cover image Dinosaur Plots and Other Intrigues in Natural History

Dinosaur Plots and Other Intrigues in Natural History

Leonard Krishtalka. William Morrow & Company, $17.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-688-07116-5

Krishtalka, a paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, here collects and updates 25 articles from his natural-history column, ``Missing Links,'' in Carnegie magazine. He covers many topicsthe Piltdown hoax, taxonomy, creationism, the sex life of dinosaurs, DNA, plate tectonics and othersin a delightfully witty and original manner. Krishtalka has a talent for making every subject interesting. In one section, for example, he equates principles of evolution with ups and downs in the fortunes of baseball teams. In another he concludes a disquisition on the lineage of the modern cow with hilarious proposals for the use of cattle as highway billboards. He is irreverent but not frivolous; there is much to be learned from these essays. People who never had much interest in paleontology and related topics may discover, after reading this book, that they have developed an appetite for these matters. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Mar.)