Deep Alberta: Fossil Facts and Dinosaur Digs.

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

John Acorn, a.k.a. the Nature Nut, is better known for his work in entomology than in paleontology. In 2005, the Royal Tyrrell Museum and CKUA Radio approached Acorn to do a radio series on Alberta’s paleontology. This book is based on the 80 scripts created for that series. In Acorn’s words “Deep Alberta is the prehistoric heritage that places our province in context in what geologists and palaeontologists call deep time.” Acorn hopes that readers “without a formal background in palaeontology will find here some interesting insights into the inner workings of this fascinating discipline.”

Each subject is described on one page with an illustration on the facing page. Many of the scripts are about fossils on display at either RTM or other museums. Edmontonia, an armoured dinosaur, and Parasaurolophus, a duck-billed dinosaur, are well known to school children through museum tours. A few are fossils, such as Esox tiemani, the world’s oldest pike, that are not often seen or highlighted.

Some of the scripts are about such famous fossil hunters as Barnum Brown and the Sternberg family. Others are about the places that most of the fossils are found: Dinosaur Provincial Park, Devil’s Coulee, and the Oil Sands.

The illustrations are excellent. They are clear, sharp, and have good colour quality. All are educational, often with insets or highlights to help make a point obvious.

As usual, Acorn engages his readers with questions and informal, chatty commentary. “But Alberta has a T.rex with a nickname, the Black Beauty. I know—that’s also a horse’s name, but hey, it works for me.”

His commentaries are light and highly informative. “You may have heard the shocking news that there were lions in Alberta when the first people appeared, but did you also know about the cheetahs?” This is Acorn in fine form, making science fun and comprehensible to the average person.

The book is rounded out with a brief glossary, an extensive index, and an interesting photo gallery of the “Key Figures in Alberta Palaeontology.”

Public and school libraries will want to acquire this excellent volume.