Norell, M.A. & M, Ellison. 2005. Unearthing the dragon. The great feathered dinosaur discovery. – New York, Pi Press

Abstract

A book’s title like ‘Unearthing the dragon’ sounds like a title from Adeline Yen Mah and her realistic accounts of her rather hard childhood vicissitudes in China. Only coming across the name of Mark Norell and Mick Ellison on the front cover you realise that the book is also about palaeontology.

The book’s layout is as much astonishingly beautiful inside as outside. A reddish sleeve combining three cover photos of two fossils (stamped partially with Chinese post-like marks on), a woman’ lips and chin, and a scorpion held by two chop-sticks; and just below the title a feminine hand holding an open red (for a change) lighter with a Mao Tse-Tung’s smiling face on the front. However, its beauty contrasts with the total lack of environmental materials used by the publisher. Sadly enough, this is a common trend and mistake in most of scientific publishers including palaeontology to erroneously believe that beautiful books can not be produced using environmentally-friendly products. Read more...