Impossible Monsters, Michael Taylor
Impossible Monsters, Michael Taylor
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Impossible Monsters
Dinosaurs, Darwin, and the Battle Between Science and Religion

Author: Michael Taylor

Narrator: Michael Langan

Unabridged: 15 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/30/2024


Synopsis

"Vivid with a Mesozoic bestiary" (Tom Holland), this on-the-ground, must-listen narrative weaves together the chance discovery of dinosaurs and the rise of the secular age.

When the twelve-year-old daughter of a British carpenter pulled some strange-looking bones from the country's southern shoreline in 1811, few people dared to question that the Bible told the accurate history of the world. But Mary Anning had in fact discovered the "first" ichthyosaur, and over the next seventy-five years—as the science of paleontology developed, as Charles Darwin posited radical new theories of evolutionary biology, and as scholars began to identify the internal inconsistencies of the Scriptures—everything changed. Beginning with the archbishop who dated the creation of the world to 6 p.m. on October 22, 4004 BC, and told through the lives of the nineteenth-century men and women who found and argued about these seemingly impossible, history-rewriting fossils, Impossible Monsters reveals the central role of dinosaurs and their discovery in toppling traditional religious authority, and in changing perceptions about the Bible, history, and mankind’s place in the world.

About Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor is a historian and coauthor, with Michael S. Kochin of An Independent Empire: Diplomacy & War in the Making of the United States.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Pauline on March 14, 2025

This book is a lot of book. Putting it better this is three books in a trench coat trying to be a book. It’s about the history of the discovery of dinosaurs/fossils but it’s also about the history of the theory of evolution but it’s also about the history of the fight between science and religion in......more

Goodreads review by Bridget on December 06, 2024

I LOVED THIS BOOK. It was dense, full of so much history, science, and commentary.......more

Goodreads review by James on November 29, 2024

Loved it. Taylor brings to life how one day not so long ago (truly not long ago - particularly in the scheme of our 4.4b old rock), a whole heap of bones got dug up pointing to the existing of an alien past full of inconceivable beings / impossible monsters. Who knows how this would be comprehended......more

Goodreads review by Ashley on May 07, 2024

Stupendous read, detailing the early nineteenth century onwards growing schism between previously paired realms of religion and science. Impeccably researched, fascinating, funny and a joy learn from. Has the captivating snare of fiction whilst equally demonstrating its scientific merits and credent......more

Goodreads review by columbo on April 04, 2025

them british scientists were so MESSYYYYY......more