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daumari's review
4.0
I can't help but think if I actually finished this when I started it in summer of 2009 I might've found genetics/biochem sophomore year a lot more interesting and would've done better, but that's playing the coulda shoulda woulda game. Fascinating read, especially considering what it would take to produce atavistic features in a chicken.
bupdaddy's review
5.0
So much of this book is, "oh, people are going to be nervous about making a dinosaur out of a chicken," and "ethical considerations this," and "playing God that."
Stop pussy-footin', Horner! We want our dinosaur chicken, and we want it NOW!
We're not going to live forever, and neither are you. You already have people changing proteins in eggs and making chicken embryos with teeth and tails. Let 'em hatch!
Grant? You don't need a grant! You need a loan, from somebody who understands that a dinosaur chicken fast food chain would make billions! I'd totally eat there every single day of my life.
Stop pussy-footin', Horner! We want our dinosaur chicken, and we want it NOW!
We're not going to live forever, and neither are you. You already have people changing proteins in eggs and making chicken embryos with teeth and tails. Let 'em hatch!
Grant? You don't need a grant! You need a loan, from somebody who understands that a dinosaur chicken fast food chain would make billions! I'd totally eat there every single day of my life.
biblio_amy's review against another edition
4.0
I am glad that I had read Your Inner Fish before this one because they talked about a few of the topics of evolution that were discussed in that book. I think this book is well written and easy to understand the finding of the similarities of birds to dinosaurs. I liked that they included Mary Schweitzer findings of the similarities of molecular similarities between Tyrannosaurus remains and chickens. I liked that even though she has a strong religious belief, she still can see that evolution is a real and she even stated that it has made her beliefs in her faith stronger. I think that's great when people can balance both religion and science and make it work. Overall, I enjoyed this book and do like the idea of trying to bring back a dinosaur, but I also think it would cause an uproar as expressed in the book with people who are against testing on animals, people who think it's a bad idea, etc.
davidlutz's review
4.0
I loved this book. Horner writes in a matter that the layman can understand, and yet doesn't make the expert feel talked down to.
mjex19's review
3.0
There is no list of ingredients and the directions are very unclear. Very poor cookbook. You expect to learn how to bake a dinosaur, but it’s just a crazy guy trying to bioengineer a mutant chicken.
jandi's review
2.0
This read a lot more like a very lengthy research grant application. I liked the sections that explained some of the experimental techniques, it is interesting that some techniques used for detection of infectious diseases can also be used for research. But the bulk of the book is on justifying the research, and it does get very repetitive.
mrsjulietfox's review against another edition
5.0
Great book about the evolution of dinosaurs (and birds). Proposes using developmental evolutionary biology to create a dinosaur from a chicken embryo, which (after reading Horner's plan) sounds like a very plausible (and very cool!) idea.
rickycatto's review against another edition
3.0
Super interesting. I hope this guy gets to engineer a real Dino. The book has some fun range -from detailed descriptions of Montana's Paleontology history through the technicalities of gene splicing. If you like dinosaurs and are interested in the future of biotech and it's potential, this is a good book.
barrysweezey's review against another edition
Let's alter the normal development of a chicken embryo to try to get it to develop the teeth, arms with grasping claws, and long tail of its dinosaur ancestors. It seems that the genes for those things are still there. Aiming to create a chickenosaurus will be a good target for a research program that will teach us a lot about the development of embryos and evolution. It may also allow us to correct developmental errors that lead to birth defects.