Dinosaurs: The Textbook

This book is a basic introduction to the study of dinosaurs. It briefly covers the history of paleontology in general and of dinosaur paleontology specifically. The reader will learn what makes a dinosaur a dinosaur, and why other reptiles aren't. It covers the major divisions of dinosaurs with brief descriptions of all of the large subgroups. If you're looking for a book that will get you beyond general audience level without requiring years of other studies to understand, this will be a good choice.

I teach a course about Dinosaur biology at a local community college and this textbook is exactly what we need for this type of course. This text allows me to teach science to students who think that science is boring or too hard. Although I have added a lot of scientific thinking on top of this text, the book itself does introduce students to thinking like a scientist by presenting both sides of an argument - for example what caused Dinosaurs to go extinct. The text allows me to teach both sides, all the facts behind each, and to allow the students to draw their own conclusions.

I have used two editions of this book as one of the texts for a general vertebrate paleontology course. The class, organismic biology majors, with some secondary science, PE., elementary education and geography majors, liked the clear writing, statement of objectives, and reviews of each chapter. Diagrams were also clear. It perhaps needs more background on plate tectonics, stratigraphy/sedimentation and extinction/bird origins.