mjex19's review
3.0
There is no list of ingredients and the directions are very unclear. Very poor cookbook. You expect to learn how to bake a dinosaur, but it’s just a crazy guy trying to bioengineer a mutant chicken.
jandi's review
2.0
This read a lot more like a very lengthy research grant application. I liked the sections that explained some of the experimental techniques, it is interesting that some techniques used for detection of infectious diseases can also be used for research. But the bulk of the book is on justifying the research, and it does get very repetitive.
mrsjulietfox's review against another edition
5.0
Great book about the evolution of dinosaurs (and birds). Proposes using developmental evolutionary biology to create a dinosaur from a chicken embryo, which (after reading Horner's plan) sounds like a very plausible (and very cool!) idea.
rickycatto's review against another edition
3.0
Super interesting. I hope this guy gets to engineer a real Dino. The book has some fun range -from detailed descriptions of Montana's Paleontology history through the technicalities of gene splicing. If you like dinosaurs and are interested in the future of biotech and it's potential, this is a good book.
barrysweezey's review against another edition
Let's alter the normal development of a chicken embryo to try to get it to develop the teeth, arms with grasping claws, and long tail of its dinosaur ancestors. It seems that the genes for those things are still there. Aiming to create a chickenosaurus will be a good target for a research program that will teach us a lot about the development of embryos and evolution. It may also allow us to correct developmental errors that lead to birth defects.
samwescott's review against another edition
5.0
This was really interesting! So, a quick glance at the book synopsis mentioned that Horner consulted for Jurassic Park and based on the cover (I know, I know, I did the thing) and the title, I half-expected this book to be about bringing dinosaurs to life on film. Oops! My bad. This book is actually about Chickenosaurus.
Pardon?
Yes! Renowned paleontologist Jack Horner wants to reverse engineer a chicken embryo into something like a dinosaur, with a real tail, teeth, and forearms instead of wings. How freaking cool is that? This whole book is basically Horner breaking down the background science, explaining how it could be done, guessing at what scientific advances could be side-benefits of the project, and waxing a wee bit philosophical on what a breathing chickenosaurus could mean for the scientific imagination of the shaky American public.
His enthusiasm was charming and the science was super interesting. It's a bit out of date (2009, I think?), so I'm sure there could be updates, but still. The background info was really cool and I definitely vote for a Chickenosaurus at this point. Count me in. Sounds fun.
Pardon?
Yes! Renowned paleontologist Jack Horner wants to reverse engineer a chicken embryo into something like a dinosaur, with a real tail, teeth, and forearms instead of wings. How freaking cool is that? This whole book is basically Horner breaking down the background science, explaining how it could be done, guessing at what scientific advances could be side-benefits of the project, and waxing a wee bit philosophical on what a breathing chickenosaurus could mean for the scientific imagination of the shaky American public.
His enthusiasm was charming and the science was super interesting. It's a bit out of date (2009, I think?), so I'm sure there could be updates, but still. The background info was really cool and I definitely vote for a Chickenosaurus at this point. Count me in. Sounds fun.
megstracredit's review against another edition
2.0
I was a little disappointed by this book. Only the last two chapters really dealt with the actual "chickenosaurus", while the rest was a lot of background information presented in a somewhat simplistic way. It was interesting, but I expected more. I would recommend this to people interested in dinosaurs who haven't necessarily had many classes in biology or evolution. This might work for a high school or introductory college science class.
the_bitextual's review against another edition
4.0
It's Jack Horner writing a book about dinosaurs. What do you want me to say?