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Quest For Life In Amber
From
Our Editors
In engaging style & fascinating detail, the authors describe
the miracle of the preserved invertebrates they found, frozen
in a piece of amber formed up to 225 million years ago--the
same technological concept used in Jurassic Park. Color &
b&w photos.
Annotation
In passages that read more like an Indiana Jones screenplay
than scientific research, the Poinars describe how their hobby-turned-obsession
ultimately led to a breakthrough scientific finding: the discovery
of preserved insect DNA in amber. Photos.
From
the Publisher
In passages that read more like an Indiana Jones screenplay
than scientific research, the Poinars describe how their hobby-turned-obsession
ultimately led to a breakthrough scientific finding: the discovery
of preserved insect DNA in amber. Photos.
From
The Critics
Booknews
The Poinars (entomology, UC Berkeley) recount their thirty-year
scientific odyssey collecting ancient specimens preserved in
amber from around the world. They chronicle the efforts to extract
DNA from the specimens, and open a window onto the exotic world
of amber and amber collectors, a world populated by black marketeers,
gun-toting guerillas, and scientists racing to unravel the secrets
of 125 million-year-old DNA. Includes b&w and color photos.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
From
Publishers Weekly
George Poinar, an entomologist at UC-Berkeley, and Roberta Poinar,
an electron microscopist there, began with an avocational interest
in amber and a simple question about the possibility of cell
preservation in fossils often found in the hardened resin. It
was only coincidence, they maintain, that their 1991 discovery
that the tissue of bees preserved in amber contained DNA 25-40
million years old closely fit the subject of Michael Crichton's
Jurassic Park. Here the husband-and-wife team details how a
hobby led to a compelling thesis, taking readers on a tour of
the world's fossil amber beds from Scandinavian beaches to the
Caribbean to Russia, Africa and New Zealand, offering bits of
gemology, social history and molecular science. The likelihood
of a Jurassic Park scenario playing out in real life remains
firmly theoretical, the Poinars reiterate, in their engaging
tale of an absorbing search. Photos.
This is
a great book and a welcome addition to anyone's library.
Table
of Contents:
Amber from the Sea
The Russian Connection
Looking at Amber Close Up
African Safari
Adventures with Tomb Amber
Excursion in Poland
Searching for Berber Amber
Bringing them Back Alive
Million Year-Old Cells
Pursuing Ancient DNA
Amber South of the Border
The Extinct DNA Study Group
Western European Collections
Amber in the Caribbean
Amber Down Under
Rekindling the Quest of Ancient DNA
Going Back In Time
Jurassic Park Repercissions
Amber From the Dinosaur Period
Older and Older
Famous Fossils
Amber Intrigue
Anicent DNA
Future Implications
This soft
covered book is
The book is shipped "Book Rate" through the USPS.
What a
gift this would make for anyone interested in amber or geology
in general.
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