A Look Inside Dinosaurs

My 5 and 7 year old boys love these small DK pocket books. They have lots of pictures and are filled with interesting facts. They are very educational and inexpensive. I highly recommend these.

This is a great book for a well-rounded general knowledge of dinosaurs. The only down part is that we still do not know much about dinosaurs and are improving our knowledge every day; since this book is relatively old, some things have changed in our view of dinosaurs today. I have documented the few inaccuracies, and hope that the publishers will issue a 2nd revised edition of this awesome book. At the time it was published, it was the most up-to-date compact book of its kind, a real break-through. If you want to have a good idea of what the dinosaurs were all about, then this is the book for you. It is so complete that it covers the facts that you would learn in an undergraduate 100-level course on dinosaurs. For those of you who are interested, the following are some of the things that have changed in the 2001 view of dinosaurs: 1) The Tyrannosaurs are now viewed as more closely related to the Raptors (Dromaeosaurids) instead of the Allosaurs (or Carnosaurs). 2) Its is now known that many therapods had feathers (other than the Aves), including Tyrannosaurs, a fact that was omitted from the book.3) Oviraptors are no longer believed to be 'egg stealers' as the embryos found inside the eggs were determined to be of the same species.4) In the extinction explanations section, they mentioned that the Dinosaurs died out gradually. However there is a phenomenon known as the Signor-Lipps effect that states that a sudden extinction can resemble a gradual one due to the fact that evidence and fossils are so scarce (because rarer species have lower sampling rates). This means that we still do not know if their death was gradual or quick. They also mentioned that a volcano was a possible cause. Volcanic activity would have been one of the side-effects of an impact, others being acid rain, tsunamis, and tornadoes. However the two leading theories are now the Alvarez theory (Asteroid impact which leads to a quick wiping out of a species) and the more gradual extinction via ecological change (retreating seas and climate change due to tectonic plate movement), which they failed to mention. It should be noted that the Alvarez theory is more widely accepted than the other.5) The Classification chart is, as they correctly stated, continually changing and is now different from the one printed in their book.Updated versions can be found on the web. Apart from these errors (due to continually changing views in dinosaur study), this is a great book that I would recommend to everyone.

DK has done it again! This book is a wonderful resource for the family and the individual that is interested in dinosaurs. Why?First, the book is compact. This means it can fit in small areas in your school bag, hip pack or even a pocket. This means you can have the book as source material on-hand without a great deal of personal imposition. If I personally was to use a pocket, I would prefer a trouser's cargo pocket. Why? Because I care about how my books age and how much damage they sustain.Second, it is a typical DK book - in other words, beautifully illustrated. There are plenty of pictures both of actual fossils and modern science reproductions of dinosaurs.Third, I love the silhouette comparisons between a 6ft (1.8m) tall human and the dinosaur being spoken of. I only wish that they would have more of them in this book. Between this volume and three of DK's other books (The DK Great Dinosaur Atlas also by William Lindsay and the Ultimate Dinosaur Book and the DK Guide to Dinosaurs both by David Lambert) you will get a wide variety of these silhouettes. Unfortunately, Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Lambert, despite both being from the British Museum, disagree on some of the silhouettes. Oh well, take the one you like best as gospel, eh? I do!Fourth, it is well organized. It is divided into five sections:Section 1 introduces the reader to dinosaurs. It speaks of what is a dinosaur, the world of the dinosaurs, the lifestyles of the dinosaurs, anatomy of the dinosaurs, the first dinosaurs, and of course, the extinction of the dinosaurs.Sections II & III are the typical FUN parts of a dinosaur book that everyone is looking for - the parts that directly deal with the many types of dinosaurs. They are split into the traditional two categories of dinosaurs: the lizard-hipped or Saurischian dinosaurs and the bird-hipped or Ornithischian dinosaurs.Section IV deals with the sea and air animals that many consider dinosaurs, but are not. Despite not being the stars of the book, the section does provide some good information on these.Section V is the reference section. This can be priceless for the person who wants to know more about dinosaurs. The main value is two pages of dinosaur museums and sites in the USA and Canada with their addresses. An improvement here would have been the inclusion of WEB site addresses and phone numbers as well. The next valuable part of this section is the cannot-do-without pronunciation guide that most parents find to be a lifesaver. I know my wife depends on it! The section also talks of dino-discovery history, dino records and myths, how dinosaurs are taken out of the ground after being discovered and contains a glossary.What is bad about the book? Not much! Only two things come to mind, one wishful and one serious. The wishful matter is that I just wish there was even more cool information about dinosaurs in the book. But if that was the case, it probably would not