Dinosaurs, Spitfires, and Sea Dragons

Rating:
Summary: Dinosaurs, Spitfires, and Sea Dragons
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this volume even though I am not really a dinosaur enthusiast. A little old (c. 1992), it is still a very readable and comprehensive text on the paleontology of dinosarus. The author covers recent findings regarding dinosaur skeletal structure and what it tells of lifestyle, their modes of locomotion and what it implies of thermoregulation, etc. The book would definitely be a valuable first line undergraduate textbook on the subject and on paleontology as a field of research. It also might interest an enthusiastic younger student even to the level of junior high as long as he or she was a reader with a sophisticated vocabulary or one with some knowledge of the discipline already.

Rating:
Summary: Dinosaurs, Spitfires, and Sea Dragons
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this volume even though I am not really a dinosaur enthusiast. A little old (c. 1992), it is still a very readable and comprehensive text on the paleontology of dinosarus. The author covers recent findings regarding dinosaur skeletal structure and what it tells of lifestyle, their modes of locomotion and what it implies of thermoregulation, etc. The book would definitely be a valuable first line undergraduate textbook on the subject and on paleontology as a field of research. It also might interest an enthusiastic younger student even to the level of junior high as long as he or she was a reader with a sophisticated vocabulary or one with some knowledge of the discipline already.

Rating:
Summary: Explains the logic of the evidence
Review: This book is a bit different. It examines the extent of what we know, or do not know, and on the basis of what evidence. The discussion of what we can tell from teeth, or marks on the bones, etc is the meat of the book. What we can tell with high confidence and what we cannot! Very interesting indeed, and he is not afraid to say "look, this is slender eveidence for such and such a theory."

I really liked this approach.

Rating:
Summary: For the person more than casually interested in dinosaurs!
Review: This book is ideal for paleontology students or avid dinosaurphiles. Math is used extensively to demonstrate how dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures walked, ran, swam, flew, etc. The book gives a wonderful glimpse into how the hard science of paleontology is performed, instead of glossing over the math like many other popular books do. Once you finish this book, you will never look at dinosaurs the same way again.

Rating:
Summary: For the person more than casually interested in dinosaurs!
Review: This book is ideal for paleontology students or avid dinosaurphiles. Math is used extensively to demonstrate how dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures walked, ran, swam, flew, etc. The book gives a wonderful glimpse into how the hard science of paleontology is performed, instead of glossing over the math like many other popular books do. Once you finish this book, you will never look at dinosaurs the same way again.