The Dragon Seekers.

THE DRAGON SEEKERS. Christopher McGowan. 2001/2004. Read by Stuart Langston. 6 tapes. 8.5 hrs. Blackstone. 0-7861-2638-8. $44.95. Vinyl; content, author, reader notes. SA

Writing in narrative style, McGowan tells of the English paleontologists who unearthed and named dinosaurs along the Dorset coast during the first half of the 19th century. These fossilists, about 10 persons, included a woman who collected and sold bones as a way of making a living, an Oxford professor, physicians who studied fossils as a side interest, and a French anatomist. The author elaborates the issues they wrestled with as they tried to make sense of the fossils they found. Some were especially anxious to reconcile their observations with the biblical Noachian flood. They argued about the permanence of animal forms, the nature and life period of the creatures they unearthed, the care and display of their specimens, and the ethics of completing skeletons with plaster The science organizations of the day were always eager to hear of their latest findings and interpretations, and they wrote plenty of books arguing their point of view. Charles Darwin, returning from his voyage, incorporated many of their ideas into his Origin of Species.

Langston, who has a light British accent, reads in an expressive manner that helps the listener get through the detail. Good popular science. Edna Boardman, Bismarck, ND