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Title: Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions by Charles Gallenkamp, Michael J. Novacek ISBN: 0142000760 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 26 March, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.92
Rating: 4
Summary: A neglected explorer gets recognition
Comment: Roy Chapman Andrews in the 1950s was one of my boyhood heros. I avidly read his books about exploration in the Gobi and China. But Andrews faded away into obscurity over the years. This book revives his memory.
For a reader unfamiliar with Andrews this book might be rated outstanding. For me, familiar with the outlines of his life, it was only good, not imparting enough new information. For example, a fascinating fact about Andrews is the animosity his colleagues at the American Museum of Natural History had for him. The best example of this animosity is that when Andrews died in 1960, the Museum did not even acknowledge the death of its most famous employee and former Director in any Museum publication. This snub to Andrews is somewhat akin to the TV networks failing to report the death of Walter Cronkite, when and if he passes into the hereafter. Why such hatred and spite toward Andrews, a personable, outgoing, charismatic leader? Who were those in the Museum who held a grudge against him and why? The author doesn't cover this topic adequately, leaving unanswered questions in my mind.
Thus, while this book is well worth reading, there remain facets of Andrew's life still closed and mysterious. But this book does a fine job of reviving recognition of Andrews who was famous in his day. He deserves the acclaim.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Real Indiana Jones
Comment: Before the Jurassic Park boom, little boys all had an enthusiasm for dinosaurs, and much of that enthusiasm was fueled by an explorer who only now has his first full biography, _Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions_ (Viking) by Charles Gallenkamp. It is a great monument to a forgotten explorer and collector.
Andrews began an autobiographical volume with a foreword that included the words, "I was born to be an explorer. There was never any decision to make. I couldn't do anything else and be happy." He had humble beginnings in Benoit, Wisconsin, but dreamed of exploring for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He literally told the director there that if it were just a matter of mopping the museum floors, that was what he wanted to do. And he did it, eventually becoming the director of the museum. From floors he went to taxidermy, and then to field expeditions about whales, and then to his five huge famous expeditions into Mongolia from 1922 to 1930. Andrews had superb skills at planning and organizing his expeditions, but was he was a brilliant salesman, enlisting the financial aid of members of New York society. The descriptions of his expeditions make exciting reading, as sandstorms, snowstorms, and brigands all battered the cars, camels, and explorers. But he brought back dinosaur eggs, which caused a sensation, _Velociraptor_, and much more.
_Dragon Hunter_ is a well researched and at times exciting telling of the adventures of an American original. Gallenkamp has usefully summarized the Mongolian regional politics as well as New York society of the time, and has made it clear just how the publicity-happy Andrews became a sensation in his day. His record had been sadly neglected by the museum, which is now making amends. The book ends with an epilogue to show how the finds that Andrews fought to get back to the museum have proved a foundation of much of modern paleontology. We have explorers of other types now, but we will not see explorations of this grandeur, size, and style again.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Real Indiana Jones!
Comment: Roy Chapman Andrews lead a very exciting and interesting life, one that seems to have been the basis for the Indiana Jones films.
Andrews starts off from a kid in a poor family and rises to fame through his adventures. When he was in his teens, he talked (How many can do that?) his way into a job at the National Museum of Natural History as an assistient. While he was there, he was sent around to study various things, becoming the expert on whales, dinosaurs and the middle east.
He then began planning an enormous expidition to the Gobi Desert in China, to find evidence of the first man. He didn't fidn any, but he did find the first Velociraptor, the Flaming Cliffs of Mongolia and countless fossils of dinosuars and other exctinct animals. Along the way, they had to confront bandits, corrupt Governmental officials and a civil war.
Gallenkamp does a nice job writing this biography. It is fast paced and fairly detailed. He draws from several sources and puts them together to get this man's life in order. Along with that, you really get to see Andrews as a person, and you can see that he has a vibrent personallity. He is like a real Indiana Jones in many ways.
Along with the biography, Gallenkamp includes pictures, so we get to see what Andrews looks like, but he doesn't name the native guides at all.
The problem with it is that is too fast paces, and it jumps around a little bit, making it confusing for the reader. While this is not a huge problem, it is annoying and could be written better.
Overall, for its few shortcomings, this is a very good read and well worth getting.
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Title: Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs by Ed Heck, Michael J. Novacek ISBN: 0385477759 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: September, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Time Traveler: In Search of Dinosaurs and Other Fossils from Montana to Mongolia by Michael Novacek ISBN: 0374278806 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 10 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Dragon Bones by Ann Bausum ISBN: 0792271238 Publisher: National Geographic Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Across Mongolian Plains: A Naturalists Account of China's Great Northwest by Roy Chapman Andrews ISBN: 1589630424 Publisher: Fredonia Books (NL) Pub. Date: January, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Gobi: Tracking the Desert by John Man ISBN: 0300076096 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: November, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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