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The Dragon Seekers: How an Extraordinary Circle of Fossilists Discovered the Dinosaurs and Paved the Way for Darwin Paperback – May 1, 2002

by Christopher Mcgowan (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
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Set in nineteenth-century England, The Dragon Seekers chronicles the amazing discoveries of the first fossilists, whose findings in geology and paleontology led to the discovery of the age of dinosaurs. The intriguing cast of characters includes Mary Anning, a working-class woman who became one of the most successful fossil collectors of all time; Thomas Hawkins, another amateur collector who "improved upon" fossils in order to increase their market value; the eccentric William Buckland, discoverer of the world's first dinosaur (Megalosaurus), and Richard Owen, an expert anatomist, who synthesized the discoveries of the age and ultimately coined the word "dinosaur" in 1842. Christopher McGowan takes us back to a time when the new sciences of geology and paleontology were as young and vibrant as genetic engineering is today. Through heated public debates on everything from the age of the earth to the notion of extinction, the Dragon Seekers initiated the shift from a biblical to a scientific interpretation of the remote past. In this way, they laid the intellectual groundwork for Darwin's revolutionary ideas, and launched a global obsession with the Age of Reptiles that continues even today.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    May 1, 2002
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.63 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0738206733
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0738206738
  7. Lexile measure
    1220L
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christopher McGowan is a full professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Toronto and Senior Curator of Paleobiology at the Royal Ontario Museum. He is the author of ten other books, including The Raptor and the Lamb and Dinosaurs, Spitfires, and Sea Dragons.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; First Edition (May 1, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0738206733
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0738206738
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1220L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.63 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

About the author

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Christopher McGowan

Christopher McGowan

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Born in England toward the end of the World War II, I grew up during the days of ration books and coal fires. Not the most brilliant pupil at elementary school, I failed my 11-plus exam, relegating me to a secondary modern school. But I had good teachers and was captivated by science. I conducted experiments and built things at home. My interests included chemistry, rockets—which more often exploded than flew—boiling up bones to make skeletons, steam engines, and natural history.

After obtaining a B.Sc. in zoology, I became a full-time high-school teacher. I loved teaching but didn’t want to stay at school forever, so I enrolled as a part-time graduate student at London University, studying palaeontology. Receiving my Ph.D. three years later, I left my school teaching job in 1969 and moved to Canada, taking a curatorial position in vertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto. I was later cross-appointed as an assistant professor of zoology at the University of Toronto, finishing up as a full professor.

My speciality was ichthyosaurs, a group of fish-like reptiles that lived in the sea while dinosaurs roamed the land. Traveling the world to study ichthyosaurs took me to some unlikely places, from a monastery in Kremsmünster to a ghost town in Nevada. I’ve collected fossils in British Columbia, Manitoba, Nevada, the Chihuahuan Desert, and in Egypt. I’ve also explored the caves in Britain made famous by William Buckland (1784-1856), the early British fossilist who has the distinction of describing the world's first-named dinosaur, Megalosaurus.

Having enjoyed more than thirty years as a palaeontologist, the best job I can imagine, I took early retirement. Now I spend most of my time writing. I’ve also written and presented radio documentaries for CBC’s Ideas programs, on Steam and on Iron. I have 15 non-fiction books, mostly on science, and two works of fiction. Eight of my books were written for children.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
17 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

T. Roddam
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on the subject
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2015
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A very good overview, without unnecessary detail, of the beginnings of paleontology and geology, covering the main actors, such as, Anning, Buckland, Cuvier, Mantell, Owen, Conybeare, and even Darwin. Well written to capture and hold my interest. A feast and page turner for any science-history geek.

Also very good at portraying the times and how religious views had to be overcome before science could become real and respected.
4 people found this helpful
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Long-time Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent used book at Excellent cost
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2019
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The Dragon Seekers is a very informative and interesting book, it arrived soon after my order and it was in really good condition.
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Ample Gramma
4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, not overwhelming
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2016
Verified Purchase
Enjoyable, not too scientific. Good look at the competitive nature of science, and how the cultural restrictions of the time could affect "conclusions" drawn from the evidence.
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Rapagejr
5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic read!
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2020
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I couldn't put it down!
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J. E. Bevers
5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview of the early history of paleontology
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2015
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Likely the best adult text on the early age of paleontology in Great Britain and its influences on the thinking of various scientists, including Charles Darwin.
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BarbM
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2015
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This one confused my grandsons, but I found it very interesting.The beginnings of paleontology
One person found this helpful
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Omer Belsky
4.0 out of 5 stars On Dinosaurs and Darwinism
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2003
Christopher McGowan's 'The Dragon Seekers' is an extremely well written and easy to read book about the first discoveries of Dinosaurs. Although the stories of the 'fearful lizards' and of the men (and woman) who discovered them is interesting, the history of evolutionary ideas within is the best part.
The large cast of characters here includes an eccentric but brilliant academic (William Buckland), a scoundrel fossil collector (Thomas Hawkins), a distinguished anatomist (Richard Owen) and a working class woman, deprived of her rightful status because of Victorian social conservatism (Mary Anning).
With the increasing number of fossils discovered, and the increase in knowledge in other areas, Modern science was wrestling itself out of religious dogma, and the arguments about it are the core of this book.
Among the chief arguments at the time was whether the global, Noachian Flood existed, or not. Great disputes about these question took place, between supporters and the so called anti-Diluvians, who opposed it .
An even greater controversy was the one surrounding evolution ('transmutation' in the vernacular). Transmutationism was a bona fide heresy, and when the young Charles Darwin enters McGowan's narrative, he has to hide his views from Richard Owen, a great scientist who coined the very term 'Dinosaur', but whose opposition to transmutation was well known.
One of the major advantages of this book is the way in which it can forgive the scientists for their errors. Although McGowan clearly points out the mistakes, and how the likes of Owen, Buckland and Charles Lyell (who was a major influence, and a confident, of Darwin's) allowed their pre conceived notions to deter them from reaching the truth, he discusses how it is that science advances despite these failures. The errors and pre-conceived notions of individuals can hinder science, but the setbacks are merely temporary, and these scientists, for all their errors, held lay down the ground for Darwin's breathtaking insights.
My one greatest regret for this book is that it does not include the reaction of the surviving 'dragon seekers' to Darwin's 'The Origin of Species'. Richard Owen's responses, especially, would have been very interesting, and would have made an interesting summation for the book.
Instead, McGowan chooses to dedicate his conclusion to today's collectors, the followers of Mary Anning's. It is both interesting and moving, as McGowan has studies fossils discovered in the very beaches were the Anning and co. have worked. So modern paleontologists, too, depend upon the newest generation of dragon seekers
2 people found this helpful
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Rob Hardy
5.0 out of 5 stars Fossilizing toward Evolution
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2001
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the British intelligentsia were having to come to terms with the fossilized bones being dug up by quarrymen or exposed by the waves against the rocky cliffs. The strange creatures thus revealed posed enormous questions about creation, and the theologians quickly got into the debate. However, as the fossilists produced more specimens, and the geologists got acquainted with the enormous span of time required in their discipline, and the paleontologists were able to classify more of the ancient beasts, the pondering on creation came under the light of science rather than theology. Thus when the Theory of Evolution was announced in 1858, Britain was not completely unprepared for its revelations. The foot soldiers of this transformation were the fossilists themselves, and to tell their story, Christopher McGowan, senior curator of paleobiology at the Royal Ontario Museum, has written _The Dragon Seekers: How an Extraordinary Circle of Fossilists Discovered the Dinosaurs and Paved the Way for Darwin_ (Perseus Publishing). It is a fine description of the science versus religion battles of the time, and of how paleontology got started.
There is an eccentric cast of characters within these pages. Thomas Hawkins was a master at getting monstrous specimens displayed, but was really too good at it; he helped his displays with faked bones, a deception whose controversy was elevated to the House of Commons. Gideon Mantell had a hectic medical practice, but it was fossilizing that he loved, and because people thought he was too much of a fossilizer while not enough of a doctor, they stayed away from his practice. He also alienated his wife and family. Although he discovered and named the _Iguanodon_, fossils ruined him. But the most fascinating figure in the book, though, is Mary Anning. She has recognition now as a star discoverer of fossils, but the earliest recognition she got in her own time was, sadly, a eulogy at the Geographic Society. She had no advantages she did not make herself. She was poor, her family was low, and she was, of course, a woman. She was born in Lyme Regis, a seaside hamlet on the Dorset coast, and she got her living digging out the cliff's fossils and selling them to private collectors and to academics. She didn't just collect fossils, she analyzed them and compared them to contemporary animals. She had no access to a formal education, but studied the papers of the published experts, sometimes hand copying them with their drawings so that she could keep them for reference. It was, however, always the "clever men" who formally studied the specimens she discovered, and wrote them up, and named them, often without crediting her. None of her specimens bears her name.
The sensational finds described here sparked heated debates on many issues. Some who believed that God had created all, for instance, insisted that there could be no such thing as an extinction, for that would mean that God had produced some creatures mistakenly. The enormous and ancient beasts found by the fossilists meant that people had to start questioning the usefulness of the Bible as a guide to cosmology. In fact, most of the fossilists described in these pages believed strictly in the Bible, and were unconvinced when Lyell published on geology or Darwin on evolution. McGowan's entertaining book fits them within the social and intellectual history of the period, and shows that although they did not directly pave the way for Darwin, their discoveries put forth evidence to be argued about, and they fostered the learned debate that has resulted in our current understanding of geology and biology.
6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

G.P.Dix
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 5, 2014
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Fantastic copy at excellent price with swift delivery
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