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WHILE fluffy dinosaurs steal the limelight, we need to remind ourselves that there is more to fossils than agreeing whether or not Tyrannosaurus rex could run. Not that I have anything against dinosaurs, but the fossil record is still largely untapped. Far fewer than 0.1 per cent of existing fossils have been recovered from the rocks. The trouble is we probably know more about the evolution of extinct trilobites than we do about human evolution.

First we need to understand the historical and environmental context of fossils. Regional or continental syntheses of geology might not be particularly trendy. Most geologists have bad memories of lectures running endlessly through the 4.6 billion years of the geological record from the Precambrian to the Quaternary. Fortunately, this area is well served with recent volumes such as The Geological History of Britain and Ireland and a forthcoming new edition of The Geology of Scotland.

Happily, the biological study of fossils as once-living organisms has finally detached itself from the apron strings of utilitarianism and practical economic geology. Palaeobiology II gives an excellent and up-to-date overview of everything from the origin of life and fossilisation to the use of molecular data. It even has a brief section on hominids, our extinct relatives who usually fall outside the pale of palaeontology.

I hope that this unnecessary demarcation line between palaeontology and palaeoanthropology, inherited from the 19th century, will disappear soon. The study of primate and human evolution is finally incorporating our better understanding of changing climates and environments over the past few thousand years of the Quaternary ice ages (well portrayed in The Great Ice Age). This, combined with better molecular evidence for human descent is, I think, going to be a growth area and Where Do We Come From? provides a good introduction.

Arguments over the use of molecular as opposed to morphological evidence for evolutionary patterns are now commonplace throughout the study of fossil groups. The extent to which useful biomolecules can be recovered from fossils does seem to be limited. Major Events in Early Vertebrate Evolution is a fine example at an academic level of how these apparently incompatible approaches might be reconciled. The fossil record has made highly significant contributions to topics such as the origin of the vertebrates and the evolution of the tetrapods. The view, solely through living animals, however detailed, would miss important parts of the plot.

Needless to say, the dinosaur industry continues apace with heavyweight tomes on The Armoured Dinosaurs and Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, and a new general Introduction to the study of Dinosaurs. But dinosaurs can be put to strange uses: try the fascinating Drawing out Leviathan. Subtitled Dinosaurs and the science wars, it examines arguments about the nature and reality of these extinct beasts in the wider social debate about the value of science and its portrayal in the media.

Popular accounts of the history of fossil investigation have even been accused of 鈥渧ulgar鈥� popularisation. Although there are plenty of very good stories to be told about the investigation of fossils, some are more accurate than others. The wider context of a crucial phase in fossil discovery is wonderfully detailed in Simon Knell鈥檚 The Culture of English Geology, 1815-1851. And the history of the temporal framework to fossil evolution is equally well portrayed in The Age of the Earth: from 4004 BC to AD 2002. It even includes an essay on 鈥淒ating the Origin of Modern Humans鈥�. The fences are falling.