How Dinosaurs Rocked Victorian Society

“I wasn’t any more obsessed with dinosaurs than most adults,” Edward Dolnick said. But the accomplished science writer became intrigued by the story of the initial discovery of dinosaur bones in England — and how Victorian society coped.

In “Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party,” published by Scribner earlier this month, he introduces us to Mary Anning, a young woman who discovered Jurassic-era marine fossil beds, and the scientists and theologians who debated the mind-blowing implications. “The lure for me was this question of: What was it like to see what no one had ever seen? What was it like to try to grapple with an idea that hadn’t occurred to anybody?”

In a wide-ranging talk with The New York Times, Dolnick talked about Victorian morality, the appeal of the unknown and human smugness.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What interested you about this subject?

Today, we take dinosaurs for granted; it’s just a thing for the kids to outgrow. Once upon a time, and not that long ago, they were brand-new. What was it like to recognize that you’d lived in the tiny cloistered world and missed this giant picture? The smartest people of the age were knocking their heads against the wall trying to solve a riddle of which a 6-year-old today would say, Oh, come on, that one’s easy.

Do you feel like we live in a time now with fewer remaining mysteries or riddles?

Part of the fun is that until this discovery, the Victorians were presumably just as happy and just as complacent as we are. Each generation thinks that they’re at the top of some escalator of progress and that our poor forebears blundered around in the dark.

But the catch is we don’t know what will look silly when people look back at us. What will the 6-year-olds of the future say?