Hunting Dinosaurs

by Louie Psihoyos

For dinophiles of all ages, Hunting Dinosaurs does for paleontology what Indiana Jones did for archaeology--makes scientific adventures exciting and entertaining. The stunning, full-color photos contained here present dinosaurs as never seen before.

Genres: Dinosaurs, Science, Palaeontology, Nonfiction, Archaeology

267 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a Christmas 1994 inscription from my sister "to my brother... the future paleontologist!" it took me until this year to actually completely read this book. At the time, as a child, I think I was afraid of the disillusionment of dinosaurs and paleontology. I remember seeing all the pictures as a kid but only read bits and pieces of this really fine book. Young-me was not the right audience for this book. I wasn't ready. At the time, there was a lot of pressure about becoming a scientist, probably a paleontologist, and this book de-mystified the process through journalism. I was then extremely curious about dinosaurs and devoured encyclopedias on them--my knowledge then was insatiable for everything about dinosaurs. But as I reflect, that knowledge was absorbing the authority of what was presented in books. This book was more mature. It provided journalistic snapshots of human personalities, politics, quirks, passions, accidents, observations, humor, irony.

Young-me wasn't ready for this book. I think I was afraid of the truths it might reveal, diminishing the universe inside my head. And so somehow I avoided it though it always remained on my bookshelves. But now-me truly appreciated it.

Louie, a photographer for Nat Geo and more, did a yeoman's job with the stories he presents here. Even though is first passion and talent is photography, the storytelling here is well measured and the sense of place and voice of characters strong. I found the personalities interesting, the questions germane, and I am okay with his liberal use of the sources' own quotations to drive the vignettes.

There's the saga of Edward Drinker Cope (and his skull). There's Bakker and Horner. There's the then-still-radical idea of birds being dinosaurs and dinosaurs being warm-blooded. There's debate about extinction. There's evidence of ecology from fossilized poop, evidence of social behavior from footprints and fields of egg nests. There's travel to multiple continents. Accounts of dinosaur skeletons firebombed by the Allies in World War II. The saga of Sue the tyrannosaur raided by the FBI.

Although the binding on this 1994 hardcover book came apart as I was reading the second half, it was worth actually reading it. It reads like a long magazine story with various agate feature profiles stitched in sequence, but there are throughlines as well. This is a very unpresupposing book.

It's also beautifully composed in a visual storytelling sense, and some of the photospreads cause the reader to pause and take your time. This a good book for anyone but especially for people interested in the reality of doing science, of the evidence behind the narratives of what we have learned about dinosaurs which is just as fascinating as dinosaurs themselves, and the human spirit of adventure inside so many different people across time and space.

Especially in hindsight, it's obvious and interesting to see that this book was commissioned and published in the wake of the tremendous popularity of Jurassic Park, after the movie version came out. You can see character profiles in some of the people Louie interviewed in Crichton's characters. These are the less-known real-life heroes that Louie assembles into this well-named tapestry of words and images that today also resonate with a bit of nostalgia for the 1990s.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traveling around the world, one photojournalist documents his interactions with the top paleontologists and dinosaur experts in the field. Each set of photographs are coupled with essays written by the author with anecdotes about his travels. The factual information included in the essays are well-researched and I found this book to be both entertaining and informative.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is unlike any other I've seen. It's not about dinosaurs themselves, but about the field of paleontology and the people who have dedicated their lives to it. It's full of amazing characters and stories and many beautiful pictures.

[Michael Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only *gorgeously* photographed, not only well-written, perceptive, comprehensive (for the day, first-half 1990's), brave (travelling to dig-sites in Mongolia in a leaky, clunky old Soviet-era helicopter the author Louie Psihoyos and his assistant, John Knoebber refer to as "a flying molotov cocktail"), kind-hearted (trucking in loads of beer, wine, champagne, meat and "enough cheeses to satisfy a Frenchman...") to a remote dig in Argentina (Partayyy!), Hunting Dinosaurs is also funnier than a monkey and forty feet of vine. Deliciously so. Basically, Psihoyos and Knoebber are a couple of frat boys let loose on Louie and John's Wonderful Adventure, and this book is the chronicle of their travels to meet interesting people doing fascinating things. But very very *smart* frat boys. The fun they have with introducing the early paleontologist Professor Edward Drinker Cope to other modern paleontologists could almost be a humorous book in itself, or at least a good New Yorker feature article. Even now, close to thirty years--thirty years? Good God!--after first reading, it's still my favorite Dino book. With William Stout's 'Dinosaurs' a close second, with its gorgeous illustrations and William R. Service's wonderfully idiosyncratic texts (did I say 'idiosyncratic? Service's only other book--that I can find, anyway--is a book called 'Owl', which has to be one of the most charmingly loopy nature memoirs ever written.)

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the dinosaur book I'd recommend to anyone wanting an introduction to the topic, or anyone vaguely interested in the topic, frankly: it's a great read but not short on scientific substance. It's an anthology of different adventure pieces, so you're really reading a story in more sense than one. The episodes all work together, and the pictures (the author is a renowned National Geo photographer) and graphics make this a gorgeous book. This is that rare thing, a coffee table book you'll read cover to cover.

[Mayor McCheese · Rating 3 out of 5]

I met the author when he came to the University of Utah bookstore in 1994-95 and he signed my book. Very dynamic and adventurous individual. Was working I believe for National Geographic flying all around the world to capture these images. I can't say I'm a big students of dinosaurs or anything but appreciated the energy and commitment and risk that went into this.