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| View Larger Image | Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway: An Epoch Tale of a Scientist and an Artist on the Ultimate 5,000-Mile Paleo Road Trip
by Kirk Johnson
by Ray Troll
| | List Price: | $29.95 | | Price: | $19.77 | | You Save: | $10.18 (34%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 20755 | | Studio: | Fulcrum Publishing | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 208 | | Publication Date: | December 31, 1969 | | Publisher: | Fulcrum Publishing |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Book Description
Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway follows the zany travels of a paleontologist and an artist as they drive across the American West in search of fossils. Throughout their journey, they encounter "paleonerds" like themselves, men and women dedicated to finding everything from suburban T. rexes to killer Eocene pigs to ancient fossilized forests. Much of their travels are spent in remote places few people visit, where they discover small-town museums packed with paleontological treasures, rock quarries that have yielded hundreds of fossilized bones, and the remains of ancient seashores tracked with the footprints of dinosaurs. What soon becomes evident is that fossils are everywhere; it only takes knowing what to look for to find them--even at 65 miles per hour. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 9 reviews)
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Great book! 
Kirk Johnson of the Denver Museum of Natural History and his traveling companion, artist Ray Troll, take us on a goofy whirlwind tour of fossil sites in the West that is funny and also informative. Kirk Johnson explains a lot of geological concepts along the way, while weaving in great anecdotes and entertaining sketches of the whacky characters who live and work at many of the sites they visit. Ray Troll's art, as always, is great and often quite surreal, and there's lots of it on every page. Highly recommended!
March 10, 2008 | |
Geology Illustrated 
The book was listed in Science News, which is a weekly publication with current news in the world of Science. My spouse, who is a Registered Professional Geologist, asked me to purchase it for her. At first glance she thought it was a children's book, however; in reading further realized the book was intended for adults. Her rating is that the publication was very good, both well written and illustrated. This rating means a lot because it is from someone who must have at least a zillion books on Geology and also has a Masters Degree in the subject.
February 21, 2008 | |
Caution! Paleo Fever is Catching
Caution! Paleo fever is catching. I already had a light dose of it before reading the book. Not many people carry around a small chunk of dinosaur rib in their purse just for the heck of it. (It makes a hilarious conversation piece at security check points. Most screeners don't want anything more to do with the purse after finding the bone.)
Now, after reading the book, I have a full blown case, and am itching to get back on the road. This book strikes just the right balance between hard information and just plain fun.
We went to Montana last summer and met several people who were at least as interesting as the bones - with strange tales of discovery and survival. Guess what! after reading the book, I now know that there is a whole world of fossils and people just waiting to be discovered.
This book answers a lot of questions that I had - i.e. what on earth is a concretion? Before reading the book, I could recognize one, but couldn't define what it was. Now I know more about what they are and how they form.
The book delivers a steady drip of valid scientific information that you almost don't realize that you are getting. (The author is a curator at the Denver Museum.)
The book will also tell you how to recognize and find dinosaur tracks at 65 miles an hour. - I won't give away the secret,but, I'll give you a hint: it involves birthday cake and ants.
Be warned! If you read this book, you will be left screaming for a ROAD TRIP in the great old American tradition.
January 07, 2008 | |
Freaky Fossils
Funny,thought-provoking story with historic information on paleontological sites and the people who search for fossils.
January 07, 2008 | |
Charles Kuralt meets Dennis Hopper
One part Easy Rider, one part On the Road with Charles Kuralt, and one part "stuff to find by the side of the road." Mix up these three and add an interesting commentary of "how things got to be the way they are" and you'll have some idea of what "Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway" is like. I've read "The Bone Wars" (Cope vs Marsh) and, while I find the topic interesting, I had to drag myself through parts of it. I also have a number of "Roadside Geology" books that I'm generally disappointed with. In "Cruisin'," Dr. Johnson gives details about the first scientists on the scene, plus precise locations & basic geology, and manages to make it all humorous and entertaining. The Easy Rider camaraderie between Johnson and artist Troll is often quite amusing, and the sketches of personalities they meet along the road makes what could be a very dry subject full of personable details. The octogenarian racing to beat Johnson to a fossil, the 16 year old girl with an Allosaurus under her bed, the "King of Trilobites" who has little more than disdain for fossils ... all keep the narrative far from a textbook coverage of geology. No, I don't know the author well enough for him to buy me lunch or have a piece of the royalties. I just really enjoyed both the personalities and the fossil info in the book. If you're serious about collecting, get the separate map as well: not only is it covered in Trollish art, but it provides an accurate index of fossil locales throughout the Western states (in much more detail and over broader areas than the book ... and better than any other source I've seen).
January 07, 2008 | |
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