Ancient Sea Reptiles

Ancient Sea Reptiles joins the ranks of numerous other excellent paleontology books released in recent years. Dr. Naish's book goes into relatively great technical detail to explain the evolutionary history, fossil records, and inferred behaviors of all major groups of marine reptiles present in the Mesozoic Era. Naish neither obfuscates his points with unnecessary jargon nor belittles his readers' intelligence by presenting his information in an overly simplified fashion. In other words, while Ancient Sea Reptiles is accessible to readers outside of paleontology, this book (not unfairly) asks a lot of them. It is scholarly and information-dense, not a breezy read, in spite of its deceptively low page count.

Accompanying Naish's text are fabulous illustrations and photographs that allow the reader to more easily visualize the creatures described in the book. The reconstructions do not shy away from from speculative, but plausible, features (e.g., I adore the Suevoleviathan with the colorful tail fluke on p. 111). Where I concur with other readers in their criticism is that more maps should have been included to clarify proposed ranges and migratory routes. For those who enjoy reading scientific journals, the lack of citations is also quite disappointing, and there were numerous typographical errors that should not have made it past an editor.

This is the only book of which I am aware that offers a comprehensive and up-to-date examination of Mesozoic marine reptiles. If the subject at all interests you, this is undoubtedly the text to read.