Dynamics of Dinosaurs

Rating:
Summary: Dinosaurs seen as engineering problems
Review: A lot of things about dinosaurs (and other extinct large animals) we will never know. And a lot of questions are out there. Questions like "Could Tyrannosaurus rex run?", "What was their top speed?", "Did sauropods hold their neck horizontally or vertically?" or "Could large quadrupedal dinosaurs rear up on their hind legs?"

This book treats the animals that these questions are about as "nothing more" than engineering projects, similar to large buildings, bridges or mechanical machines.

Using realistic values for things like compressability and tensile stress properties of substances like bones, cartilage, tendons, etc. and using laws of physics and formulas from structural engineering Alexander tries to answer some of these questions.

The results are very interesting. If you're interesting in dinosaurs and how they really could have been in real life, this is a book you should not miss.

Rating:
Summary: Dinosaurs seen as engineering problems
Review: A lot of things about dinosaurs (and other extinct large animals) we will never know. And a lot of questions are out there. Questions like "Could Tyrannosaurus rex run?", "What was their top speed?", "Did sauropods hold their neck horizontally or vertically?" or "Could large quadrupedal dinosaurs rear up on their hind legs?"

This book treats the animals that these questions are about as "nothing more" than engineering projects, similar to large buildings, bridges or mechanical machines.

Using realistic values for things like compressability and tensile stress properties of substances like bones, cartilage, tendons, etc. and using laws of physics and formulas from structural engineering Alexander tries to answer some of these questions.

The results are very interesting. If you're interesting in dinosaurs and how they really could have been in real life, this is a book you should not miss.

Rating:
Summary: One of my first introductions to biomechanics as a kid...
Review: Though some of the aspects of biomechanics and scaling that are addressed in this are somewhat simplified, I still find this to be an illuminating book. My father (an engineer) got this for me when it came out (I was 12) and it took me some years to get through it and understand what it was all about. I would certainly suggest it as an introduction to many of the issues modern functional morphology in vertebrate paleontology deals with. It is full of clever but simple ways tofigure things out, who can resist that?