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A review by wyntrchylde
Big Meg: The Story of the Largest and Most Mysterious Predator That Ever Lived by Tim Flannery, Emma Flannery
4.0
Big Meg
Author: Tim Flannery & Emma Flannery
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Publishing Date: 2023
Pgs: 216
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Genre:
Science
Paleontology
Non-Fiction
Why this book:
Megs.
_________________________________________
Favorite Scene:
Woolloomooloo, Australia, 1830s, possibly apocryphal: a man swimming naked, in a top hat, while smoking a cigar told onlookers that he regularly swam there and didn't fear sharks.
Favorite Quote:
The advice given to the author by his mentor. “You have to have the will to fail.” That’s good stuff.
Favorite Concept:
The sweating fossilized shark teeth of Malta: Maltese shark teeth fossils were exported all over Europe in the Dark and Middle Ages, up into the Renaissance at least, before it became illegal in modern times. The teeth came to be used as a test for poison, by dipping it into food or drink and if it changed colors or sweated, the offered repast was considered poisoned. This era was where the ritual of the host or date tasting the wine before the guests drink, to show that it wasn’t poisoned and was good to drink. It was never about approving the vintage. It is about proving that you aren’t trying to poison your dinner companion. Weird place to learn that, in a book about prehistoric gigantic sharks, but there you go.
Hmm Moments:
The idea that with the redepositing of megalodon teeth leading to the fossils around it being from other eras and thus not being a reliable way to date megalodon teeth and extinction and the idea that Coca Cola cans have been found in situ with megalodon redeposited teeth is hilarious. The idea of a future paleo archaeologist finding said tooth and Coke cans and deciding that this means that the meg and Coke coexisted is funny.
WTF Moments/RUFKM Moments:
Intrauterine cannibalism. Damn. Sharks. Damn.
The way the Greenland Shark hunts and kills seals. Woof!
Logic Gaps:
Claiming that the Meg and the Great White aren’t close relatives, even though the later is used as a model for the first in science and entertainment, disputing the scientists and enthusiasts who run with the idea, and then coming back around in the same paragraph and saying that they could resemble one another is circuitous. And then, noticing that the cover of the book has a Meg looking like a Great White in direct comparison. That paragraph should’ve probably stood a little bit closer to the editor’s red pen. Both ideas have their place and could’ve been better stated without the grating opposition in such close proximity.
_________________________________________
Pacing:
Well paced.
Author: Tim Flannery & Emma Flannery
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Publishing Date: 2023
Pgs: 216
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Genre:
Science
Paleontology
Non-Fiction
Why this book:
Megs.
_________________________________________
Favorite Scene:
Woolloomooloo, Australia, 1830s, possibly apocryphal: a man swimming naked, in a top hat, while smoking a cigar told onlookers that he regularly swam there and didn't fear sharks.
Favorite Quote:
The advice given to the author by his mentor. “You have to have the will to fail.” That’s good stuff.
Favorite Concept:
The sweating fossilized shark teeth of Malta: Maltese shark teeth fossils were exported all over Europe in the Dark and Middle Ages, up into the Renaissance at least, before it became illegal in modern times. The teeth came to be used as a test for poison, by dipping it into food or drink and if it changed colors or sweated, the offered repast was considered poisoned. This era was where the ritual of the host or date tasting the wine before the guests drink, to show that it wasn’t poisoned and was good to drink. It was never about approving the vintage. It is about proving that you aren’t trying to poison your dinner companion. Weird place to learn that, in a book about prehistoric gigantic sharks, but there you go.
Hmm Moments:
The idea that with the redepositing of megalodon teeth leading to the fossils around it being from other eras and thus not being a reliable way to date megalodon teeth and extinction and the idea that Coca Cola cans have been found in situ with megalodon redeposited teeth is hilarious. The idea of a future paleo archaeologist finding said tooth and Coke cans and deciding that this means that the meg and Coke coexisted is funny.
WTF Moments/RUFKM Moments:
Intrauterine cannibalism. Damn. Sharks. Damn.
The way the Greenland Shark hunts and kills seals. Woof!
Logic Gaps:
Claiming that the Meg and the Great White aren’t close relatives, even though the later is used as a model for the first in science and entertainment, disputing the scientists and enthusiasts who run with the idea, and then coming back around in the same paragraph and saying that they could resemble one another is circuitous. And then, noticing that the cover of the book has a Meg looking like a Great White in direct comparison. That paragraph should’ve probably stood a little bit closer to the editor’s red pen. Both ideas have their place and could’ve been better stated without the grating opposition in such close proximity.
_________________________________________
Pacing:
Well paced.