"Lebanese Amber: The Oldest Insect Ecosystem in Fossilized Resin" written by George O. Poinar,Jr. and Raif K. Milki is a very well appointed book with color photos of insects, spores and other fauna and flora entomed in resin from towering kauri pines, (which only exist in the Australasian region of the southern hemisphere today), in prehistoric Lebanon some 135 million years ago. The Early Cretaceous is the time of the dinosaurs.



Amber is known for preserving fossils in life-like condition, because they were not subjected to compression that all too commonly affects most soft-bodied organisms that enter the prehistoric record. This is what "Jurassic Park" is based upon, a biting insect with dinosaur DNA in its digestive tract.



In "Lebanese Amber: The Oldest Insect Ecosystem in Fossilized Resin" we see indicated well-illustrated appearances of many insect groups. There are very good descriptions of individual fossils and there is added material documented by photographs. There is also provided background information on geology and occurences of Lebanese amber and a comprehensive section on other types of resins and gums found in the Near East that might be confused with true amber. The book is a review of all the organisms thus far reported from Lebanese amber.



I found this book to be very helpful in recognizing true Lebanese amber from Near Eastern resins, copals, and gums and is very helpful with the indentification of insect inclusions amber samples. I gave this book a solid 5 stars for it is a book you'll want as a reference.