Bones Rock!: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Paleontologist

by Peter Larson, Kristin Donnan

Overview

This expanded second edition of the best how-to book in paleontology for enthusiasts of all ages is filled with photos and first-hand experience about “everything dinosaurs”—from what to wear when you’re looking for fossils, to what to do when you get them home, to how to formulate hypotheses and “think like a scientist.” With case studies, detailed examples, and inspirational stories, both newbies and experienced collectors will find facts and helpful tips, links to volunteer digs, ideas for study, a comprehensive reading list—and a STEM-compliant Teachers’ / Independent Study Guide. For younger readers, the authors also include real stories of real kids who have made significant discoveries in a science that has room for amateurs, students, and professionals. This book is a must-have for anyone—children and young adults who are just learning to love fossils, science students and teachers, grownups who take kids out fossil-hunting as a reason to go exploring themselves, or parents and grandparents who read dinosaur books with the next generation of scientists. Lace up your boots, and let’s go!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781735222837
Publisher:	Rocndog Books
Publication date:	03/17/2026
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	9 - 13 Years

About the Author

When this Second Edition was being prepared, Peter Larson was celebrating fifty years in business. And that didn’t count the fact that he started collecting fossils when he was just four.

After a youth blessed with enthusiastic mentors and great adventures, he first started a fledgling rock business during undergraduate school. Since then, he’s created the largest private fossil company in the world, Black Hills Institute of Geologic Research. All the while, he’s been known for his endless optimism and a whole lot of get-up-and-go.

Pete has paved the way for independent paleontologists the world over—and made headlines when the team excavated the world’s two most complete, significant T. rex skeletons, in 1990 and 1992. Pete knew they were the finds of a lifetime, but he had no way of foreseeing that “Sue” and “Stan” would also plunge him down an unexpected rabbit hole—into a topsy-turvy, Alice in Wonderland world.

All these years later, he and his staff are still excavating and studying T. rex—and are arguably the world’s leading experts on the field collection and preparation of dinosaur skeletons. They are unquestionably the most successful T. rex hunters in history, unearthing more than a dozen T. rex—far more than any other organization in the world.

Welcome to Pete’s whimsical world of dinosaurs, as told by paleontology’s biggest champion.

Although Kristin didn’t start researching paleontology until she started researching Pete and Sue—as a reporter for NBC’s Unsolved Mysteries—she’s been writing since forever. (In fact, she first edited one of her mother’s books when she was just twelve. Some stuff runs in the family.)

Like Pete, she started her own independent company while in her twenties, and all these years later she continues to produce print and film projects in several genres.

Today, she is known for her long-standing research in paleontology; she and Pete both participated in Todd Douglas Miller’s 2014 Emmy Award®-winning documentary, Dinosaur 13—which was inspired by Rex Appeal, another book they co-authored. She also writes for MacGillivray Freeman Films, the world’s largest producer of giant-screen documentary films, and provides consulting services for other creative types.

Editorial Reviews

A wonderfully generous invitation to the joys of paleontology! This is the book I wish I had when I was ten. And fifteen. And in college. And when I got my first job teaching paleontology. Bones Rock! tells you how to be a dino detective. Listen carefully.” ROBERT BAKKER, PHD, author of Raptor Red and Maximum Triceratops

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. In this practical guide, Larson shares his obvious passion for his work, discussing scientific methods and a wide variety of fossil-hunting techniques. The conversational style of the writing, filled with plenty of challenging questions and easy-to-follow analogies, effectively brings readers into this fascinating world.

Many of the examples used come from the author’s own finds, and notable discoveries made by kids and teens are also highlighted. A teacher’s guide is appended. Illustrations include high-quality color photographs and helpful diagrams and drawings. There’s fascinating information here, and Larson’s enthusiasm and sound advice give plenty of encouragement to young scientists.

From the Publisher