Paleontology - General & Miscellaneous, Dinosaurs, Paleontology - Geological Time Periods

A Field Guide to Dinosaurs

Name: A Field Guide to Dinosaurs
Author: Henry Gee
ISBN: 9780764155116

by Henry Gee, Luis V. Rey

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Overview

This beautifully produced and illustrated volume is the result of sophisticated scientific research. However, it has been written in clear laymen’s language for nonscientists who have serious interest in paleontology. Author Henry Gee provides naturalists’ notes on more than 50 different dinosaur species. His information is supplemented with dramatic, anatomically accurate full-color illustrations of each dinosaur. Material in this book is based on findings of dinosaur remains in North and South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Antarctica, and is divided according to time periods: Triassic, Jurassic, Early- and Mid-Cretaceous, and Late Cretaceous. At-a-glance icons convey key information about each animal, including size, taxonomy, geological period of origin, and geographical location of discovered bones. The book also presents general background information on the 180 million years of the dinosaur-dominated Mesozoic era, including details on Mesozoic plants and animals and the modern story of dinosaur discovery. More than 500

vivid illustrations are all in full color.

Synopsis

vivid illustrations are all in full color.

Booklist - Ed Sullivan

If readers miss paleontologist Gee's introduction, they might assume all the information in this impressive volume is true. As it happens, the book is a fascinating mix of fact and fiction, introducing dinosaurs from the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. The layout and design of the book are reminiscent of a field guide to birds. That's a particularly fitting comparison because one of Gee's goals is to present the fact and speculation related to the idea that birds evolved directly from dinosaurs. A brief but detailed introduction to the field of paleontology and a look at competing theories about dinosaurs are followed by profiles of dinosaur species. Accompanying the text (and frequently overwhelming it) are stunning color illustrations by a professional dinosaur artist. Rey depicts the prehistoric creatures as ferocious and birdlike, with beaks, feathers, and wings. The fascinating, attractively designed and beautifully illustrated book is sure to pique imaginations.

About the Author, Henry Gee

Henry Gee is a paleontologist and a senior editor of Nature, a major weekly science journal. He is also author of In Search of Deep Time, published by Cornell University Press.

Luis V. Rey is one of the most highly respected dinosaur artists working today. His images are based on rigorous anatomical study, which keeps him in demand by many leading dinosaur experts.

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Editorials

Ed Sullivan

Publishers Weekly

"One thing must be made clear from the start: this is a work of fiction." Having gotten that admission out of the way at the very beginning of his text, paleontologist Gee, a senior editor at the prestigious journal Nature, goes on to explain that picturing the outsides of dinosaurs known to us only by their bones is inherently an act of imagination, but one based on scientific realities. Did dinosaurs do mating dances? Nobody knows, but many animals do, so perhaps dinos did, too. And since dinosaurs are now believed by many to be the ancestors of birds, it makes sense to imagine them in as wide a range of colors as today's avian species. Each of 56 dinosaur species is presented here through black-and-white sketches of heads and claws and other body parts, and in full-color, full-body paintings that are indeed striking for the range of colors and textures: blues and greens and reds, with speckles and stripes, scales and feathers. Rey, a leading dinosaur artist, pictures his subjects in action, climbing trees, chasing prey, baring their fearsome fangs in habitats ranging from jungle to seaside. At the end of his introduction, Gee returns to the question of veracity-the dinosaurs probably didn't look as pictured here, he admits: "they were far, far stranger." But dinophiles will enjoy this excursion into a vividly illustrated possible past world. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9-"One thing must be made clear from the start: this is a work of fiction." So states the first line of the extensive, well-written introduction, and should readers skip it and dive headlong into the sumptuous "field guide," they may take for unshakable fact material that, while based on current findings, is largely extrapolation. Gee discusses a wide variety of topics-fur, feathers, color, an "imagined reality," the dinosaur-bird connection, continental drift, and the nature of the Mesozoic world. A time line, an excellent cladogram, instructions for using the "field guide," and a warning regarding the speculative nature of many of the "facts" presented are included. The "field guide" is divided into the Triassic, Jurassic, Early and Mid-Cretaceous, and Late Cretaceous periods, presenting representative dinosaurs from each one. Rey offers a host of small black-and-white sketches and vividly dramatic, brilliantly colored paintings as well. Many of the selected saurians are the "usual suspects"-T. rex, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and the like-but a horde of the newest finds, such as Masiakasaurus, Amargasaurus, and Muttaburrasaurus, are also included. As in a standard field guide, a global-positioning map for each dinosaur is included, as is information on description and size and paragraphs on distinguishing features, habits, and habitats. Handsome and engrossing, this book should have a large and appreciative audience, especially among fans of the stunning videos of Walking with Dinosaurs (BBC).-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.