"My way of learning was never through a book - it was always through experience. Going out and finding things and thinking about them is basically how I have learned everything. When it comes to teaching a student something, I want that student to do the same thing. I think reading is overrated, quite frankly, and I think there's no reason to read a book and learn about someone else's idea. I think it's more important to experience something and have your own idea."
In Montana in the 1970s, Jack Horner and his research partner discovered clutches of eggs of a new dinosaur genus that they named "Maiasaura," or "good mother lizard." Their discoveries settled long-standing questions about whether some dinosaurs had built nests, cared for their young, or had lived communally.
Today, Horner is one of the the best-known paleontologists in the country. Professor, museum curator, author, teacher, MacArthur "genius grant" fellow, and science advisor to the "Jurassic Park" films and the "Terra Nova" television series, Horner is constantly proposing and testing ideas about how dinosaurs lived. In the field and the lab, Horner's work style is hands-on; he even helped design the dinosaur hall at Bozeman's Museum of the Rockies.
(Broadcast: "Home Ground Radio," 10/28/14. Listen weekly Tuesdays, 1:00 p.m., or via podcast.)
Jack Horner's 2011 TEDx talk: "Where Are the Baby Dinosaurs?"
"'Jurassic Park' Paleontologist Offers Advice On Ways of Dinosaurs" by Cristy Lytal, "Los Angeles Times," March 2013.
