Rather surprisingly, he does not mention the rival or perhaps complementary theory that the dinosaurs were already becoming extinct as the result of large-scale volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps in India. This is a book about science, but Fortey never forgets that science is a human activity. Some of the characters he encounters are strikingly eccentric. The favourite undoubtedly has to be Rousseau H. Flower, who dressed in Wild West clothes and used to bullwhip outcrops that failed to yield an adequate amount of fossils. He smoked almost continually, even in the shower, yet in spite of all this he was a masterly cello player.
Some palaeontologists are remarkable in other ways, without being eccentric.
Professor G.J. Vermeij is totally blind, yet is an authority on prehistoric shells, which he recognizes by touch. Fortey has written a delightful book that would be especially suitable to give to someone with a background in literature or the arts but with little knowledge of science and evolution. If such a reader wanted to pursue the subject further, however, he or she might require more guidance than is provided by the rather brief list of further reading. This could have been fuller and might have included notes to give an indication of the scope of the books mentioned. To order this book from the doctors.org.uk bookshop, click on the ISBN number above.