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Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway: An Epoch Tale of a Scientist and an Artist on the Ultimate 5,000-Mile Paleo Road Trip | 
 enlarge | Author: Kirk Johnson
Creator: Ray Troll
Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $17.99
You Save: $11.96 (40%)
New (24) Used (15) from $14.38
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 44237
Media: Paperback
Edition: 10 x 10
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 10.2 x 9.9 x 1
ISBN: 1555914519
Dewey Decimal Number: 560.978
EAN: 9781555914516
ASIN: 1555914519
Publication Date: October 8, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
“Would make anyone want to go on a fossil hunt.”?True West Cruisin'the Fossil Freeway follows the most unusual travels of a paleontologist and artist as they drive across the West in search of fossils, encountering “paleonerds” like themselves and evidence of everything from suburban T. rexes to ancient fossilized forests.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
Great book! March 10, 2008
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!
 Geology Illustrated February 21, 2008
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.
Caution! Paleo Fever is Catching January 7, 2008
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.
Freaky Fossils January 7, 2008
Funny,thought-provoking story with historic information on paleontological sites and the people who search for fossils.
Charles Kuralt meets Dennis Hopper January 7, 2008
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).
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