David Schwimmer Books

This is an all around interesting read for those who are somewhat familiar with more intensive scientific research. Professor Schwimmer is obviously an expert on Crocodylians,paleontology, as well as plaleo-environments. All the technical descriptions he does of the different aspects of body design,dentition, habitat,study of bone damage(bite markings) etc., all show the extensive amount of research involved to make definitive conclusions about the animals living habits and status in the ecosystem. There was just enough balance between the hypothetical story in the beginning, and all the other hard science in the rest of the book(that backed up the hypothetical story), to make for an enlightening read. This shows the laymen just how intricate and intensive reanimating prehistoric ecosystems and animals truly is. And of course being interested in giant dinosaur eating crocs doesn't hurt either!

David Schwimmer's book stands as the most comprehensive look at the natural history of one of the largest crocodylians ever to roam the earth.

The opening chapter starts off a lot like Steve Alten's Meg. A hapless theropod winds up in the wrong place at the wrong time. While Meg's scenario was entirely fictitious (_Carcharocles megalodon_ was not around during the Cretaceous), Schwimmer's scenario is actually based off of some factual evidence. For the rest of the book, Schwimmer justifes his scenario by presenting evidence for the size, habitats and prey of _Deinosuchus_.

Schwimmer breaks up each of the 8 chapters into different sections on _Deinosuchus_. Starting with the semi-fictitious intro, then going into its chaotic taxonomic origin, when, and where it appeared, how big it got, what creatures it was related to, and who was preying on whom back in the Late Cretaceous. All the evidence is viewed objectively, with the author's view stated at the end. Some highlights include an interesting section of the 2nd chapter, which showed some of the bias seen in non-dinosaur/non-mammalian work. More often than not, the reason we know as little as we do about other ancient reptiles, is because of a lack of interest in them. One prime quote from that chapter (pg 29) really sums this up:

"Holland (1909) reported that, upon recognizing the animal leaving all these big bone fragments was a huge crocodylian: 'Mr.Hatcher immediately lost interest in the material...""

Thankfully, this skewed point of view has been slowly changing. If it hadn't, then this book would never have been written. Schwimmer also deals with the infamously inaccurate skull reconstruction that used to be on display on the 4th floor of the AMNH. This reconstruction and numerous pictures based off it, has been used in popular and professional literature to estimate the size and dimensions of the animal. Schwimmer shows how this inaccurate restoration came to be, and exactly what was wrong with it.

Replacing this misinformation, is the most accurate, and up to date measurments of the animal. While the old measurements had _Deinosuchus_ hitting lengths of 50+ ft (based off that inaccurate skull), the newer measurements only shrink the crocodylian down by ~11ft and weighing in at 8.5 tonnes in the largest individuals. While showing off size, Schimmer also shows the readers that there were two different sized populations of this genus. Eastern populations were smaller (~26ft and 2.3 tonnes) and more numerous than western populations. Schwimmer even compares these new size measurements to other giants from the fossil record. In most cases _Deinosuchus_ comes out on top compared to most carnivores of its time, or of any time (to help put things in perspective, this crocodylian was a full 1.5 tonnes larger than _T.rex_).

The book alludes to an interesting trait of fossil "supercrocs." As Schwimmer describes other large crocodylians throughout prehistory (an apparent "trend" in this group), one notices that fossil supercrocs suffer from the exact opposite problem that most large vertebrate skeletons suffer. There tends to be really good skull material, but little, or no postcranial material.

_Deinosuchus_ anatomy is thoroughly discussed. Schwimmers shows just how important crocodylian osteoderms are, and using traits of these osteoderms, shows that erect walking (aka "high walking") was possible in even the largest _Deinosuchus_ specimen. Schwimmer also spends ample time on the unique dentition in _Deinosuchus_. Most of the teeth were short, blunt and rounded. According to Schwimmer this was originally evolved for turtle eating purposes, and was later exapted towards dinosaur eating in the species (especially the western pop). Schwimmer also gives mention to the incredible force exerted by the jaws of these animals and shows that _Deinosuchus_ had the strongest jaws of any animal known to science regardless of time period.

Chapter 7 gives a fairly comprehensive rundown of the group of animals that lead to _Deinosuchus_. It is nice, for it shows just how taxonomically confusing the crocodylotarsi group is, while also going a little farther to dispelling the myth that crocodylians have changed little in 200 million years on earth. Though there was no mention of pristichampsids, or _Stomatosuchus_, Schwimmer does mention _Malawisuchus_ and the new Madagascar crocodyliforme, which had teeth and body forms similar to herbivorous mammals and dinosaurs. With all this variation and diversity showcased, it is somewhat disappointing to hear Schwimmer state that he doesn't consider the crocodylotarsi group to be as derived from basal archosaurs as dinosaurs and birds are (something I completely disagree with). Overall though, this chapter really goes far in highlighting the many different bodyforms that lead to _Deinosuchus_.

The final chapter of the book talks about what, exactly, _Deinosuchus_ was eating back then. Studying the dentition, habitats and evidence of predation, Schwimmer shows that turtles made up a large part of the diet for, at least, eastern _Deinosuchus_ populations. Schwimmer also shows that _Deinosuchus_ in both the western and eastern parts of North America, were not only eating dinosaurs, but were outcompeting the carnivorous theropods in the area (and occasionally eating them too). So, by the end of the book, one has come full circle.

Schimmer's writing style is reminiscent of my own. He doesn't dumb down the technical terms, but instead provides definitions for words and scenarios in parenthesis, or in an appendix (and occasionally goes off on parenthetical tangents like this one). The layout of the book allows one to either read it from cover to cover, or to just pick it up and look for a particular subject. If more info is mentioned later, or earlier in the book, the location is placed in parenthesis for easy reference.

If you're into ancient life, crocodylians, reptiles, or if you just liked National Geographic's: Supercroc special, then I highly recommend this book. _Sarcosuchus_ is cool, but _Deinosuchus_ is the supercroc that started it all. Kudos to David Schwimmer, James Farlow and all the other "Life of the Past" workers, for showing that dinosaurs weren't the only cool creatures alive millions of years ago :)

An interesting book, certainly worth a look by those who, like myself, have been fascinated by the original 'supercroc' for a long time. Nevertheless if like me you are not a palaeontologist you might find this book a little on the dry side. An early hypothetical meeting of eastern Deinosuchus and dinosaur grips the attention but after that the book seems to become very obsessed with a few areas; mainly the lineage of Deinosuchus, the investigation of eastern and western Deinosuchus and whether they were related and a certain amount on its evolution and diet. To my mind the mixture of purely factual peer-reviewed paper and hypothetical drama wasn't an entirely happy one. I felt there could have been more about the life-cycle of Deinosuchus; the western animals predation on larger carnivores; and deeper investigation in to why such a large, successful predator (the largest heavier than both T-rex or Giganotosaurus!), which had suppressed the development of larger dinosaur predators on the east coast died out before the mass extinction. The ending is also distinctly anti-climactic, even Scientific American / New Scientist writers end their articles with a bit more of a bang! It's still a fascinating book. It's obvious that a lot of research has gone into and I don't regret buying it, but I think it could have been a couple of chapters longer and filled in a few more blanks about the life of Deinosuchus in general for the benefit of us lay enthusiasts.

King of the Crocodylians: The Paleobiology of Deinosuchus written by David R. Schwimmer is a book about the giant chrocdylians that used to inhabit the eastern and western gulf coastal plains of the interior seaway that ran through the North American continent in the late Cretaceous period, also up the Atlantic Coastal Plain.

This in modern times relates to the Gulf States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida; and the Atlantic States of Georgia, South and North Carolina. The book explains that there were differences in size between the Western and Eastern species of Deinosuchas. And it is especially noteworthy that these Cretaceous crocodylians were animals reaching more than twice the body mass of any living Crocodylus or Alligator species.

A major focus of this book, besides the giant crocodylians themselves, is the unique ecosystems and conditions of these southern Late Cretaceous coastal habitats that enabled such crocodylian populations to develop and flourish for a significant amount of geological time.

This book is NOT hard reading, in fact, this book move right along as we read about the croc's diet, how it hunted and what it ate. There is a lot of anatomy in this book as we see skull fossil remains and teeth, while there is some comparative anatomy Deinosuchus was in a class by itself.

The contents of the book: The Life and Times of a Giant Crocodylian; The Early Paleontology of Deinosuchus; The Size of Deinosuchus; The Age of Deinosuchus; Deinosuchus Localities and Their Ancient Enviornments; How Many Deinosuchus Species Existed?; A Genealogy of Deinosuchus; and The Prey of Giants.

I found the book to be very informative, this is not light reading for children, but children from age 12 and older will be able to understand it. All in all, the life and times of a Giant Croc is the easiest way to explain this book.

Peter Goodchild's take on the events following the upheaval at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago masterfully mixes real life interviews with dramatic re-enactments from the courtroom. The actors portray the 60's "hippies" with passion and reverence. The interviewing of historians and participants provides intriguing details into the events. Truly a great blend of drama and reality.

On the socialism one needs to heed "the times" they were in. well before the information age of how we can now see and listen and freely read about all things that are happening around the USA and the world. 1900, news papers, that's it. No TV, no radio, no internet, and even the papers were "controlled", no free speech back then. All this means that when your hurting, and hurting real bad and for many years, you are looking for some way out, anything can come along and sound good.

And as bad as all this was, imagine how even WORSE it was for the disabled! blind, deaf, etc. oh man, you don't even want to "go there" truly must have been treated like animals..... and the ADA? What?

Lastly, why is SPAM still being sold in the 21st Century? Because people will buy it, amazing isn't it? GROSS

This is so far my favorite book. Mr. Sinclair's articulation of the English language has made the book one of the jewels in the American literature history. He was a true investigative journalist, one of the heroes in modern journalism. Sometimes I would find myself very moved and even depressed because of the vivid and harsh social image he described in the book. This book has a great impact on my life. I stopped buying products produced by big companies who do not practice ethical business. I also strongly recommand reading "Fast Food Nation" (as a matter of fact, "The Jungle" was mentioned in "Fast Food Nation", and that's how I knew it.)

This novel does a wonderful job of painting scenes from the daily life of a family of Lithuanian immigrant workers in the early 1900s. Sinclair produces memorable characters and captures the spirt of the times well. However, it is not a great novel from a purely literary perspective due to its lack of depth and rather uneventful plot. This novel carved out its niche in history by exposing the unsanitary conditions of the meat packing industry of the day. Many credit this novel with setting in motion the wheels that ulitmately led to the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. This is a book that is worth reading because of its historical impact, but it is does not contain the ingredients of a literary masterpiece.

First off, I'd like to express my opinion that this is one of the most brilliant novels of all time, eloquent in its own hyper-literal and miserable way, and though a hard read(400 pages of pure sorrow and exposure of our dark world) is one of the most fulfilling literary experiences available.

Now then, this book reformed and improve meat laws. It also deals heavily with the meat packing industry. But it even states within its walls that eating meat is virtually unnecessary, it supports the abolishment of such industry altogether, not to change any laws to better it. Though better than nothing, the accidental achievement of improving FDA standards of meat is a complete joke, and it was accomplished out of the pure lack of deep thought which Americans have possessed in the past 100 years. This novel is an example of the highest brilliance of political commentary, and everyone thinks its a ****ing book on nutrition. This angers someone as passionate about the work as I am, so excuse the hostility, but really... Its not just about health code problems. The boy eaten by rats, the death of Jurgis' entire family, the traitorous nature of politicians, how often Jurgis is conned without ever realizing it, the fact that his wife, one of his few lingering purposes for life, is violated and dies, because of foolish decisions he was forced into and must cope with, the imprisonment, the poverty, starvation, loneliness! The meat industry is almost irrelevant, its simply one symbol of the thousands of possible ones which can epitomize the cruel nature of capitalism. It didn't end with the improvement of meat quality, its the idea that in this world, we are slaves to money, and those who by either chance or folly fail to achieve wealth will be tossed aside as garbage. Don't you see, this poverty still goes on today, that it did not end with the simple improvement of cleanliness? It is an expose on the sick nature of capitalism, of this merciless dog-eat-dog world which confuses superiority with circumstance, not a suggestion of how we should prepare food. Women are still prostitutes, children are still starving, politicians are still crooks, men are still alcoholics, and we are still owned by monetary garbage. At least recognize these socialist themes, you don't need to do anything about it, its radical, its insane, it would never work, sure, think what you will, but if you're going to praise a book written by a genius such as this, I'd appreciate that you didn't completely destroy his point. Notice, also, how he speaks of the world as a whole at some points in his book. Despite apparent increase in our quality of life here in the grand ole USA, the world is still quite ****ed, if I may say so myself, as Sinclair DID, and everyone failed to notice because they've sort of forgotten than an entire planet exists outside of ourselves. Please, with the numbers who have read this book, you'd think that quite a few may have been reached, but this focusing on the trivial and denial of the extreme has hardly done this book any justice.

And Dr. Barry Sears has absolutely no place in the book... he states in the afterword in so many words that Sinclair would have to admit that the current strides in the meat industry have done more for the American working man than "any political movement could have ever accomplished." This nutritionist is going to say that Upton Sinclair, obviously one of the most convicted socialist figures of all time, would be happy that his grand vision of a utopian brotherhood was instead interpreted as something so shallow as 'cleaner meat means happier America'? Complete and utter ignorance! And he has the gall to plug The Zone, and the foolishness to say that The Jungle and The Zone are similar, passing The Jungle in the same boat as some dieting garbage and The Zone off as some world-saving, revolutionary book. Complete and utter ****ing ignorance.

If Sinclair were alive right now, no doubt he'd be insulted. You should all give the book a good second reading, and this time pay attention to the last half, you know, the one that has nothing to do with the meat industry at all. This is a book of brilliance...

"I wrote with tears and anguish, pouring into the pages all the pain that life had meant to me." -UPTON SINCLAIR You can comprehend this pain, and understand it, and do something about it, if you simply read the book with a mind beyond an adolescent stage. And I guarantee you, the pain is not a simple matter of unsanitary steaks and chops.

This book is enlightenment for the philosopher stuck in the capitalist world, the one who thinks in the midst of all those who work. For those who fail to understand, its simply something to read because it is marked as a "classic," and I have noticed that. It is by no means pleasant to read but by all means essential to those wishing to comprehend the true genius of literary expression. Do yourself a service and read this book. You don't have to convert to a socialist, but you also don't have to be a complete idiot in its interpretation.

My apologies once again for the hostility, but as I said I am very passionate about this work. If it arises as too trying a task to take in the entire thing,at least survey the last 50 pages or so, for included are speeches of wondrous inspiration and eloquence. This review is not a simple shot at those who took it the wrong way, but a guide for those who will eventually read it. Genius lies in these pages, truly a mind-altering brain supplement... just forget everything anyone's ever told you about it, or about American politics, and see what you come to realize.

This is one of my top reads. If you read and liked Fast Food Nation then you have to read this. This will motivate you to want to take a stand, start a social movement. The story is written extremely well and sucks you in. This one kept me up late and left me wondering about a lot of things. I also wonder how much is different then from now. The family in this story are very endearing and I found myself attached to them. This really brings the dark to light. Loved it.