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If Dinosaurs Were Alive Today
Dinosaurs, the first and only real-life giant reptiles of our world, never cease to amaze. We obsess about them as children and continue to be fascinated even as adults. This book gives shape to a dream every dinosaur lover has whimsically what if dinosaurs were alive today? What would our world be like? Using extensive research, dinosaur experts have put together an amazing range of dinosaur interaction scenarios. Incredible images of photo-realistic dinosaurs are blended with distinctive photography, and fact-packed pages explore all aspects of dinosaur research, from their extinction to the latest fossil discoveries. Even kids who may think they're outgrowing dinosaurs won't be able to resist this extraordinary journey across oceans, skies, and land to find out if dinosaurs could live in our world.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published October 25, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 18, 2025
Maybe Dixon's worst dino book (The OG was deleted, so here's a friend's review: www.amazon.com/review/R1YB1P5VGJPEJW/... ): 1/5
Dixon's "If Dinosaurs Were Alive Today" (henceforth ID) may be his worst dino book. The ID reviews of Vincent ( https://chasmosaurs.blogspot.com/2011... ) and Babbletrish ( https://babbletrish.blogspot.com/2012/05 ) sum up why. In this review, I point you to said reviews and add my own thoughts as well:
-Not only is ID full of "eye-bleedingly awful CGI and Photoshoppery", but also shameless rip-offs of more famous reconstructions. These include the "Walking With Dinosaurs" Plateosaurus, Seismosaurus (= Diplodocus), T. rex, Coelophysis, Liopleurodon, Cryptoclidus, and Quetzalcoatlus (which is quite coincidental, given that Benton consulted both WWD and ID).*
-Speaking of WWD's Liopleurodon, ID didn't just rip off its appearance, but also its impossibly-large (25 m) size. To quote Martill/Naish (See "Walking with Dinosaurs: The Evidence"), "this size created much debate in palaeontological circles following the first airing of the programme, as no palaeontologist thinks Liopleurodon really got this big. Although several complete skeletons have been discovered, these are individuals of between 5 and 10 metres in length." Google "Liopleurodon - Plesiosaur Directory" for everything else we currently know about Liopleurodon.
-In reference to "the probably unintentional underlying theme of [ID]: modern day mammals are just better at everything", "Dinosaurs!" magazine did something similar, but at least then some thought went into the kind of environment and interspecies interactions ( https://chasmosaurs.blogspot.com/2012... ). As far as I can tell, no such thought went into ID. This is especially apparent in the Archaeopteryx and Baryonyx sections: For one, Archaeopteryx was a poor flier compared to most modern birds; It might as well be a flock of chickens mobbing that eagle; and don't get me started on that poorly-photoshopped lizard; For another, Baryonyx was subtropical, yet is depicted in a temperate zone; It'd be like finding coconuts in Mercia (See "Monty Python and the Holy Grail").
-As expected for a Dixon dino book, ID is both textually and visually inaccurate. Even if you only read the fact files, you'll see that there's an average of at least 5 factual errors per page in ID, a 96 page book. This is especially apparent in the T. rex fact file.**
-As you may remember, I generally dislike the dino Q&A genre for 3 main reasons: 1) Redundant questions; 2) Vague answers; 3) Bad Q&As (I.e. Stupid or misleading questions and misleading or wrong answers). ID does all that and MUCH more (See "No. Unless You Count Birds." in Babbletrish's ID review).
*To quote Naish ( http://web.archive.org/web/2016091707... ), "there are good consultants, but there are downright useless consultants". Benton may be a good consultant for technical works, but not for popular ones (E.g. Johnson's "Dino Wars": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3484890895 ), which is especially apparent in ID.
**It's claimed that "about 20 [T. rex] specimens have been found in total" (More like 45), that T. rex lived 74 MYA (It didn't), that the earliest tyrannosaurids lived "during the Jurassic period" (They didn't), and that the earliest tyrannosaurids were turkey-sized (More like horse-sized). Also, under "Fossil Finds", Dixon ignores Saskatchewan, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.
Dixon's "If Dinosaurs Were Alive Today" (henceforth ID) may be his worst dino book. The ID reviews of Vincent ( https://chasmosaurs.blogspot.com/2011... ) and Babbletrish ( https://babbletrish.blogspot.com/2012/05 ) sum up why. In this review, I point you to said reviews and add my own thoughts as well:
-Not only is ID full of "eye-bleedingly awful CGI and Photoshoppery", but also shameless rip-offs of more famous reconstructions. These include the "Walking With Dinosaurs" Plateosaurus, Seismosaurus (= Diplodocus), T. rex, Coelophysis, Liopleurodon, Cryptoclidus, and Quetzalcoatlus (which is quite coincidental, given that Benton consulted both WWD and ID).*
-Speaking of WWD's Liopleurodon, ID didn't just rip off its appearance, but also its impossibly-large (25 m) size. To quote Martill/Naish (See "Walking with Dinosaurs: The Evidence"), "this size created much debate in palaeontological circles following the first airing of the programme, as no palaeontologist thinks Liopleurodon really got this big. Although several complete skeletons have been discovered, these are individuals of between 5 and 10 metres in length." Google "Liopleurodon - Plesiosaur Directory" for everything else we currently know about Liopleurodon.
-In reference to "the probably unintentional underlying theme of [ID]: modern day mammals are just better at everything", "Dinosaurs!" magazine did something similar, but at least then some thought went into the kind of environment and interspecies interactions ( https://chasmosaurs.blogspot.com/2012... ). As far as I can tell, no such thought went into ID. This is especially apparent in the Archaeopteryx and Baryonyx sections: For one, Archaeopteryx was a poor flier compared to most modern birds; It might as well be a flock of chickens mobbing that eagle; and don't get me started on that poorly-photoshopped lizard; For another, Baryonyx was subtropical, yet is depicted in a temperate zone; It'd be like finding coconuts in Mercia (See "Monty Python and the Holy Grail").
-As expected for a Dixon dino book, ID is both textually and visually inaccurate. Even if you only read the fact files, you'll see that there's an average of at least 5 factual errors per page in ID, a 96 page book. This is especially apparent in the T. rex fact file.**
-As you may remember, I generally dislike the dino Q&A genre for 3 main reasons: 1) Redundant questions; 2) Vague answers; 3) Bad Q&As (I.e. Stupid or misleading questions and misleading or wrong answers). ID does all that and MUCH more (See "No. Unless You Count Birds." in Babbletrish's ID review).
*To quote Naish ( http://web.archive.org/web/2016091707... ), "there are good consultants, but there are downright useless consultants". Benton may be a good consultant for technical works, but not for popular ones (E.g. Johnson's "Dino Wars": www.goodreads.com/review/show/3484890895 ), which is especially apparent in ID.
**It's claimed that "about 20 [T. rex] specimens have been found in total" (More like 45), that T. rex lived 74 MYA (It didn't), that the earliest tyrannosaurids lived "during the Jurassic period" (They didn't), and that the earliest tyrannosaurids were turkey-sized (More like horse-sized). Also, under "Fossil Finds", Dixon ignores Saskatchewan, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.
July 1, 2016
This book is so very, very cool. Each page has information on a different kind of dinosaur, including a photo like the one on the cover, showing dinosaurs photoshopped in with today's animals so we can see what it would look like if they co-existed. It describes what their habitats would be (plant-eating Sauroposeidons would have lived on the plains with African elephants), how they may have fit into our ecosystems if they'd evolved with humans (the Ankylosaurus probably would have been used as a beast of burden), how well they would have survived alongside humans (Tyrannosaurus probably would have been hunted to extinction by farmers protecting their livestock). There are little maps that show where fossils have been found—I had no idea so many of them were found in Montana and Alberta, Canada—and charts that show how they compare in size, speed, etc. with the animals we already know. A fascinating concept and I think really enjoyable for just about anyone.
January 6, 2014
This was also a great realistic fiction book and educational. It taught us a great deal about dinosaurs and if they were alive today. it had great facts about alot of dinosaurs from the T-rex to the Anurognathus.It is a great book for kids who can read long paragraphs and read complex words.
August 7, 2016
This is a very well thought out book that is intended for young readers. It seems to be well researched and the pictures are amazing. It really gives children a lot to ponder concerning dinosaurs and what would happen if they were around today.
April 20, 2023
Moc zajímavá a originální kniha o tom, co by bylo, kdyby dinosauři nevyhynuli a žili by dnes.
January 2, 2023
„Ако динозаврите бяха живи днес“ на Дугъл Диксън е задължителна литература за децата интересеуващи се от динозаври! В нея се коментират множество динозаври, като се представят интересни факти за тях, поведението им и какво би се случило и как биха оцелявали, ако бяха живи днес. Енциклопедията е илюстрирана с много качествени изображения.
August 4, 2016
A little boring at times but great ending with lots of cool facts and Q & As
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews