Textbook for Paleontology

Well, I’m already a week and a half late in submitting my book order for next semester’s Principles of Paleontology class. I’m late this year because I’m considering changing textbooks.

Here’s a selection of the books I have to choose from:

No two of these books are the same, and what your preference is really depends upon how you might teach the course. There are two general ways with which an introductory paleontology class is taught.

1) Taxonomically. In this case the focus of the class is more biological than geological, and vast amounts of time are spent discussing each group of fossils, usually focusing on the invertebrates (those lacking backbones) because they are far more abundant, and useful, than the vertebrates (animals with backbones.) My first paleontology class was like that and I loved every minute of it. I used an earlier edition of Clarkson’s book (the upper right book in the photo) back then. Such a class is very helpful for students who might need to work out which species lived where and when.

2) Methods and Principles. Here, the focus would be on the mechanics of doing paleontology, with little focus on the individual fossil groups. Here, students would learn about evolutionary rates and rarefaction and lots about geology, with little biological input. This sort of class teaches the skills that students would need to effectively do paleontology irrespective of their favorite fossil groups – which is good when they might wind up studying anything later in their careers. Foote and Miller (in the lower right) is really great for this.

When I first taught EES 207 (which was then called Invertebrate Paleontology), I immediately used the latest edition of Clarkson’s book and taught the class just like I had learned it. But I realized after completing the class, that I had left the students with a great knowledge of what the fossils were, but with no skills on how to work with them. I realized that because my paleontology class had been taught the same way, that I had started graduate school with basically no concept of how paleontology was really done. I decided I needed to re-vamp the class.

I changed the name of the class to Principles of Paleontology and decided to focus on how paleontology was done moreso than on the different fossil groups. I switched to the Foote and Miller book. But I knew that what students want out of such a class – and what I my self would expect – would be at least some knowledge of the fossil groups, So I arranged the class with a formal lecture two days a week, and then what I called ‘Fun Friday’ where students would explore one of the major fossil groups. My hope was that out of such a class, students would leave with a working knowledge of the major fossil groups and that they could actually do paleontology. The problem with Foote and Miller as a text is that it offers absolutely nothing in terms of description of the fossil groups. I tried adding optional texts (like “Fossils at a Glance” by Milsom and Rigby), but no one would buy them. I wound up preparing all manner of supplementary materials for the students for each of the major groups of fossils. This has been a pain.

This coming semester, I’m faced with a new problem. My class is going to be huge, with 24 students, so ‘Fun Friday’ as it has been in the past is going to have to change. Suddenly, I wish there was a lab section to go with the class. Maybe that will arise next time I teach the course. I’m not sure how I’m going to handle it, put supplementary packets are definitely not an option.

One thing is for sure: I need a book that covers the mechanics of paleontology as well as the important fossil groups. Two books that do this are the “Bringing Fossils to Life” by Prothero and “Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record” by Benton and Harper. One or the other of these books are going to be my choice for the coming semester. I’ve been informally asking my colleagues which book they prefer, and so far the overwhelming preference is for the Benton and Harper book, so I’m leaning that way. It seems to be a good balance of readability, mechanics, and taxonomy that I’m looking for. The Benton and Harper book is relatively new to me, so I have to think about it more. I have had a copy of the Prothero book for a while, and decided against using it because it didn’t quite cover all the topics I wanted to cover in the detail that I’d like, though it could still be workable. Benton and Harper looks pretty promising, though I’ve only flipped through it a bit.

I need to make a decision in the next few days (since the book order forms were due nearly two weeks ago). Does anyone else have an opinion?