Parker, S. 2003. Dinosaurus. The complete guide to dinosaurs. – London, Quinted Publishing Ltd

Abstract

Dinosaurs are hot. Many new fossils from famous sites, such as the Chinese Jehol Group (western Liaoning, northern Hebei and souteastern Inner Mongolia), together with a general increase in research, has greatly increased our knowledge on these and other extinct animals. The resultant stream of scientific publications in professional journals has been matched by an increase of semi-scientific and popular books, translating the scientific jargon in understandable prose. Many take the form of an encyclopaedia, and Parker’s ‘Dinosaurus’ is just such a book. But what makes it stand out from the crowd?

The book is divided in 15 chapters, prefaced by a foreword and introduction, and closed by some small sections on the main fossil sites and a glossary. Each chapter starts with a beautiful ‘cover’ of two pages, after which is a short paragraph containing general information. For example, chapter five (‘The great predators’) discusses the size of meat eating dinosaurs, and whether they were hunters of scavengers.

Colour photographs, x-rays, dino factfiles (small blocks with a world map to show where the fossils were found, etymological information, pronunciation, etc.) all help the reader visualise these extinct animals and their environment, but a special mention must be made of the abundant use of beautiful artwork from various artists (such as Joe Tucciarone and Wildlife Art Ltd). Every page is decorated with reconstructed prehistoric animals, making the book fun to browse through, even without reading a single line!. Read more...