The Modern Scholar

Behold the Mighty Dinosaur

By: John Kricher

Narrated by: John Kricher

Dinosaurs have been a source of fascination ever since their discovery in England early in the 19th century. Before their extinction, dinosaurs dominated Earth's terrestrial habitats for about 160 million years, far longer than primates. Dinosaurs present the ultimate puzzle in forensic science, but we have learned a great deal about them in the last 50 years. This lecture series will explain the evolutionary and ecological relationships among dinosaurs, what it might have been like to be present in the Mesozoic Era, and the question of what ultimately brought about the total extinction of all dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Although extinct, dinosaurs have never been more a focus of science than they are today.©2007 John Kricher (P)2007 Recorded Books, LLC

Reintroducing Self to Dinosaurs(zoological fan)

A very clearly written lecture series that is very informative to the casual or blooming dinosaur fan. I highly recommend this lecture series, I only wish it was longer. The narration is really very good, I don't think it could be better for this type of read. The subject matter includes many of the interesting topics regarding surprisingly interesting paleontological history, and covers most of the major information in what we have learned about dinosaurs in recent years. I typically only listen to narration of fiction, yet this was just as enjoyable, explanations of more complex ideas are well explained for the casual fan, but never felt too dumbed down. If there were a 'part 2' or more in depth version, I would get it without question. If you enjoy the chapter about feathers, I recommend the book "Feathers" also available on Audible(sorry, cant look up authors name).

John Kricher is a terrific teacher

In order to explain a complicated subject the teacher has to be very very well versed in the subject to explain it clearly, and John Kricher is clear without being condescending.

Professor Kricher touches lightly, but intelligently on the history of dinosaur hunters and their Museum directors, the earth's geological timeline and which dinosaurs existed in which era, and the anatomy of the subgroups of dinosaurs. If the man did not go deeply into each topic, it is because it would have taken several semesters of intensive course work to just to scrape the top of the geology, comparative anatomy, and the social history of the people who originally found and named the prehistoric bones. I enjoy listening to scholars who obviously enjoy their subject. I recommend this work to anyone interested in geology and history, not just dinosaurs.

Awesome

Wonderfully easy to listen to and extremely interesting and entertaining. There's a lot of joy and excitement about dinosaurs to be found in these lectures

Worth every moment!

Would you listen to The Modern Scholar again? Why?

Already have - about 3 times!

Any additional comments?

Professor Kricher knows his subject and makes it accessible and interesting! It was like being a kid again and discovering how cool dinosaurs were for the first time. He doesn't just talk about the dinosaurs but also the history of fossil hunting, the personalities of the people who found and studied the fossils, and there's even a chapter of dinosaurs in film. Finishing this lecture had me searching (fruitlessly) for other audiobooks about dinosaurs.

An enjoyable, educational trip through the real Jurassic Park

In reading what other people had written before I bought this book, the most common criticism I found was that the author talked way too much about the personalities involved in the paleontological history of dinosaur discovery. After having listened to Dr. Kricher’s lectures I now understand why. Way too emphasis put on who’s who for my taste. I found all of the names and egos interesting to a point, but enough’s enough. One chapter would have quite sufficiently covered everyone, no need for the indepth look at all of these characters.

That said, the man knows his stuff and presents in a way that is informative and yet meted out at a pace that’s easy to follow and to create an ever developing sense of the scope that the dinosaurs played in the history of life on this planet. He presents the material in a light hearted manner that allowed me to take in what he was saying without having to struggle to understand what fits where and when. Overall, it’s very educational and enjoyable and well worth a listen.