Geobulletin alpha

Varves along Hawk Creek, Washington 

Heading into the Columbia River Plateau, Callan and his colleague Bill Richards make a detour in search of some varves from Glacial Lake Columbia. They find them, a credit to the authors of "Washington Rocks!" - the new book from Mountain

Win The Tyrannosaur Chronicles! 

Following Niroot's previous post, we have at least* 2 copies of Dave Hone's new book, The Tyrannosaur Chronicles, to give away. The book is a superb examination (a chronicle, if you will) of the science surrounding that very sexiest of theropod clades, the tyrannosauroids. Highly accessible and yet detailed and comprehensive with it, The Tyrannosaur Chronicles has plenty to offer for dinosaur enthusiasts of every stripe. It's been met with a flurry of positive reviews, to which we will [...]

Consensus, Cooperation, and Conversation 

This is one of my periodic mea culpas for a lack of posts. In this case, I have an excuse and I think it's a worthy one. I'm one of a group of people editing a new book on collection storage, due for publication late this year. Or early next year. It's a 650 page monster with 35 chapters and 60 authors and while I've never given birth, I suspect producing this thing will give me some sense of what that's like. When it comes out, buy it. We managed to assemble a fantastic group of authors [...]

Vintage Dinosaur Art: Animals of the Past Stamps 

Now here's another properly old one (at long last) - a compendium of extinct animal 'stamps' from the Cold War world of 1954. Why put 'stamps' in fright quotes? Well, they're more like stickers, given that you wouldn't be able to send an angry letter to the palaeontological establishment of the day with any of them. This would, therefore, be a sticker album. But 'tis mere semantics - we're here to see a variety of prehistoric creatures presented in sub-technicolour retro stylee, and The Golden [...]

Mesozoic Miscellany 84 

A few programming notes first before the roundup. You may recall that at the end of last year, I hinted at a move to WordPress. That's still in the planning stages, and I would love to make it happen. It would mean less time zapping spammers, better commenting functionality, and I'd have more control over the site design. We do need a bit of help to make that a reality. So if you direct your attention to the sidebar, you'll see a tip jar, for those of you who would like to support us. Besides [...]

Guest Post: Yes, Your Velociraptors Must Have Feathers and Other Concessions to Reality 

In this guest post, we hand the microphone to Daniel Bensen, who is here to bring a novelist's perspective to the topic of accuracy in media portrayals of extinct animals.Let's talk about the giant lizards in Jurassic World. Their tails droop like noodles, their skins are scaly and wrinkled, hanging off prominent bones. Their hands curl in front of them as if ready to dribble basketballs. They hiss and spit, and glare at the world through slit-pupiled eyes, their skulls as bony and gnarled as [...]

Seattle Moves A Mountain – The Video 

With the publication of my new book, there has been some well deserved attention to a video about the regrading of Denny Hill, made by the engineering department. Most of the web sites that include the video only show a few minutes of it. Below is the video in all of its 18-minute glory. It … Continue reading Seattle Moves A Mountain – The

Maps/Images Too High and Too Steep 

Just got my new book. I am very happy with how the images in it turned out and think they are a fine compliment to the text. For those of you who want a bit more detail or perhaps want to obtain copies, here are links to most (not all of them are on line) … Continue reading Maps/Images Too High and Too

It’s here. My new book. 

Pretty exciting as today I just picked up a copy of my new book. I think it’s rather handsome looking. Thanks again the UW Press for their wonderful editing and design. Just think you can be the first on your block to order a copy. Don’t be

A new book, Recreating an Age of Reptiles, coming this Autumn 

Twitter and Facebook followers will be aware that teases of new artwork and allusions to a second book form the majority of my recent social media output. Today, the teases stop and the covers are coming off : Recreating an Age of Reptiles, a collection of my recent palaeoartworks, is due out later this year. I'm really thrilled to see enthusiasm from the online community for this project. Every time I mention this book I have someone ask a question or two about content, availability [...]

The Disaster Profiteers 

  In his new book The Disaster Profiteers, Earth Institute professor John Mutter argues that natural disasters are bad for the poor–and can be great for the rich, who often seize resources meant for recovery, when no one is looking. From post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans to Myanmar after 2008’s Cyclone Nargis, Mutter shows how the elites prosper from... read

Female Leaders, Ancient and Modern: Kara Cooney on Hatshepsut, gender, and power 

What is it that makes female power so objectionable? What about a woman leading creates hostility and mistrust? That’s the million-dollar question. Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney and Houston native searches for the answer in her new book, The Woman Who Would … Continue reading

Name that Street 

Over the past few weeks as I have been wandering the Seattle streets for my new book of urban walks, I have noticed a feature that I had previously noted but not thought too much about. It’s the handful of places in town where the name of the street is embedded in the sidewalk. I … Continue reading Name that

Too High and Too Steep – Book Jacket 

Wow, just got to see the book jacket for my new book, Too High and Too Steep. Pretty exciting. Thanks kindly to the UW Press for a fabulous design and for all of their support. The book will be out in September. (click on cover for larger

Geology Underfoot – Reading in Seattle 

Just quick note about Dave Tucker’s talk tonight at 7pm at the UBookstore in Seattle. He’ll be talking about his wonderful and much needed new book, Geology Underfoot in Western Washington. Don’t be shy, come support Dave and independent bookstores. Congrats

No love for Ichthyodectes? 

It seems like nearly every year a new book, film, or television program comes out featuring the long-dead seaway that covered most of the central part of North America back in the late Cretaceous. Invariably they have cameos featuring Xiphactinus, Cretoxyrhina, Protosphyraena, and even the "bait fish" Gillicus and Enchodus. They have mosasaurs, pterosaurs and even sea turtles. If you didn't follow the science closely, you'd understandably figure that's about all that lived in that shallow [...]

As the Earth Policy Institute Closes, Its Leader is Upbeat 

Lester Brown, the global environmental leader, turned 81 this year and is closing The Earth Policy Institute, the environmental research organization he founded in 2001. His new book, The Great Transition asserts that the world is shifting from fossil fuels to solar and wind

Remembering the 1945 Makran Tsunami – Free book: interviews with survivors 

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Makran Earthquake and Tsunami. On 27 November, 1945, an earthquake of magnitude Mw8.1 occurred at the Makran Subduction Zone offshore Pakistan. A large tsunami was triggered that reached the coasts of Pakistan, Iran, India, and Oman. The quake and the waves left approx. 4,000 people dead. A new book collects interviews with survivors. The book has been published by the UNESCO through its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and is available for [...]

Vintage Dinosaur Art: LOOK at Dinosaurs 

As I'm sure I've mentioned before (for how many years have I been writing these, again?), it's always a joy when a truly vintage dinosaur book finds its way into my clutches, as opposed to I Can't Believe It's Yet Another 1980s Dougal Dixon Dino Book or somesuch. Which isn't to say that the post-Dino Renaissance stuff can't be interesting - far from it - but there's an awful lot more of it about. The illustrations in LOOK at Dinosaurs (1962) aren't especially remarkable, but they're another [...]

Guest blog by Elisa Kagan: New book on the Dead Sea Transform 

A new book on the Dead Sea Transform has been published by Springer: DEAD SEA TRANSFORM FAULT SYSTEM: REVIEWS Together with Prof. Zvi Garfunkel and Prof. Zvi Ben-Avraham, I am a co-editor of this book. The book focuses on various aspects of the fault system, from geophysics, to tectonics, paleolimnology, hydrology, seismicity, and PALEOSEISMICITY. Most relevant to this blog are the papers by Agnon and by Marco & Klinger. Shmulik Marco and Yann Klinger review in a new light