-375-50795
What a shame. It’s a great idea for a book (and a programme) but it sounds as if it was an opportunity lost.
“they also seem to think readers have Attention Deficit Disorder. They jump back and forth between time periods so often that it’s hard to follow events and the reader easily loses the thread.”
How frustrating, Jackie. I wonder if it does come back to a TV type editing approach. Either way, at least - as you say - you learned something from it, so all is not lost!
Agree with Moira - I loved the sound of this book, so it’s disappointing it was… er, disappointing.
Tie-in books usually are, though, in my experience. (And as for most historical documentary films, my motto is, ‘why watch a documentary when you could read a book’? But that’s a different issue entirely… )
Interesting this review sitting next to Moira’s. Shows how tie-ins can be such different animals and that the book has to add something extra and be its own thing - a good book in other words. I have a few art books that are TV tie-ins - namely Andrew Graham-Dixon’s book on British Art. It is a very good book (apart from a weak ending) but he is predominantly a writer, I suppose, so perhaps the TV part was the less familiar part to him back in the day.
I was listening to a radio review about Jonathan Dimbleby’s travel series into Russia and how the book added more emotional depth, as he had recently lost his partner, something that was less transparent in the programmes. Of course, the real leaders of this kind of thing must be Attenborough’s seminal series and books like Life on Earth and The Living Planet. Such monster projects and so well-researched and new at the time: both books and series were ground-breaking.
There’s a definite knack to writing a good TV-tie in.
The starting point, of course, is being a good writer … which Deborah Cadbury definitely is.