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Skeleton keys : the secret life of bone por Brian Switek
Without those lectures this had the potential to become a good book.
> Identifying the sex of a skeleton is one thing. Attributing an entire complex of appearances and behaviors based on assumed gender is another. Sex, gender, and sexuality are all different concepts with various origins and cultural meanings. They are interlocked but not interchangeable, yet this is often forgotten when we look at old skeletons. Using labels like La Brea Woman automatically creates a range of expectations about a person we actually know very little about, and whom we cannot ask for their interpretation. We can’t know how they would have identified their gender or what the nature of their relationships with other people were, making it all too easy for the modern viewer to impress their own values and views onto another person. …
> Nor do I feel comfortable claiming bones can reveal someone’s biological sex. Our minds and how we perceive ourselves are part of our biology as certainly as our bones are, and to say someone is a man or woman based on skeletal anatomy alone erases what they would say about themselves. …
> Pronouns matter, and in the absence of positive evidence I’d prefer to use “they” and “them” for people whose gender identities we don’t know. But the stories of these people are intertwined with the modern researchers studying them, so relying on “they” and “them” can also cause confusion as to who I’m talking about. To that end I’ve attempted to eschew gendered popular labels like La Brea Woman—as I feel anthropology and archaeology should do in these cases—but have retained the use of “he” or “she” to talk about the osteological sex of a skeleton whose gender is unknown
Same, Brian, same.
Knowing very little about bones, I quite enjoyed this overview of the natural history of bones, and their cultural context. It is more conversational than academic, and left me feeling like Brian Switek would be a chill dude to have a beer with.
I appreciate that he doesn't gloss over some of the more controversial ethical dilemmas that come with the study of bone: who has rights to the dead, the mistreatment of indigenous bodies, and the cultural assumptions we impose on remains.
Usually with these types of non-fiction books on niche subjects, I find the authors can veer off course from the subject itself and get lost in minutiae that isn't relevant to the topic, but this book is well-organized in digestible chapters and follows a progression from the more biological aspects of bones to the sociological and cultural considerations.
BTW--she also recommended [book:How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature|22749747], so I have high hopes.
Still, it's the kind of book that's an engaging read and will have you telling those around you the random fascinating facts you come across in its pages: did you know that dinosaurs had arthritis? That there are about 40 known cases of human males growing bones in their penises, generally due to trauma? Want to hear exactly how Richard III of England probably died? (Probably not, if you're squeamish.)
It's like you scored a year of riding around the country with Brian, going to Big Conferences, and he translates all the papers for you - throwing in a few things he's read here and there. And of course he's taking you to all the best Dinosaur sites on the way.
I haven't kept up too much with what is going on in the dinosaur world lately. I have vague memories of raptors in Jurassic Park (I thought - are they new?). I remember when Brontosaurus was no longer a dinosaur. And somewhere along the way, I heard that dinosaurs had feathers.
I was hoping that this book would catch me up to date on recent dinosaur findings and new trends of thought. It did do that, but I had a hard time following the narration because this is basically a book of musings about dinosaurs as the author travels the country going to different sites.
I need a timeline somewhere. I can't remember from being a kid exactly when the Jurassic period occurred. I'm hazy on what Mesozoic means. This books assumes you know a lot of that and he's basically just bringing you up to speed on a few new points. I ended up a bit confused, skipping around from dinosaur to dinosaur, time period to time period. I need to find another book now, one that goes from point A to point B to point C. And one with bigger illustrations I can actually see.
The last polymath was apparently a guy called Thomas Young who died in 1829. Look: there's even a book about him. It's no secret why polymathism died off. It takes ten years to go from secondary school to finishing a PhD, and all that means is that you're very knowledgeable about one question in one small area of one small sub-field of your area of science as a whole. So you might know all there is to know about, say, I don't know, counting algebraic points in sets that are definable in certain o-minimal structures, but know nothing about other areas of maths, never mind chemistry, biology, or physics.
So until someone figures out how to download Wikipedia into people's brains, there's little hope of anyone ever knowing everything about everything, or even something about everything. But science is a big and awesome world, and I'd rather explore it all my life than sit down where I am and complain that I'll never see it all.
Written in Stone is a nice little book for this venture. It captures some of the science behind palaeontology as well as its history. The fossil record is infamously incomplete – a boon for young Earth creationists who smugly point out there's no evidence for evolution because no one has ever found a fossil of a fish with legs, or an amphibian with half a spine, or a young Earth creationist with an open mind. But fossils of all these things are out there (save the last one I guess), they're just rare and hard to find. Every fossil found is a single frame from a movie that's been running for billions of years. How people read the script of this aeon-long film based on a few thousand stills makes for an interesting story in itself, and Brian Switek tells it well.
The last polymath was apparently a guy called Thomas Young who died in 1829. Look: there's even a book about him. It's no secret why polymathism died off. It takes ten years to go from secondary school to finishing a PhD, and all that means is that you're very knowledgeable about one question in one small area of one small sub-field of your area of science as a whole. So you might know all there is to know about, say, I don't know, counting algebraic points in sets that are definable in certain o-minimal structures, but know nothing about other areas of maths, never mind chemistry, biology, or physics.
So until someone figures out how to download Wikipedia into people's brains, there's little hope of anyone ever knowing everything about everything, or even something about everything. But science is a big and awesome world, and I'd rather explore it all my life than sit down where I am and complain that I'll never see it all.
Written in Stone is a nice little book for this venture. It captures some of the science behind palaeontology as well as its history. The fossil record is infamously incomplete – a boon for young Earth creationists who smugly point out there's no evidence for evolution because no one has ever found a fossil of a fish with legs, or an amphibian with half a spine, or a young Earth creationist with an open mind. But fossils of all these things are out there (save the last one I guess), they're just rare and hard to find. Every fossil found is a single frame from a movie that's been running for billions of years. How people read the script of this aeon-long film based on a few thousand stills makes for an interesting story in itself, and Brian Switek tells it well.
This book isn't so much about the biology (or even paleontology) of bones or skeletons, but rather a rambling collection of stories about the odd things people have done with skeletons, with the occassional ancient skeletal remains discussed, accompanied by a mini-diatribe against anthropologists. All this is interspersed between Switek's personal anecdotes, feelings and pilgrimages to various museums. The writing style is chatty, overly verbose and tedious, with too much "fluff". Some of the items covered in this book were interesting, but there simply wasn't enough information on these topics in relation to all the fluffy filler.
The book starts off with Switeks love affair with bones - dinosaur bones to be precise. Then he moves on to the story of Grover Krantz, who wanted his skeleton put on display, with his dogs. This is followed by a look at the proto-vertebrate Pikaia and the following evolution of cartilagenous and "boney" animals, until the author reaches primates. There is a bit of information on bone formation in this section.
There is a chapter (more or less) devoted to the only (partial) human skeleton found in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, along with Switeks opinions on anthropological methods, which he doesn't seem to understand very well. "Lucy" and the evolution of the human skeleton is superficially covered in Chapter 4. One of the interesting things we do learn is that bears are able to halt bone loss and bone formation during hibernation, which is something of interest to astronauts that invariably loose bone mass when in space.
Switek discusses bone pathologies and what these tell us, mentions a few bone diseases, and tells us all about his issues with displaying human skeletons in museums. Switek also takes us on a trip to the St. Bride’s Church ossuary, and deals a bit with how Neanderthals disposed of their dead, not to mention all the other strange things humans have done with skeletons (e.g. skull drinking cups, shrunken heads, and Saint's arm bones). There is a chapter devoted to phrenology and other out-dated ideas about skulls and bones. Another chapter is devoted to the ethical issues between scientists wanting to study ancient American remains and the tribes who wish these remains reburied. The ongoing trade in human bones and remains is also mentioned.
King Richard III gets a whole chapter summarising how he was found and what his bones tell us. This is one of the better written chapters - if you ignore all the personal feelings about about the Shakespearean play that Switek included. The book concludes with more musings by Switek and a look at the difficulties in fossilisation.
The book has horrible references. There is a phrase in the reference section that corresponds to the text in the book somewhere, followed by the reference. This particular method of referencing makes is difficult to follow up references for more information. Switek also thinks articles from the tabloids make good references. It would have been a simple matter for him to pull up the original scientific article instead of depending on a hashed-up, simplified tabloid version. It's also quite obvious that Switek's knowledge on forensic anthropology is lacking, being more opinion that anything else. He should have at least read on text book on the subject if he was going to write a book about it. This book is also lacking in illustrations. A diagram or photograph of the particular skeleton or part thereof that the author is discussing would be more helpful than the numerous paragraphs trying to describe what it looks like.
In short, this book has loads of personal anecdotes (and opinions) with some interesting, random stories about bones. Nothing particularly substantial, some of the topics were only covered in a paragraph or two. If you want something fluffy and slightly macabre to read (and know nothing about bones), or if you need a gift for a young teenager who knows nothing about human bones, this might be of interest.
Recommended for anyone who fondly remembers their dinosaur phase and highly for those who never grew out of it.
I was shocked to discover that scientists knew the brontosaurus was just a type of apatosaurus back in 1903! Yet everything I read or saw growing up talked about the brontosaurus. I had no idea that pop culture's romance with the dinosaur had influenced books and museum displays to that extent.
As an adult (or a close approximation of one) I no longer spend my time doodling dinosaurs or wondering where I can find a fossil, but I still wonder about and find them interesting, and this book was a nice read. Brian Switek is obsessive and writes about them in a way that is easily understood. And he covers a lot of topics, such as did they really have feathers, what color were they, and what did they sound like, as well as what happened to Brontosaurus? (The bones that were described as "Brontosaurus" had previously been described as "Apatasaurus.") And he explains very clearly why it's so hard to assemble a skeleton, because dinosaur skeletons are rarely found intact; once the animal died, it was usually scavenged and eaten by others.
The writing is clear and understandable, and while there's a little bit of travelogue in it, it's entertaining and not overdone. This is, however, a book for grownups. It's not written anywhere near a childs level (and pictures are minimal) and has occasional profanities, plus he covers... umm, theories of how dinosaurs mated. So, this isn't the kind of book you'll want to purchase for a 7 year old, but if you're still interested enough (like me) to read a relatively short and easily understood book, you might want to buy it for yourself.
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J.Green | 12 reseñas más. | Aug 26, 2014 |
J.Green | 12 reseñas más. | Aug 26, 2014 | As an adult (or a close approximation of one) I no longer spend my time doodling dinosaurs or wondering where I can find a fossil, but I still wonder about and find them interesting, and this book was a nice read. Brian Switek is obsessive and writes about them in a way that is easily understood. And he covers a lot of topics, such as did they really have feathers, what color were they, and what did they sound like, as well as what happened to Brontosaurus? (The bones that were described as "Brontosaurus" had previously been described as "Apatasaurus.") And he explains very clearly why it's so hard to assemble a skeleton, because dinosaur skeletons are rarely found intact; once the animal died, it was usually scavenged and eaten by others.
The writing is clear and understandable, and while there's a little bit of travelogue in it, it's entertaining and not overdone. This is, however, a book for grownups. It's not written anywhere near a childs level (and pictures are minimal) and has occasional profanities, plus he covers... umm, theories of how dinosaurs mated. So, this isn't the kind of book you'll want to purchase for a 7 year old, but if you're still interested enough (like me) to read a relatively short and easily understood book, you might want to buy it for yourself.
As an adult (or a close approximation of one) I no longer spend my time doodling dinosaurs or wondering where I can find a fossil, but I still wonder about and find them interesting, and this book was a nice read. Brian Switek is obsessive and writes about them in a way that is easily understood. And he covers a lot of topics, such as did they really have feathers, what color were they, and what did they sound like, as well as what happened to Brontosaurus? (The bones that were described as "Brontosaurus" had previously been described as "Apatasaurus.") And he explains very clearly why it's so hard to assemble a skeleton, because dinosaur skeletons are rarely found intact; once the animal died, it was usually scavenged and eaten by others.
The writing is clear and understandable, and while there's a little bit of travelogue in it, it's entertaining and not overdone. This is, however, a book for grownups. It's not written anywhere near a childs level (and pictures are minimal) and has occasional profanities, plus he covers... umm, theories of how dinosaurs mated. So, this isn't the kind of book you'll want to purchase for a 7 year old, but if you're still interested enough (like me) to read a relatively short and easily understood book, you might want to buy it for yourself.
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