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Book reviews for "Chatterjee,_Sankar" sorted by average review score:

The Rise of Birds: 225 Million Years of Evolution
Published in Hardcover by Johns Hopkins Univ Pr (1997)
Author: Sankar Chatterjee
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Revolution or scaremonger?
Dino-aves theory has not been the total consensus yet. Under the situation, Prof.Chatterjee audaciously published an shocking book. It should have been, however, to be honest, disappointing. If his Protoavis & his interpretation is real, it should be earthshattering event. More advanced bird than Archaeopteryx already existed in Triassic! Which means more primitive one (ancestral form) should be looked for in rocks of maybe Permian or even could be of Carboniferous! Powered flight occurred in such an early stage! Palaeozoic & Mesozoic vertebrate story would be obliged to revised completely.
For such a rebellious topic, the content is not sufficiently convincing. The problem is the remainder of Protoavis is quite fragmental. Photos & much more detailed explanation of the interpretation of each referred bones are definitely needed for the restoration drawing. That's the main feature of this book! Otherwise readers might be confused.
Also lack the scenario, although it might be impossible to present fossil evidence, before & after Protoavis. Even speculative.
Meticulaous is the skull of Iberomesornis whose skull has not yet discovered. Nevertheless, no caution on the drawing.
As a whole, indigestion. This book tells a little.
If one likes to know or study anatomical features of birds & dinosaurs, I'd recommend to look for a book or text of bird anatomy on one hand, and Predatory Dinosaurs of the World (by Gregory Paul) on the other.

fairly technical but interesting book on fossil birds
Chatterjee does a great job in presenting his case for Protoavis, a bird that may very well precede the famous Archaeopteryx of the Jurassic. Though a bit technical at times, it has a good overview of bird evolution and of fossil birds throughout the Mesozoic and throughout the Cenozoic, with excellent coverage of many Tertiary species, especially at Green River(from the Eocene of Wyoming) and Messel (from the Eocene of Central Europe). Their relationship to dinosaurs is well covered, and some time is spent on the K/T event that ended much Mesozoic life. Numerous diagrams and illustrations and a thorough bibliography. While not all may agree with his take on Protoavis, this remains a worthwhile on avian evolution and fossil bird speciesA good book.

A excellent, complete and up-to-date review
Although this book is much about the finding of Protoavis, it is also much more than that. The Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary birds are all treated, a superb argument for the evolution of flight from tree-dwelling dromaeosaurs is made, an important contribution to the understanding of the End-Cretaceous extinction is presented and the too-often neglected subject of heterochrony is discussed, too. The figures are excellent and very useful to help understand the text, which is sometime loaded with anatomical jargon. The book ends with a wise review of the modern extinction caused by spead of humanity to every corner of the planet.

I also think that the recent discoveries made in China can be well integrated in the frame set by Chatterjee, so the book is not out of date at all.

All in all, a formidable book for undergraduates and professionnals.


New Concepts in Global Tectonics
Published in Hardcover by Texas Tech University Press (1992)
Authors: Sankar Chatterjee, Nicholas Hotton, and Sanfar Chatterjee
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Phase Transformations and Rock Genesis (Russian Translations Series, 107)
Published in Hardcover by Balkema Publishers (1994)
Authors: Sankar Ghose, M. V. Abdulov, and A. K. Chatterjee
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