Bones of the Earth is my favorite of the Swanwick novels that I've read. I believe he's generally a better short fiction writer than novelist, but this one has very convincing and well-researched dinosaurs, time travel with rules that are easy to understand, scientists who are realistically convincing as intelligent and occasionally vicious and petty and sexy, and a couple of other cool attributes just short of a kitchen sink. Jurassic Park meets Heinlein and Bradbury...paleontology and paradoxe...

Bones of the EarthBy Michael SwanwickWhat a great novel! I normally stay clear of time travel books because of all the mistakes that can be made with the science. This one was so entertaining and fascinating! This not only has time travel but dinosaurs, trapped in the past experience, aliens, suspense, and more. It had intriguing characters, unusual situations, and boy, I wish I could experience some of these adventures! Definitely not experience others!I don't think I have read anything by this...

“It’s a human thing. You wouldn’t understand.” A pivotal argument made, regarding why we do science at all, and a statement perfectly crafted for the moment it is used. Bones of the Earth is Michael Swanwick’s 2002 time travel and dinosaur novel. In the near future, Smithsonian paleontologist Richard Leyster is recruited into a secret time travel program, when the mysterious Harry Griffin quietly delivers him a cooler containing the head of a freshly killed stegosaurus. He is promised access to ...

When a mystery man walks into his office and makes the offer a lifetime, to study dinosaurs in the wild, paleontologist Richard Leyster has no choice but to take him up on it. However, time travel isn't as simple as it first seemed...Michael Swanwick has been on my radar for years after some praise by China Mieville but I never took the plunge until several of his books popped up for cheap in one of my daily ebook emails. People either seem to love or hate this book, which I can't fathom. It's w...

I've always liked a good story with dinosaurs! And this is a good one. It follows in the footsteps of the classic SF 1952 short story "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury, in which people go back to the time of the dinosaurs. But in Bradbury's tale, they are going back on safari to hunt the prehistoric beasties. Swanwick's story makes more sense--they are scientists going back in time to study the dinosaurs. Swanwick's story is a complex one as the humans deal with time paradoxes. And it's a mys...

Devo dire che per essere abbastanza incasinato mi è piaciuto. Il quale è una rarità. Mi aspettavo più dinosauri ma anche così va bene. È più una cosa sui viaggi nel tempo e paradossi vari che vengono smentiti così è più facile la cosa. Sapete che se venisse inventata veramente la macchina del tempo è preferibile andare nel futuro invece che nel passato in quanto incontrare un antenato potrebbe cambiare la storia e voi non potreste essere mai nati. Tutto annullato. Qui si va da una parte all'altr...

I can't pretend to be objective about this one, as I helped the author on geological questions for the book, which earned me a published acknowledgment, and a signed copy! Michael Swanwick's science advisor! How cool is that? Hard to believe 16 years have passed..... I should reread it (again).One of the best novels on dinosaurs in SF, if not the best, and an exceptionally twisty time-travel story. Sexy, too! Swanwick's research was meticulous, and his writing's never been better. If you haven't...

In this episode of L&O SDU (Special Dino Unit), the paleontologists get stuck in the Cretaceous, have an orgy, Lai-tsz gets pregnant, and Leyster wants her to have an abortion. Meanwhile, T-Rex ranches some hadrosaurs.

This actually turned out to be a wonderfully scientific time-travel SF that fairly shined in theories and all the species of dinosaurs, and we got a treat of actually living there for a time... with complications, of course.I mean, we have the more pedestrian complications of bureaucracy and directors and academics scheduling a time to go time hopping, but we also have the little issue of religious nuts, too... and OF COURSE we never found a footprint of a human next to a dinosaur's then the tim...

This book had an interesting premise in the idea of a paleontologist traveling back in time to study dinos after a mysterious guest visits his lab and leaves a freshly decapitated stegosaurus head in a cooler. Sure, we're all a little dino fictioned out in the post-Jurassic Park era but that's kind of a cool beginning, no? I almost said we're all dino'd out but that's not possible. I still am glued to my radio whenever NPR Science Friday has a paleontologist guest. That, btw, is a dandy show.Oh,...