Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
The Fossil Hunter
The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World | Shelley Emling
6 posts | 7 read | 37 to read
At a time when women were excluded from science, a young girl made a discovery that marked the birth of paleontology and continues to feed the debate about evolution to this day. Mary Anning was only twelve years old when, in 1811, she discovered the first dinosaur skeleton--of an ichthyosaur--while fossil hunting on the cliffs of Lyme Regis, England. Until Mary's incredible discovery, it was widely believed that animals did not become extinct. The child of a poor family, Mary became a fossil hunter, inspiring the tongue-twister, "She Sells Sea Shells by the Seashore." She attracted the attention of fossil collectors and eventually the scientific world. Once news of the fossils reached the halls of academia, it became impossible to ignore the truth. Mary's peculiar finds helped lay the groundwork for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, laid out in his On the Origin of Species. Darwin drew on Mary's fossilized creatures as irrefutable evidence that life in the past was nothing like life in the present. A story worthy of Dickens, The Fossil Hunter chronicles the life of this young girl, with dirt under her fingernails and not a shilling to buy dinner, who became a world-renowned paleontologist. Dickens himself said of Mary: "The carpenter's daughter has won a name for herself, and deserved to win it." Here at last, Shelley Emling returns Mary Anning, of whom Stephen J. Gould remarked, is "probably the most important unsung (or inadequately sung) collecting force in the history of paleontology," to her deserved place in history.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
Mitch
post image
Mehso-so

The familiar story of the prevailing discord between science & church as people begin to question the creation of earth was well told. But this was a book about Mary Anning - and so much of her story Emling fictionalised & tried to fill in the gaps where her research failed to find traces. Coupled with a reliance on assumption & stereotype around class and race took the shine off this book & yet again put men front on centre in Mary's own story.

blurb
Mitch
post image

Just started this today - the writing style is annoying me a bit .... lots of ‘she might have thought this‘ , ‘she might have said that‘ , ‘maybe she did this‘ ... writing about past lives is so hard. I‘m going to try not to focus on it and read on because I‘m super interested in Mary Anning 🤞🏼

Ruthiella Oh, I really dislike that in NF writing as well! If an author wants to get into what the historical person “might have felt”, write a novel! 4y
rachaich I'm fascinated by Mary Anning, really want to see the film. 🎫🎫 4y
Mitch @Ruthiella there are parts where she clearly couldn‘t find first hand sources and has tried to fill in the gaps! 4y
Mitch @rachaich me too 👍🏼 4y
82 likes1 stack add4 comments
blurb
Mitch
post image

I‘ve been exploring one postcard from the Natural History Museum every day during this lockdown to help me feel connected to culture! Which has led me to Mary Annings door! Looking forward to the movie Emling is producing (and starting as Mary!) due to be released later this year. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Lynnsoprano I‘m looking forward to the movie, too, and I very definitely need to add this to my TBR! 4y
LeahBergen This is a really good read. 👍🏻 4y
lynneamch I first heard of her in this fictionalized version, which I thought was very good 4y
See All 10 Comments
Mitch @lynneamch I have that one on the TBR as well! 👍🏼 4y
Cuilin Is the movie Ammonite based on this story too? 4y
Mitch @Cuilin oh my goodness - I‘ve just googled it and it is! Adding it to my watch list! 4y
Cuilin @Mitch I‘m planning on watching it too!! Looks good. 4y
Mitch @Cuilin just checked..... it has no release date in U.K. ☹️ 4y
rachaich Remarkable Creatures was very good. 4y
Mitch @rachaich I have that on. my shelf - looking forward to reading it ( and wishing maybe i'd of read to before this one..) 4y
83 likes7 stack adds10 comments
review
NenaB
post image
Pickpick

This is the story of Mary Anning, a young woman in the 1800‘s, who at the age of 16 discovered a fossilized ichthyosaur skeleton and although she never received a proper college education, became the worlds first paleontologist and most respected female fossil hunter ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

blurb
ABookishLife
post image

Happy National Fossil Day! Read this book about Mary Anning, Victorian-era fossil hunter, inspiration for the "she sells seashells on the sea shore" rhyme, and all-around badass.

LeahBergen How did I miss fossil day?!? I blurbed this book, too 8y
9 likes1 comment
review
LeahBergen
post image
Pickpick

"She sells seashells by the seashore." This tongue-twister was inspired by the life of Mary Anning, who (at the age of 12) discovered the first dinosaur fossils in the cliffs of Lyme Regis. Her discoveries began the science of paleontology and were used by Darwin while writing On the Origin of the Species. A fascinating life. #BookSetBytheSea #SomethingforSept

LeeRHarry Tracy Chevalier wrote Remarkable Creatures about the same subject 8y
LeahBergen @LeeRHarry Yes! I liked that book so much that it made me hunt down this bio. 8y
LeeRHarry @LeahBergen that's good to hear as it's my bookclub's choice for Dec 😊 8y
KVanRead Oh that's the spot where he hunts fossils in 8y
RealLifeReading Sounds like a really interesting book! 8y
53 likes13 stack adds5 comments