January 2024

Trilobites for Afficionados

From the dust jacket, author, “Andy Secher is a field associate in paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History and co-editor of the museum’s trilobite website. His private collection comprises more than 4,000 trilobite fossils.”

Travels With Trilobites begins with three impressive Forewards by very distinguished and well known paleontologists: Niles Eldridge, Curator Emeritus, Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History; Kirk Johnson, Sant Director, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Mark Norell, Macaulay Curator of Paleontology, Chairman Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). One of the most significant and impactful statements was made by Niles Eldridge wherein he states, “Interestingly, the private sector has played a determined, informed role in the ongoing exploration, collection, and meticulous cleaning (“preparation”) and proper storage of fossils. The assembly, care, and feeding of collections of rare, beautiful, and scientifically important specimens (I believe all specimens, no matter how beat up and ugly, are scientifically important!) is sometimes done better in dedicated private hands than in museums, with their limited resources and more diverse programming charges.” For his part, Kirk Johnson credits amateur collectors with causing the rapid expansion in our knowledge of trilobites as they seek better or more rare specimens. This has caused the commercial market to grow rapidly putting most of these specimens in private hands. Kirk also acknowledges that these special specimens are slowly making their way to museums through donations. Mark Norell promoted Secher’s collection as one of the largest in the world but that his generosity has provided important specimens to the AMNH for display or scientific study.

The Introduction to Travels With Trilobites includes sections on morphology, the earliest trilobites and trilobite Orders. These subjects are all generally presented without a lot of technical jargon. The morphology section would have benefitted from a generic trilobite drawing with the features mentioned identified. The Glossary did not define all the morphological terms to which he referred

There are six chapters in Travels With Trilobites: Cambrian Period: 541-485 Million Years Ago; Ordovician Period: 485-444 Million Years Ago; Silurian Period: 444-419 Million Years Ago; Devonian Period: 419-359 Million Years Ago; Carboniferous/Permian Periods: 359-252 Million Years Ago; Trilobite Thoughts and Observations. The period specific chapters are organized with sections about specific trilobite localities and are interspersed with pertinent side features such as trilobite eggs and soft tissue preservation (both in the Ordovician section). All of the Period specific chapters end with Rapid Reports that are shorter descriptions about specific localities. The Rapid Reports are then followed by a photo gallery of trilobites from the specific time period.

While organization by geologic age seems like a straightforward method, the author didn’t stick to that system. For example, within the Ordovician chapter are photos of Cambrian trilobites. At that point in the chapter, Secher was featuring a specific collector, the bulk of whose work was on Cambrian trilobites. More recently, this collector has started to collect Ordovician material. In the Devonian chapter, two Ordovician trilobites appear. These two were from Morocco where most of the Devonian trilobites come from. The mixing images of ages across chapters troubled me. Why go to the trouble of making age specific chapters if you don’t keep the images organized the same way? This may be frustrating for the reader who wants to see trilobites of a specific age all together as the chapter headings would suggest.

The final chapter, Trilobite Thoughts and Observations, has subsections covering various aspects of being a trilobite collector. The first section seeks to define a trilobite collector and his motivation for following this path. Motivation by the collector can be scientifically driven, he can be driven to collect within a specific geologic age or he can be driven to collect every possible trilobite known (regardless of cost). Speaking of investments, his section on values may have you rethinking your collecting goals as the commercial values of most exotic trilobites exceed four figures. Collections can be built the old fashioned way, as Secher relates, by getting in the mud with a lot of hard work. Or, one can collect using the fabled “silver pick” method where cash rules. Since Secher is associated with the American Museum of Natural History he includes a behind the scenes section. This is followed by a section of the top trilobite museums in the world. What would a good trilobite book be without a section about fakes and frankentrilobites. Buyer beware. Fakes are coming from big time operations in Russia and Morocco as well as lesser ones in China and Bolivia. After this section Secher talks about color preservation in trilobites and some of the strangest trilobites

Of local interest, Mt. Orab is discussed in one of the Rapid Reports. The only local Cincinnatian trilobites illustrated are Isotelus brachycephalus, Isotelus gigas, Ceraurinus icarus and Acidaspis cincinnatiensis. Since Travels With Trilobites is focused on the rare and exotic, our Flexicalymene trilobites are not included. The specimens displayed in the book are, or were, in the personal collection of the author with a few exceptions. Some local individuals are mentioned by name within the text of Travels With Trilobites or in the acknowledgments: Dan, Jason and Ben Cooper along with Tom Johnson. Many other recognizable names will be familiar to hard core trilobite collectors.

Readability - Well written with little technical terminology in an almost casual conversational style. The author states that Travels With Trilobites is a hybrid book of sorts, being part coffee table book of photographs and part educational text. Each can be accessed independently.

On the Upside - The text and photos can be considered independently, so the reader can appreciate the book for the multitude of trilobite images alone or, read the text in order to learn more about these special creatures. The photographs of trilobites are in color and very well done. Many photos are full page images of these exotic creatures. The educational text provides much background on geology, paleoenvironments, evolution and details about specific locations.

On the Downside - While there are specific chapters covering each geologic period of the Paleozoic, the trilobite images are not all kept in their geologic time period chapter. The reader can not expect to go to the Cambrian chapter, for example, and see all of the Cambrian trilobites illustrated in the book. Within a given chapter, the author might highlight a specific collector or collecting area where that subject involves mixed geologic times with subsequent mixing of the trilobite images in that chapter.

Overall Rating - This is an excellent book for trilobite enthusiasts. It’s an easy and informative read with an abundance of fantastic trilobites pictured.