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Dinosaur Dictionary
Photographs and diagrams complement descriptions of the physical characteristics, time period, and locations of fossils of every known genus of dinosaur
- GenresDinosaursNonfiction
218 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
3 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Donald F. Glut
237 books50 followersDONALD F. GLUT has been professionally active in both the entertainment and publishing industries since 1966.
Born in Pecos, Texas, Don grew up in Chicago, IL. At age nine, already bitten by the film-making “bug,” he made Diplodocus at Large, the first of 41 amateur movies featuring dinosaurs, human monsters (Frankenstein’s Monster, Teenage Werewolf, etc.) and superheroes (Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, etc.) Some of these films made during the late 1960s (e.g., Spy Smasher vs. the Purple Monster) were eventually shown in theatres and on TV.
Moving to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California, Don professionally entered show business as an “extra” (a POW) in the movie Von Ryan’s Express (1965), the first of several such “roles.” He began his professional writing career in 1966, writing articles for and finally editing the magazine Modern Monsters. In 1967, after graduating from the University of Southern California with a BA degree (for Cinema) in Letters, Arts and Sciences, Don worked as a musician, singer and songwriter in The Penny Arkade, a rock band produced by “Monkee” Michael Nesmith. Shortly after that he briefly furthered his acting career, having a speaking role in a national television commercial starring Dick Clark.
However, most of Don’s professional life has been as a freelance writer. To date he has authored numerous motion picture and television scripts (Shazam!, Land of the Lost, and animation, e.g., Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends, Transformers, G.I.Joe, Duck Tales, Jonny Quest, X-Men, others), comic-book scripts (Captain America, Tarzan, etc., including creating for Gold Key Dagar the Invincible, The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor and Tragg and the Sky Gods), more than 35 novels and nonfiction books, also numerous short stories, articles, songs, album-liner notes, etc. The Dinosaur Dictionary (1972) and Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia (1997), two of Don’s many non-fiction books about dinosaurs, both were listed by the American Library Association among the best reference books of their years of publication. With The Dinosaur Dictionary Don created the much-imitated book format based upon an alphabetical listing of dinosaur names. Perhaps Don is best known for his novelization of the movie The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the nation’s No. 1 bestseller for almost two months, which to date (still in print) has sold over 3.5 million copies. In 1982 he created characters and back story for Mattel’s “Masters of the Universe” toy line. Among his more recent books is Chomper, an entry in the popular “Dinotopia” series.
Don produced, wrote and directed various videos (including the documentaries Dinosaur Movies and Hollywood Goes Ape! and the music-video compilation Dinosaur Tracks®), theatre and movie projects. He has worked as a consultant on numerous other video, film and TV projects, and was “Dinosaur Consultant” on Roger Corman’s movie Carnosaur (1993).
In 1990, Don and Pete Von Sholly founded Fossil Records, which has already produced a half dozen albums. These include Dinosaur Tracks®, More Dinosaur Tracks® and Dinosaur Tracks® Again, featuring paleontology-related rock music written mostly by Don (Dinodon Music/BMI), performed by Don and Pete (as the Iridium Band).
More recently, Don became president of Frontline Entertainment (www.frontlinefilms.com), for which he wrote, directed and co-produced the comedy/fantasy motion picture Dinosaur Valley Girls™, which has already achieved “cult movie” status, and Before La Brea, a documentary commissioned by the George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries in Los Angeles. In 2000, he was commissioned by Irena Belle Productions to direct the movie The Vampire Hunters Club, featuring an all-star genre cast.
Born in Pecos, Texas, Don grew up in Chicago, IL. At age nine, already bitten by the film-making “bug,” he made Diplodocus at Large, the first of 41 amateur movies featuring dinosaurs, human monsters (Frankenstein’s Monster, Teenage Werewolf, etc.) and superheroes (Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, etc.) Some of these films made during the late 1960s (e.g., Spy Smasher vs. the Purple Monster) were eventually shown in theatres and on TV.
Moving to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California, Don professionally entered show business as an “extra” (a POW) in the movie Von Ryan’s Express (1965), the first of several such “roles.” He began his professional writing career in 1966, writing articles for and finally editing the magazine Modern Monsters. In 1967, after graduating from the University of Southern California with a BA degree (for Cinema) in Letters, Arts and Sciences, Don worked as a musician, singer and songwriter in The Penny Arkade, a rock band produced by “Monkee” Michael Nesmith. Shortly after that he briefly furthered his acting career, having a speaking role in a national television commercial starring Dick Clark.
However, most of Don’s professional life has been as a freelance writer. To date he has authored numerous motion picture and television scripts (Shazam!, Land of the Lost, and animation, e.g., Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends, Transformers, G.I.Joe, Duck Tales, Jonny Quest, X-Men, others), comic-book scripts (Captain America, Tarzan, etc., including creating for Gold Key Dagar the Invincible, The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor and Tragg and the Sky Gods), more than 35 novels and nonfiction books, also numerous short stories, articles, songs, album-liner notes, etc. The Dinosaur Dictionary (1972) and Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia (1997), two of Don’s many non-fiction books about dinosaurs, both were listed by the American Library Association among the best reference books of their years of publication. With The Dinosaur Dictionary Don created the much-imitated book format based upon an alphabetical listing of dinosaur names. Perhaps Don is best known for his novelization of the movie The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the nation’s No. 1 bestseller for almost two months, which to date (still in print) has sold over 3.5 million copies. In 1982 he created characters and back story for Mattel’s “Masters of the Universe” toy line. Among his more recent books is Chomper, an entry in the popular “Dinotopia” series.
Don produced, wrote and directed various videos (including the documentaries Dinosaur Movies and Hollywood Goes Ape! and the music-video compilation Dinosaur Tracks®), theatre and movie projects. He has worked as a consultant on numerous other video, film and TV projects, and was “Dinosaur Consultant” on Roger Corman’s movie Carnosaur (1993).
In 1990, Don and Pete Von Sholly founded Fossil Records, which has already produced a half dozen albums. These include Dinosaur Tracks®, More Dinosaur Tracks® and Dinosaur Tracks® Again, featuring paleontology-related rock music written mostly by Don (Dinodon Music/BMI), performed by Don and Pete (as the Iridium Band).
More recently, Don became president of Frontline Entertainment (www.frontlinefilms.com), for which he wrote, directed and co-produced the comedy/fantasy motion picture Dinosaur Valley Girls™, which has already achieved “cult movie” status, and Before La Brea, a documentary commissioned by the George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries in Los Angeles. In 2000, he was commissioned by Irena Belle Productions to direct the movie The Vampire Hunters Club, featuring an all-star genre cast.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 21, 2025
There they are! These are the dinosaurs I grew up with as a kid; all tail-dragging, swamp-dwelling sauropods; hump-backed, dewlapped stegosaurs; and supposedly-fearsome carnivores standing around on their tails like kangaroos on a coffee break — such was the state of paleontology circa 1970, when this "dictionary" came out.
That said, this alphabetical listing of "all known dinosaur genera at the time" includes way more than I thought had been discovered at the time, so kudos for that. But otherwise, nearly every illustration in this book is just WAY inaccurate, so kinda fun for that alone. Other than that, though, there's no real reason for this to be on ANYONE's bookshelf nowadays, other than for a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
BTW: There's an interesting website at https://nixillustration.com/category/... that shows how our conception of many popular dinosaurs has changed over time — worth a few minutes perusal when you've got nothing better to do (see sample below); but remember, this is a still-evolving science, so things will likely change yet again.
2+ stars with a nostalgia round-up.
That said, this alphabetical listing of "all known dinosaur genera at the time" includes way more than I thought had been discovered at the time, so kudos for that. But otherwise, nearly every illustration in this book is just WAY inaccurate, so kinda fun for that alone. Other than that, though, there's no real reason for this to be on ANYONE's bookshelf nowadays, other than for a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
BTW: There's an interesting website at https://nixillustration.com/category/... that shows how our conception of many popular dinosaurs has changed over time — worth a few minutes perusal when you've got nothing better to do (see sample below); but remember, this is a still-evolving science, so things will likely change yet again.
2+ stars with a nostalgia round-up.
June 28, 2017
This book was originally published in 1972, so some of the information is no longer up-to-date (for example, some pictures show sauropods living in lakes); also, illustrations of some genera are several pages away from their entry. Most of the entries are very short, five or six lines (or less).
On the plus side: the book doesn't include a lot of the evolutionary garbage common in many modern books (like feathered dinosaurs).
On the plus side: the book doesn't include a lot of the evolutionary garbage common in many modern books (like feathered dinosaurs).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews