During my time being a guest on Atlas Obscura’s Dino 101, I met so many truly wonderful people, so I jumped at the chance to read an advance copy of Dean Lomax’s Locked in Time following his appearance on the show. Even though he beat me in a game of Opinion Dominion, it was honestly impossible to hold it against him in writing this review because his book is so wildly good.
There are very few dinosaur (and other extinct species) books that really can get me as excited about them as talking to people does for me, and Locked In Time really did that. Not only does it bring childlike awe to seeing these animals come to life on the page, but it gives them a Planet Earth-esque storyline. We see them play, hunt, take care of their babies, and so much more, and it, at times, made me so emotional for these long dead critters.
I cannot recommend this book enough, frankly. The writing is superb and the illustrations are incredible. This book is the perfect marriage between nonfiction and a short story anthology, and is a great pick if sticking with nonfiction is hard for you.
⚡️ I was provided with an e-ARC by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils
by Dean R Lomax, Illustrated by Bob Nicholls
🌟: 5 / 5
📚: Locked in Time is 50 vignettes of prehistoric life, captured in rare fossil finds, that bring these extinct animals to life.
💭: Let me start by saying this: this book will make you feel things about extinct animals that are normally reserved for your own pets. The 50 vignettes are not only incredible case studies, but they’re written about in a way that I’ve never seen done before— Lomax and Nicholls truly bring all of these animals to life by combining the hard fossil facts with present day animal analogs.
Every story is a little gem in itself, it gives you exactly what you need to know, with no room for the confusion or boredom that easily happens in an over-complicated non-fiction read. This book made me care deeply for a pregnant plesiosaur, ancient turtles caught Doing The Deed, dinosaur babysitters, and so much more. It is truly magical how a bunch of bones stuck in rocks came to life in these pages.
It’s amazing to have a book that can so easily reignite the wonder of dinosaurs and prehistoric life in a sea of nonfiction that makes it seem less fascinating and (at one time) alive than it is. Locked in Time genuinely filled me with so much joy and wonder about not just past animal life, but present-day animal life.