Today is May 13th, which means my new book, King Tyrant: A Natural History of #Tyrannosaurus rex is OUT NOW! Published by @princetonupress.bsky.social, this is the biggest and most detailed synthesis ever published on one of the best understood and most studied of all #dinosaurs. Thread follows... - ThreadSky

markwitton.bsky.social • 16 days ago

Today is May 13th, which means my new book, King Tyrant: A Natural History of #Tyrannosaurus rex is OUT NOW! Published by @princetonupress.bsky.social, this is the biggest and most detailed synthesis ever published on one of the best understood and most studied of all #dinosaurs. Thread follows...

Comments

mvthomster.bsky.social•14 days ago

just ordered !!! thanks

williambabey.bsky.social•15 days ago

I know this is a long shot but does Princeton University Press deliver outside of the UK? I live in Switzerland and the amount of decent paleontology books available here is scarce.

markwitton.bsky.social•15 days ago

Perhaps @princetonupress.bsky.social can answer here? I'm unsure how global the distribution network is. Alternatively, I could look into sending a copy over the old-fashioned way (by post from the UK).

princetonupress.bsky.social•15 days ago

@markwitton.bsky.social @williambabey.bsky.social Hi! This title is available for purchase globally, and our website does offer options for shipping outside of the UK: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691245584/king-tyrant

williambabey.bsky.social•15 days ago

Wonderful!! Thank you!!

markwitton.bsky.social•16 days ago

KT is a big book, competing with my 2013 volume "Pterosaurs" for my largest yet. How can anyone write so much about one species of dinosaur? Because T. rex has, in the last few decades, essentially become a "model species", the dinosaur that we constantly revisit to test new methods and hypotheses.

markwitton.bsky.social•16 days ago

This has led to accusations of overstudy and resultant media saturation, which is an understandable perspective. A counterargument is that biological sciences need "guinea pig" species that we know inside out, maximising context for new results. T. rex is probably this species for dinosaurs...

markwitton.bsky.social•16 days ago

...and with good reason: it has an excellent fossil record. Thousands of specimens are known, from isolated teeth and bones to near-complete skeletons of giant adults. The popularity of the genus among researchers, museums and collectors has created a constant drive to get new T. rex fossils.

markwitton.bsky.social•16 days ago

This means that, yes, there is scope (need?) to write a big synthesis on T. rex. Amazingly - and one reason I pitched this book to Princeton - is that no one had attempted this for 30 years! The last book specifically on T. rex for mature readers was Horner and Lessem's 1993 "The Complete T. rex"...

pantherinsnow.bsky.social•16 days ago

I used to have that book! Wish I still did. I remember being a teenager and feeling a great annoyance at Horner's suggestion that T. rex mighy have been built as a full-time scavenger. 😂

markwitton.bsky.social•16 days ago

...and, through no fault of the authors, that came out at the worst time it could have, just before virtually _everything_ that has defined the modern era of tyrannosaurid (and T. rex) research. I figured there was scope to close this obvious gap in dinosaur literature.

markwitton.bsky.social•16 days ago

(Notable mention, of course, to @davehone.bsky.social's 2017 Tyrannosaur Chronicles, but that covers tyrannosaur_oids_, and thus has a much broader focus, even if T. rex informs much of what we know about tyrant dinosaurs in general.)

dsfpspacefl1ght.bsky.social•16 days ago

I have that one, signed - after I learned of your book this morning I pulled it down off the shelf.

ausarchosaur.bsky.social•16 days ago

I was very much a fan of Tyrannosaurus rex, the Tyrant King and Tyrannosaurid Paleobiology, those shaping a lot of my understanding of tyrannosaurids today, but those aren’t really so much syntheses on T. rex.

markwitton.bsky.social•16 days ago

Indeed, they're collections of papers resulting from academic symposia, and aimed primarily at researchers. They're not really in the same category as my book or the others mentioned here.

antimony96.bsky.social•16 days ago

Was this before Horner's scavenger hypothesis or was he already advancing it at this point?

markwitton.bsky.social•16 days ago

It was discussed in a few venues in the '90s, including this book.

cruxieoz.bsky.social•16 days ago

I wouldn’t even argue it’s overstudied, so much as just other species are extremely understudied

mmarcosaurus.bsky.social•16 days ago

Congratulations, Mark! My dad helped me buy it today. Now I'm waiting for it to arrive in two weeks. I've seen the book page samples and read this whole thread. I can tell that it looks amazing and beautiful! Bravo! ^^
🦖🦴🌎🌍🌏🦴🦖📖

boredaardvark.bsky.social•15 days ago

Congratulations - that looks like huge amounts of work and truly fabulous 😀.

dsfpspacefl1ght.bsky.social•16 days ago

I have your PTEROSAURS book - gotta get this one! Thanks for the heads up.

astro-toaster.bsky.social•6 days ago

Any chance that you'll offer prints of this gorgeous cover art?

tabletoptinkering.bsky.social•11 days ago

I've been really looking forward to this! Is there any plans to do an audiobook?

markwitton.bsky.social•11 days ago

Glad to hear it! No plans for an audiobook version yet, and I'm unsure if it's suited to being one given the number of photos, illustrations, figures etc.

axelsauro.bsky.social•16 days ago

Congratulations! Having followed the development through patreon, I'm sure this has shaped up to be a fantastic work.

nominalanomaly.bsky.social•16 days ago

"Under tyrannical reign of the king, the long arms of the law are but a farce"

princetonupress.bsky.social•16 days ago

🎉🎉🎉

thdenwheja.bsky.social•16 days ago

I've seen that image on more and more posters and book covers recently. You kinda got the perfect glamor shot with this one.😆

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