The New Dinosaurs

Rating:
Summary: A fond favourite
Review: A book I grew up with, and borrowed many a time from the local library, is now once again in my life in this re-published edition. I flip through this book remembering fondly how this book originally sparked my love of all things dinosaurs and prehistoric, and intrigued me to the point where it became a focal point for much of my short story writing. I now have my own copy of this book, in the new glossy cover edition, but I can see this book becoming well read and worn over time. An awesome book for any dinosaur lover, a true classic. :)

Rating:
Summary: Great book.
Review: Beautiful book, full of first rate colored pictures and stories about dinosaurs based on what we know or what we believe about dinosaurs! Updated, with something for both kids and adults.

Rating:
Summary: Great book.
Review: Beautiful book, full of first rate colored pictures and stories about dinosaurs based on what we know or what we believe about dinosaurs! Updated, with something for both kids and adults.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book back in print.
Review: I really can't express how happy I am to see this book in print again. This book has always stood out in my mind as something truly special--I owned a copy at the age of 10, but somehow in the 'intervening decades', I lost track of it and felt it was gone forever. But just today I saw this on the shelf, and within a glance or two of the illustrations knew this was the book I had lost. For the 10 year olds in all of us, I can say that Stout has really made the dino's come alive on the page--its enough to make even hesitant readers devour the book. I do not believe the publishers are overrating the importance of rekindling the world's interest in dinosaurs, as my memories of if have persisted all this time, despite so many other works which should have displaced it.

Stout's art is nothing short of fantastic--certainly there are a fair number of minor works here, but there are also paintings and illustrations here that are simply georgous. Scientific detail, emotion, rich and beautiful backgrounds, and sometimes even humor--they all come through here. While I am a great fan of the 'Walking with Dinosaurs' series, there is something not achieved in that film which is accomplished here because the images convey more than merely a depiction of dinosaurs. It is so blindingly clear that Stout must be a great dinosaur fan because he draws them in a way that is very passionate while also showing some incredible skill.

In the end, if you are looking for a good scientific book on dinosaurs, The Complete Dinosaur remains the ultimate tome, but many will find it unapproachable, and I would expect the size and reading level to be too much for all but the most dedicated high school student. Given this limitation, The New Dinosaurs is a book that could be read and understood by enthusiastic 8th graders (though probably with some help), and would provide no difficulty to high school age--which isn't to say that the text is dumbed down, but that instead it isn't bogged down with more science than the layman needs. More importantly though, children of most ages will find the illustrations compelling, and even the little ones will probably read parts of the text and try to understand the stories being presented. Once again, I know that as a 10 year old, I found the original edition nothing short of incredible, and I'm sure I read a good chunk of it.

Of course, there is the potential down-side for getting this book for kids--there is an illustration of dinosaur sex (nothing terribly detailed) and another of a dinosaur deficating. Perhaps it was just a matter of being raised by a mother who loved biology and was a teacher, but the inclusion of these topics as points of scientific interest, never seemed like an issue.

So to wrap this up, The New Dinosaurs seems the perfect book for several different people--fans of dinosaur art (or nature art), fans of dinosaurs (who might appreciate a more art-oriented book), younger readers with an interest in science and/or dinosaurs who would find large science texts intimidating, and really, just about any kid, because they all love dinosaurs.

Lastly, this edition looks to have an additional 30 pages or so of 'introduction' which not only includes some great new illustrations by Stout, but also some more detailed descriptions of the Mesozoic period.

Rating:
Summary: A Unique Book
Review: It just doesn't get any better than this - gorgeous drawings accompanying written snippets of fictional dinosaur life. Almost every type of dinosaur is well represented except the ostrich dinos. Some of the stories are based on specific famous finds like the "Fighting Dinosaurs" of Mongolia, Ostrom's Deinonychus-Tenontosaurus death assemblage, and what seems to be a wild interpretation of the Glen Rose trackway. Others are unproven scenarios that are likely to have occured, perhaps the most inspired being a vignet about the dinosaurs living at the exact time and space where the continents started to divide. With the original work flanked by art based on the latest finds, this book is up to date at the moment, and brings dinosaurs to life in a way more technical books just can't.

By the way, you may not want to buy this for bedtime reading for the kiddies unless you feel like explaining Parasaurolophus sex!

Rating:
Summary: A classic refurbished.
Review: The first edition of this book was released while I was in high school and, as an aspiring paleontologist, I immediately fell in love with Stout's beautiful, Art Nouveau dinosaurs. Now this classic has been updated, with new artwork and the inclusion of recent discoveries, making it even more wonderful. This is absolutely some of the most inspiring dinosaur art ever!

Rating:
Summary: The New Dinosaur
Review: The New Dinosaur edited by William Stout is a book on dinosaurs, but there is information in it that is both for adults and children. This is a highly illustrated book that puts dinosaurs in a habitat that was around when they roamed the earth.

"The New Dinosaur" has information in it that helps to answer some of the nagging questions that surround dinosaurs; whether they were warn or cold-blooded, did they have feathers, how did they live... and many more questions.

About the best we can hope for, without going back in time and observe the dinosaurs first-handed, is knowledge with get from the fossil remains and through observation of the animals today and extricate the desired information through extrapolation. This takes a keen sense of observation from the information that you have available and a good sense of imagination, as well.

"The New Dinosaur" is a wonderful book as it answers some of the questions and fills in gaps about the dinosaur lives and times. This book will put your imagination in over drive, making for a most engaging read. The narrative moves quickly, but always it is mindful that the reader is not a paleontologist, making it a read that is pleasurable.

Rating:
Summary: The New Dinosaur
Review: The New Dinosaur edited by William Stout is a book on dinosaurs, but there is information in it that is both for adults and children. This is a highly illustrated book that puts dinosaurs in a habitat that was around when they roamed the earth.

"The New Dinosaur" has information in it that helps to answer some of the nagging questions that surround dinosaurs; whether they were warn or cold-blooded, did they have feathers, how did they live... and many more questions.

About the best we can hope for, without going back in time and observe the dinosaurs first-handed, is knowledge with get from the fossil remains and through observation of the animals today and extricate the desired information through extrapolation. This takes a keen sense of observation from the information that you have available and a good sense of imagination, as well.

"The New Dinosaur" is a wonderful book as it answers some of the questions and fills in gaps about the dinosaur lives and times. This book will put your imagination in over drive, making for a most engaging read. The narrative moves quickly, but always it is mindful that the reader is not a paleontologist, making it a read that is pleasurable.

Rating:
Summary: Author Review
Review: THE NEW DINOSAURS is an updating (with 32 added pages of new pictures and information) of my 1981 book THE DINOSAURS - A Fantastic New View of a Lost Era.

It's been said by many critics that this was the book that sparked the public resurgence in its interest in dinosaurs. I think it most certainly helped; Michael Crichton was nice enough to list my work as an inspiration for his book JURASSIC PARK.

The styles of the book's pictures change from illustration to illustration and are influenced by the great children's book illustrators of the past, artists such as Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Edward Detmold and N. C. Wyeth. THE NEW DINOSAURS not only gave me a chance to update the 1981 book's information and include exciting recent finds (like Giganotosaurus and the Chinese feathered dinosaurs), but to update readers as to my progress and development as an artist as well, displaying what I've learned in the last twenty years.

My "Sue" mural for Walt Disney's Animal Kingdom is included in the new book. This is the very first depiction ever painted of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex "Sue". It is also what I consider to be a "breakthrough" picture in that it is also the very first painting ever made of a specific dinosaur. I consulted with the chief Field Museum paleontologist overseeing the preparation of "Sue" to learn the nature of her pathologies. I incorporated "Sue's" wounds and injuries into my painting so that what the public would finally see was not just a painting of a Tyrannosaurus representing "Sue", but an actual portrait of "Sue" and only "Sue" --- that very specific Tyrannosaurus rex.

In the past twenty years a lot of people have come up to me and told me that they are now paleontologists because they received a copy of THE DINOSAURS as a child. My hope is that THE NEW DINOSAURS influences and inspires another generation of budding scientists.