Gorgon: Paleontology, Obsession, and the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth's History Hardcover – January 19, 2004

Although not a new book this is a super book to read. It not only provides information on the the Great Dying it also shows how scientists go about their work. If you want to see what the life of a scientist is like as they go about their research this is a great way to find out.

I have read a number of books discussing the PT extinction prior to this and it was interesting to read an account from someone who helped redefine thinking on this event. I enjoyed the account by Dr Ward and found the mix of science with travelog very entertaining.

I must preface this review with I very much enjoy Ward's books. I read this after Out of Thin Air (5 stars) and will read Lamarck's Revenge soon. This book covers several topics: 1. Determining the Permian/Triassic boundary in the Karoo region of South Africa. The hope is to find how abrupt the extinction rate of proto-mammalian species can be measured. 2. Comparing these findings with the rate of marine species previously measured by Doug Erwin and team. 3. Provide an insider's view of paleontologic work in person.The book is 237 pages and accomplishes all its intended purposes. The science is reflective so a novice can easily understand Ward's explanations. The search is often painful (physically and scientifically) but provides the experience of being on the rocks, combatting the flies, and feeling the extreme temperatures.The more intimate look within the team is pervasive and causes me to measure the overall value of the book as 4 stars. The purpose of the team is sometimes lost in personal perspectives. It is interesting but not what I was afterThe last 2 chapters are why I wished for a 5-star score. Ward provides evidence for a later book, Out of Thin Air. He speculates how fluctuating levels of CO2 and O2 as possible contributors to both Mesozoic catastrophic extinctions prior to the K/T event (I still use the older label). He describes published articles that require connections by someone with the expertise and willingness to try. A second section, likewise, is directed to a future work (then in progress), Rare Earth.Other researchers are cited like Erwin, Gould, Raup, Knoll, and Lane. These contributors are like old friends to me. This is my area of interest and believe this work to be a welcomed addition to my bookcase.

I had to buy three copies of this book, nobody would believe me, so I gave it as presents. There were a lot of crazy critters out there in the last 4.567 billion years. Good luck if we can match the past chaos and live to tell about it.Schnozz

Always loved this book and appreciate the insight, thought, labor and strain by someone venturing into a different part of the world to help solve a riddle: why did nearly all life fade away 250 million years ago? It may not be able to give all the definitive answers to such questions but its information still holds its ground 20 years later.We get it, Amazon Reviewers: It's title is catchy with the word "Gorgon" but the rest of the title is self-explanatory.It's a story. About several researchers going through several years of their lives dedicating a lot of time (drilling into rocks to get perfect samples for example) in extreme weather, sleeping on the ground, being without their families (even as some pass away) all while doing what it takes to find some answers.And you know what? It's an excellent story for this reason.

Today's schoolchildren, fascinated by Jurassic creatures, learn that the dinosaurs were mostly wiped out by a meteor that struck the area of the Yucatan 65 million years ago. This explanation was put forward only a couple of decades ago, and though it was revolutionary at the time, it has been confirmed so well that it is hard to imagine that there will ever be evidence to disconfirm it. Peter D. Ward, now a professor of geological sciences at the University of Washington, worked on evidence for this Cretaceous extinction, and then turned his attention to a previous extinction, one that makes the Cretaceous look like a fender-bender. In _Gorgon: Paleontology, Obsession, and the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth's History_ (Viking), Ward has told the story of his researches into the Permian extinction, which 250 million years ago exterminated forever 95% of the species then living. This is a personal account, a memoir to tell about field adventures, the atmosphere in modern South Africa, and the theory he has come up with. It is a fine introduction to current ideas about the Permian extinction, and what it is that paleontologists do.The Gorgon of the title was a beast something like a tiger, ten feet long. The fearsome Gorgon was not a mammal; it had eyes at the side of its head and it had scales on its body, both characteristics more associated with lizard-type creatures. And the Gorgon itself left no descendants. It was one of the victims of the Permian wipeout. Ward was in South Africa in 1991 to research another type of fossil, but circumstances sent him into the heat, cold, storms, flies, ticks, snakes, ants, and scorpions of the Karoo desert. The stratification there, and other evidence, brought fundamental changes in the way paleontologists view the Permian extinction. The eventual explanation includes that there was not a single, rapid event, but a series of short, successive ones altering the atmosphere and changing the population of creatures that could survive to beget the dinosaurs and mammals that were to come. The explanation isn't final; no scientific explanation really is, but it is how things stand right now.In addition to being a scientific memoir, Ward's book describes visits to South Africa when that country was going through amazing changes. On one visit, he was interrogated by severe and unfriendly white passport controllers, for instance, whereas years later he would be greeted by welcoming black ones. He would also visit during times where he could show his white self anywhere with impunity, whereas years later to be white "meant that one had money and was fair game." He was informed on a later visit to avoid a certain region because it was Thursday; seeking clarification, he learned that Thursday was cremation day. AIDS had come, and he was being advised not to be downwind of the burning of the week's accumulated bodies. Also, Ward is open about the effect of his career on his family, which he obviously loves, but he loves his travel to the field as well. Leaving them again for Africa, he can't find words to explain why the hunt is so important for him, and the parting becomes an unsweet sorrow, even an angry one. "Why do we do what we do?" he asks. It is a great question. He has answered the scientific questions as directly as he can, and in his report of struggling to overcome many physical, emotional, and societal hurdles to find answers, he has given an indirect but satisfying answer to his personal why.