Review by Choice Review
Only once in a decade, if then, is a milestone book such as this one published. This extraordinary work deals with the origin of mammals, discusses their distribution in Mesozoic time and space, provides a thorough review of their taxonomic diversity, and gives the best review to date of the interrelationships of Mesozoic mammals. Kielan-Jaworowska (emer., Polish Academy of Sciences and Univ. of Oslo), Cifelli (Univ. of Oklahoma), and Luo (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) offer a treatment of the fossils that is both systematic and functional, breathing life into a plethora of extinct groups of mammals. Among the features that make the book so outstanding are its reasonable and practical taxonomy, the presentation of the most instructive and representative illustrations culled from a burgeoning literature (skulls, teeth, and postcranials), an appendix that deals with the morphological characters treated in the book, and an impressive list of references. Copious maps and geological and geographic distribution charts remind readers that the duration of mammalian evolution was about twice as long during the Mesozoic as during the Cenozoic. At the very top of their fields, these authors provide an enduring reference that no biologist or paleontologist interested in the systematics and natural history of mammals can do without. ^BSumming Up: Essential. Upper-level undergraduates and above. F. S. Szalay University of New Mexico
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
