Bit More On Raptor Red(Uh-Oh, Opinion)

[GROSS CORY WALTER <GROS4891@ADC.MTROYAL.AB.CA>]

On Mon, 22 Jan 1996, D.W.Naish wrote:
>BIT MORE ON RAPTOR RED
>
>What the hell is the dinosaur illustrated at the start of the chapter
>'The Cutting Edge of Bug Boppers'? I haven't a clue.

        That dear beastie was supposed to be a Segnosaurus. There's a 
list of illustrations in the front...

><snip snip>

        About the anthropormorphising...hmmmm, leave it to Ranger Bob 
to take the behavior of an animal or two, oversimplify and 
overgeneralize it...

>Not that I didn't like the book or anything, it was fun. Oh yeah-
>Bakker uses the term 'bulletin board' in there somewhere. Conclusion:
>the guy's familiar with email. Yikes!!!
>
>DARREN NAISH
    
        Funny, last time I checked, dinosaurs didn't know what a 
'bulletin board' was. I don't think that Bob is a particularily great 
dinosaur-point-of-view writer(nothing personal, but...). He mixes a 
little to much modern day analogy in it and can't seem to go for more 
than a paragraph without using a latin name. Again, this is just my 
opinion, but a dinosaur-point-of-view story should be from the point 
of view of the dinosaur and not the point of view of the author 
writing from the dinosaur's point of view (*whew*). Plus, he does 
anthropomorphise the dino's waaay to much. I somehow doubt that 
Utahraptor was just a scaley person; I'm not saying that animals 
don't have personality, just...come on!

        But lets face it, Bob didn't write that book for us. The 
public likes to see cute, nice, "fuzzy" anthropomorhised dinos 
(eg:_The Land Before Time_); and it's not just dinosaurs either, but 
all animals. Oh yah, and despite what A.C. Clarke says, thats not the 
way it HAD to be, it doesn't even have to be close.

        Well when the movie comes out, it should be interesting. The 
public will flock to see it and Bob's word will be accepted as THEE 
word on dinosaur behavior, elevating his seemingly God-like status 
amongst youngsters. 

        Not that I didn't like it; just that it's a nice story, but 
is it science...

Cory Gross
artist,writer,philosopher,scientist
gros4891@adc.mtroyal.ab.ca