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Title: National Geographic Dinosaurs
ISBN: 0792282248
Author:
Paul Barrett
Publicate Date: 2001-10-01
Publish: 2001-10-01
List Price: $29.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $18.35
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $9.58
Amazon Merchant Price: $19.77
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| Customer Review: |
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1: This book is great
I bought this book for my son, and he LOVES it. It has so much information and great pictures it keeps him busy for hours!
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2: Second Choice First Book on Dinosaurs
See all my reviews of dinosaur books.
"National Geographic Dinosaurs" is aimed perfectly at the new student (aged 8-12). It's illustrations are vivid and the information is well-pitched.
At almost 200 pages in length, there are thicker books. However, with 120 pages dedicated to dinosaur profiles, there are enough dinosaurs to satisfy the new student.
Typically, there are a series of chapters that provide a context, followed by the dinosaur profiles. "Nat Geo Dinosaurs" contextual chapters include 'What is a Dinosaur?'; 'The Age of the Dinosaurs' - info on the Mesezoic era and other creatures - marine and flying; 'Dinosaur Sites'- key fossil sites; 'Discovering Dinosaurs'; 'Reconstructing Dinosaurs'; 'Dinosaur biology and behaviour'; 'How they Lived' - maternal instincts, hunting and fighting, arms and armor, diet, size and weight, movement; 'Classification' with flowcharts. Overall, these chapters hold-up reasonably well with other similar books, especially the classification pages. After the profiles there are chapters on extinction and dinosaur films.
The book then goes into genus profiles (usually of one page per dinosaur, sometimes two) of the bird-hipped dinosaurs for 50 pages then the lizard-hipped dinosaurs for another 60 pages. Each of these pages contains a Fact File with a grid showing the size of the dinosaur against a 6 foot man. Included in the Fact File is: Genus; Classification; Length; Weight; (When it) Lived; and where it was found (with a world map). Also included is a colour illustration of the dinosaur in a profile pose. The information is generally 3 to 4 paragraphs long and is very basic science. Normally there is information on distinguishing features and some comparison with cousins. Unfortunately, single dinosaurs are not covered in detail; it is only the genus - so if you are looking on the Tyrannosaurus page, you wont find anything on each of the tyrannosaurs (like Albertosaurus or Tarbosaurus). What you get is pretty much T.rex disguised as a generalised tyrannosaur.
Where I really think the book falls down is in it's interpretations of dinosaur behaviour and adaptations. There is quite a lot of information presented as fact when it is pure speculation. Also, there isn't any balance in arguments. For example, the profile on Carnotaurus states when mentioning its short snout 'that it could have got twisted and bent, particularly in struggles with large animals' suggsting that 'Cartnotaurus did not often attack animals of the same size or larger than itself, as its skull could not withstand such forces'. This is only providing one side of the argument (and the weaker side at that). There is currently strong debate about the diet of Carnotaurus due to the argument of how strong its jaws actually were, and whether it hunted in packs. I prefer information that is more balanced like the more accurate "The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia" by David Burnie. The information in "Nat Geo Dinosaur", however, is way more realistic than Gee and Rays "A Field Guide to Dinosaurs", but not as adequate as Parker's "Dinosaurus" which has individual species profiled.
On the positive side is the artwork of Raul Martin. I love habitat illustrations of dinosaurs that paint a vivid picture of life in the Mesozoic. And there is no better illustrator. As one other reviewer wrote, it is unfortunate that a number of his illustrations appear over two pages, but with 30 of these wonderful pictures on show, it is definately a plus for this book.
Overall, this is one of the best books for new students. It is easier to compare dinosaurs with each other size-wise and genealogy-wise compared with "Dinosaurus". Its illustrations are second to none and its information on dinosaurs is adequate. I do recommend "The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia" by David Burnie over this book, but if you are going to buy two - this is certainly the second choice.
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3: Awesome for kids and adults
We bought this for my five year old nephew who LOVES dinosaurs. He can read pretty well on his own and has enjoyed flipping through this book, reading and looking at the pictures. My husband also thought this book was awesome and wished he had had more time before Christmas to read this book before wrapping it up for our nephew!
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4: Beautiful Book
I bought this for my grandchildren for Christmas and they loved looking through it. Beautiful pic's and fun to read together.
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5: For All Dino Fans
Like many other people, I am intrigued by the dinosaurs as well as other
citizens of the "Middle Life" mesozoic era. The book is divided into two sections. The first is general and discusses such areas as what the dinosaurs were, when they lived, what their environment was like and how they related to each other. The other portion deals with a large number of different dinosaur families, from the tiny musasauras(mouse lizard) to the gigantic seismosaurus, which was up to 160 feet long!The specific descriptions provide such information as when they lived, where they were found, and their size(Many times with a dinosaur/human comparison shown!).
Since the National Geographic Society has been a major sponsor of dinosaur research and expeditions, the photographs and technical details are excellent. The artwork by Raul Martin fleshes out the bones and reconstructions to provide insight into what these ancient citizens of earth would have looked like when they were alive and roaming freely.
I reccomend this book for all dinosaur fans from the five year old
on his or her first trip to the Museum to the "fossiles" like me who use their vacations to volunteer and help out on digs!
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