Quest for the African Dinosaurs: Ancient Roots of the Modern World

Excavating in the highlands above Africa's Lake Malawi, paleontologist Jacobs unearthed the remains of a strange crocodile and three dinosaurs, one of which provided a missing link in the fossil record. He uses the story of his discoveries to depict Africa as it was 100 million years ago, when the continent was breaking away from the rest of the world land mass. Taking readers on-site to observe excavation and field work, he elucidates the process of dinosaur identification and the intricacies of their anatomies. Later, visiting a fossil bed in Cameroon's Koum Basin, he notes that the African fossil record covers a great deal of dinosaur history but is frustratingly spotty and incomplete. His own research with the titanosaurid sauropod Malawi-saurus , which chronicles an unbroken 79-million-year history, fills in some of the blanks. This fine book is an important volume for dinosaur fans. ( Feb. )