Giants in the Storm.

Signed by the Artist. Quarto, softbound (stiff, illustrated wrappers), 263 pp. Near Fine, with slight rubbing along edges. From lower cover: Avocational paleontologist Mark Renze stumbles onto a half-million-year-old Florida river bed and discovers dozens of partial skeletons -- lumbering mammoths and mastodons, llamas, deer, Old World horses, capybara rodents, bull-size ground sloths, pig-like peccaries, jaguars, saber-toothed cats, primitive wolves, snakes and alligators. The discovery triggers many questions: Was it a major storm, flood, drought or plague that killed so many creatures at once, or do their bones represent one animal dying every ten years for thousands of years? What signs do scientists look for to determine time and cause of death? What ar the ethical considerations for amateur fossil hunters who come across such a site? Do you keep the bones for yourself, sell them on e-bay, or donate them to a museum for the greater public good? Close to 800 field photos offer readers a rare glimpse at the final moments in the lives of these animals. Natural History, Paleontology, Florida, Floridiana bslic.…