How Did We Find Out About Dinosaurs
Asimov’s book traces humanity's journey from baffling bones to profound scientific understanding of dinosaurs: their lives, ancient world, and mysterious extinction.
Isaac Asimov, a master of making complex subjects accessible, embarks on a fascinating journey in How Did We Find Out About Dinosaurs?, a book that does far more than merely list facts about ancient creatures. Rather, it unfolds like a meticulously crafted scientific detective story, where the "plot" is the gradual, often arduous, unveiling of one of Earth's most astonishing secrets. Asimov, with his characteristic lucidity and logical progression, doesn't just tell us what we know, but precisely how humanity came to know it, transforming mere data into a compelling narrative of discovery.
The book begins not with grand scientific pronouncements, but with the simple, baffling reality of large, strange bones unearthed from the ground for thousands of years. Asimov establishes a starting point rooted in wonder and mystery, showing how these initial perplexing discoveries were the very seeds of human curiosity. Before the advent of a scientific framework, these finds naturally gave rise to myths of giants, dragons, and monstrous beasts, a testament to humanity's innate need to explain the inexplicable. Asimov, ever the historian of ideas, lays this foundation, demonstrating that true understanding often springs from initial bewilderment.
The story then meticulously shifts focus to the dawn of true scientific inquiry, a pivotal era in the 18th and early 19th centuries. This was a revolutionary time, Asimov explains, when thinkers began to challenge long-held beliefs about Earth's age and the immutability of species. The gradual realization that fossils were remains of ancient life signaled a radical departure from previous thought, paving the way for an entirely new field: paleontology. Figures like Mary Anning, whose discovery of the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton in 1811 helped establish the concept of extinct species, are presented by Asimov not just as individuals, but as vital cogs in the evolving machine of scientific progress. Similarly, Georges Cuvier is highlighted for pioneering the once-radical idea of extinction, a concept that opened doors to deeper questions about life's ancient past. Asimov excels at showing how these foundational steps, though seemingly small, were immense intellectual leaps, each contributing to a burgeoning understanding.
A particularly significant turning point in this scientific narrative, as Asimov presents it, arrived in 1842. It was then that the English anatomist Richard Owen, after examining various massive fossil bones, recognized shared features unlike any modern animal. This led him to group them into a new category and coin the now iconic term: "Dinosauria", meaning "terrible lizards". Asimov emphasizes that this act of naming was more than mere classification; it gave a unifying identity to these mysterious, extinct creatures, solidifying their place in scientific discourse as a real, distinct group of animals that had once dominated the Earth. This phase of the story illustrates Asimov's theme of how fragmented evidence, when viewed with keen insight, can yield profound understanding, akin to assembling a complex jigsaw puzzle with only a few initial pieces.
The narrative then plunges into a period of dramatic expansion and intense competition: the “Bone Wars” of the second half of the 19th century in the United States. This era, characterized by the fierce rivalry between American paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, is portrayed by Asimov as a whirlwind of ambition and discovery. Though their methods were at times reckless, their competitive drive led to the astonishing discovery of over 100 new dinosaur species, including widely recognized names such as Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Apatosaurus. Asimov's genius lies in presenting this period not just as a historical anecdote of human ego, but as a crucial, albeit messy, chapter in the growth of scientific knowledge, where mistakes were made and corrected, leading to a more refined understanding.
As our knowledge base grew, so too did our perception of what dinosaurs were truly like, a conceptual shift that Asimov expertly tracks. Early depictions often imagined them as slow, lumbering, reptilian brutes. However, Asimov illustrates how improving fossil evidence spurred a reinterpretation, particularly the observation of hollow bone structures reminiscent of birds. The later, revolutionary discovery of feathered dinosaurs from places like China further cemented a long-suspected link between dinosaurs and modern birds. This segment of the book showcases how scientific understanding is dynamic, constantly evolving from initial, often simplistic, ideas to a more active, diverse, and evolutionarily rich picture of these creatures. Asimov paints a vivid picture of their variety: from towering predators like Tyrannosaurus rex to chicken-sized raptors, some walking on two legs, others on four, sporting diverse features like horns, frills, plates, or club-like tails, and collectively reigning for over 160 million years.
Beyond the creatures themselves, Asimov thoughtfully expands the scope to the world dinosaurs inhabited. He provides a snapshot of Earth’s ancient climates and geography during the Mesozoic Era, the "Age of Dinosaurs," describing how continents like Pangaea were shaped differently, and how a generally warmer climate and higher sea levels characterized their environment. This contextualization is vital, as Asimov explains, because understanding their ancient ecosystems helps reconstruct their lives, diets, movements, and interactions, providing a holistic view of a lost world.
Perhaps the most gripping "mystery" Asimov tackles is the extinction of the dinosaurs. Around 66 million years ago, nearly all dinosaurs vanished in a mass extinction event, a puzzle that captivated scientists for decades. Asimov systematically walks the reader through the major theories debated over time: initial considerations of climate change or volcanic activity disrupting ecosystems, leading to the now leading theory of a massive asteroid impact. He highlights the crucial evidence that supported the asteroid hypothesis: a thin layer of iridium-rich clay found globally at the end of the Cretaceous Period, indicative of a worldwide catastrophe linked to the Chicxulub crater. This section underscores the scientific method in action—how evidence guides theory, and how a grand mystery can eventually yield a compelling, if tragic, explanation. Asimov provides a poetic resolution, noting that birds, having evolved from small theropod dinosaurs, survived, meaning dinosaurs are not entirely extinct, but live on in our skies.
Finally, Asimov delves into the profound hold dinosaurs have on human imagination. He observes how these creatures, both real yet unbelievable, capture our wonder, embodying impossible size and shape. From museums to movies, they are dual figures: scientific subjects and cultural icons. Asimov, ever the purist, carefully distinguishes between scientific rigor and speculative dramatization, emphasizing that the scientific story is ultimately the most compelling. Every fossil, he concludes, tells a tale of time, extinction, evolution, and the changing face of Earth itself.
Asimov’s work is ultimately a window into deep time, a masterful exposition on how humanity, piece by painstaking piece, has peered back through the ages to comprehend the vast sweep of life's changes, adaptations, and disappearances. He concludes with a humble appreciation for the progress made, coupled with the acknowledgment that much remains unknown, with each new discovery potentially reshaping our understanding. The book leaves the reader with the powerful realization that dinosaurs were not just monsters, but complex animals, integral to Earth's evolving tapestry of life, whose legacy endures both in modern birds and in the vibrant imaginations of future scientists. Asimov's genius lies not just in imparting knowledge, but in fostering the very spirit of scientific inquiry and wonder.
