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OverviewA narrative history of the discovery of dinosaurs and how they toppled religion and transformed the world In 1811, a twelve-year-old girl uncovered some strange-looking bones in Britain's southern shoreline. They belonged to no known creature and were buried beneath a hundred feet of rock. How this was possible was unclear, but over the next two decades, as several more of these 'impossible monsters' emerged from the soil, the leading scientists of the day were forced to confront one profoundly disturbing implication- as a historical account of creation, the Bible was wildly wrong. This is the dramatic story of the crisis that engulfed science and religion when we discovered the dinosaurs. It takes us into the lives and minds of the extraordinary men and women who made and grappled with these heretical discoveries, those who resisted them as well as those pioneering thinkers, Darwin most famous among them, who took great risks to construct a new account of the earth's and mankind's origins. It took seventy years for them to win their case- that the earth was millions of years old and that man, like every other living being, was an accident of evolution. Doing so had plunged Britain into a crisis of faith, liberated science from the authority of religion and ushered in the secular age. Impossible Monsters is the riveting story of a group of people who not only thought impossible things but showed them to be true. In the process they revolutionised the way mankind thinks about itself, and so they changed the world. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Michael TaylorPublisher: Vintage Publishing Imprint: The Bodley Head Ltd Dimensions: Width: 16.20cm , Height: 4.20cm , Length: 24.00cm Weight: 0.751kg ISBN: 9781847926784ISBN 10: 1847926789 Pages: 496 Publication Date: 14 March 2024 Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , General , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: To order  Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us. Table of ContentsReviewsAn account of the discovery of deep time that is as thrilling as it is sweeping, populated by a brilliantly drawn cast of characters, and vivid with a Mesozoic bestiary -- TOM HOLLAND An outstanding and gripping revelation ... essential reading -- Simon Sebag Montefiore on The Interest A magnificent book ... riveting * Evening Standard on The Interest * Taylor can tell a story superbly * Economist on The Interest * Scintillating ... brisk, gripping ... compulsively readable * Guardian on The Interest * First-rate and riveting * The Times on The Interest * A compelling story, graced with anecdotes but driven by argument ... scorching * New Statesman on The Interest * One of the pleasures of teaching modern historians is that they go on to write great books like this -- Mary Beard on The Interest Impressively researched and engagingly written -- Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times, on The Interest An account of the discovery of deep time that is as thrilling as it is sweeping, populated by a brilliantly drawn cast of characters, and vivid with a Mesozoic bestiary -- TOM HOLLAND An outstanding and gripping revelation ... essential reading -- Simon Sebag Montefiore on The Interest Impressively researched and engagingly written -- Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times, on The Interest A magnificent book ... riveting * Evening Standard on The Interest * Taylor can tell a story superbly * Economist on The Interest * Scintillating ... brisk, gripping ... compulsively readable * Guardian on The Interest * First-rate and riveting * The Times on The Interest * A compelling story, graced with anecdotes but driven by argument ... scorching * New Statesman on The Interest * One of the pleasures of teaching modern historians about ancient Rome is that they go on to write great books like this -- Mary Beard on The Interest An outstanding and gripping revelation ... essential reading -- Simon Sebag Montefiore on The Interest Impressively researched and engagingly written -- Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times, on The Interest A magnificent book ... riveting * Evening Standard on The Interest * Taylor can tell a story superbly * Economist on The Interest * Scintillating ... brisk, gripping ... compulsively readable * Guardian on The Interest * First-rate and riveting * The Times on The Interest * A compelling story, graced with anecdotes but driven by argument ... scorching * New Statesman on The Interest * One of the pleasures of teaching modern historians about ancient Rome is that they go on to write great books like this -- Mary Beard on The Interest This book confirms what I've suspected for a while, that Michael Taylor is the most talented young historian around. This book dazzles in its originality and there is something you want to commit to memory on every page. A triumph -- SATHNAM SANGERA An account of the discovery of deep time that is as thrilling as it is sweeping, populated by a brilliantly drawn cast of characters, and vivid with a Mesozoic bestiary -- TOM HOLLAND In this stunning work of popular history, historian Michael Taylor shows how the discovery of dinosaurs triggered a domino effect that shook the foundations of western culture, and loosened the grip of traditional Biblical values on British society. This is a book of surprises and revelations, scholarly yet accessible, erudite and quirky, a most engrossing account of science, history, religion, culture, and yes, dinosaurs, all woven together into an epic tale of how Britain modernized in the 19th century -- Steve Brusatte, author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs A sweeping account of the discovery of dinosaurs and the horrifying depths of time, and their impact on god-fearing Victorians. Taylor marches us with panache from Bishop Ussher's impossibly young world to today's incomprehensibly old planet. We feel the awe and fright across society as the vast reptilian empires are brought to light -- ADRIAN DESMOND, author of Darwin's Sacred Cause An outstanding and gripping revelation ... essential reading -- Simon Sebag Montefiore on The Interest A magnificent book ... riveting * Evening Standard on The Interest * Taylor can tell a story superbly * Economist on The Interest * Scintillating ... brisk, gripping ... compulsively readable * Guardian on The Interest * First-rate and riveting * The Times on The Interest * A compelling story, graced with anecdotes but driven by argument ... scorching * New Statesman on The Interest * One of the pleasures of teaching modern historians is that they go on to write great books like this -- Mary Beard on The Interest Impressively researched and engagingly written -- Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times, on The Interest Author InformationMichael Taylor is an historian of colonial slavery, the British Empire and the British Isles. He graduated with a double first in history from the University of Cambridge, where he earned his PhD - and also won University Challenge. He has since been Lecturer in Modern British History at Balliol College, Oxford, and he is currently a Visiting Fellow at the British Library's Eccles Centre for American Studies. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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