Dinosaur Hunter: The Ultimate Guide to the Biggest Game

Osprey Adventures

by Steve White

Congratulations - your application for a Mesozoic hunting license has been successful!

Before you travel back in time and charge headlong into a teeming pack of prehistoric big game, we strongly advise that you read the following guidebook. It will provide you with information crucial to success - and survival! You will learn the basic facts of geography, climate and environmental conditions of the three periods that make up the exciting Mesozoic era. Then you will uncover the startling variety of fauna that populates this ancient earth, as well as the specific information on tracking, spores and behaviour so essential for the field sportsperson. Remember, in this time, these monstrous beasts rule the earth, so arming yourself with the facts is vital. Let the hunt begin!

Genres: Science Fiction, Dinosaurs

232 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2015

About the author

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Reviews

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: Arc via Netgalley.

I’m not a dinosaur expert in any way shape or form. I’m neutral on dinosaurs. I downloaded this from Netgalley because Osprey published it.

White’s Dinosaur Hunter is a guide to hunting dinosaurs, supposedly released by a company that arranges for such time travel at a very expensive cost. The book is presented as a guide to the various operations and eras that you, as the dinosaur hunter, can choose from. Each section is a different “range” and presents information, accurate information, about the various dinosaurs that inhabit it. There is also information about various weapons and how a hunt takes place. There is also, at the end of each chapter, a short story, supposedly from a longer work, that relates a really hunting experience. And if you’ve seen any of the Jurassic Park movies (or all four like I did) then you know what’s coming.

Despite the topic of hunting, which is getting bad press because of the idiot who killed a lion, the book is actually mostly about dinosaurs and their environment. This makes it an ideal gift or read for a pre-teen who is interested in reading and dinosaurs but not so much the science behind them. The writing is engaging enough to grab the reader’s attention and then teaches without losing steam or sounding dull.

Additionally, the book would also make a good start for a role playing idea or campaign.

[Thistle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really, really odd book opened with:

Congratulations! Your application for a Mesozoic hunting license has been accepted!

SO, WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

You have successfully passed your preliminary physical and psychological profile; your financial status has been approved; and your non-refundable deposit has been paid. We will now offer you a selection of time zones in which to hunt...

---

That's the grand total of the "story" part of this strange book. The first page explains that "you" have just purchased a license to hunt a dinosaur. The other 235 pages are basically a (fictional) nonfiction textbook explaining every single detail of five different periods when dinosaurs (or pre-dinosaur reptiles) lived so you can pick which one you want to go hunt in.

And when I say "every single detail", I mean it. Plant life down to the smallest organism. Weather through the year. And the details on the dinosaurs! Every single detail you'd expect if you were reading a text book about any current, living animal. Every detail about their life cycle, mating habits, the various features of their bodies. Every single detail.

This was the weirdest book I ever read. It was sort of like a (semi-)fictional nonfiction book. As far as I can tell, a lot of the information was correct, but the author had to fill in tons and tons and tons of holes.

The details the author went into were impressive. Early on in the book, there was a chapter about the equipment you'd bring with you. SO VERY DETAILED.

This would be a good reference book for a tabletop game (like D&D or something), but reading it from end to end was a lot.

Another reviewer mentioned that the book was hard to read because of the vocabulary, and I can't disagree that there were a lot of words I didn't know. (Never have I been so thankful for my Kindle! Tap on a word and see the definition or the wiki page for it!) So many scientific words I hadn't run into before.

Did I like this book? That's surprisingly hard to answer. Imagine reading a text book about a subject you enjoy. The book was both interesting and incredibly boring.

I wonder who the target audience was for this book? It was published by one of the biggest name publishing houses, so they had to be confident that it would sell, but to who? (I love dinosaurs, but if I had known this book was basically a textbook, I would have passed on it. It didn't feel like fiction at all.)

I wish the author had added a section after the book ended to explain how much was real and how much he had to make up. Also I'd really like to know what it was like to write a book like this. It read exactly like a nonfiction textbook. Seems like that would be more boring to write than fiction, but maybe he had fun writing it? Steve White doesn't seem to have a website or any social media, so I can't even contact him to ask.

[Herman Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

1 of the best dino field guides ( www.amazon.com/review/R2DH2U4T7MNS0N/... ): 5/5

Short version: As far as I know, most dino time travel books aren't meant to be educational. Of those that are, I recommend reading White's "Dinosaur Hunter: The Ultimate Guide to the Biggest Game" (henceforth DH) in conjunction with other, more educational books (E.g. Naish/Barrett's "Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved").

Long version: Read on.

As far as I know, there are 2 kinds of dino field guide: 1) Those that are written like a traditional reference work (E.g. Holtz/Brett-Surman's "Jurassic World Dinosaur Field Guide"); 2) Those that are written like a speculative fiction book (E.g. Gee/Rey's "A Field Guide to Dinosaurs: The Essential Handbook for Travelers in the Mesozoic"). In this review, I list the 3 main reasons why DH is the best of the 2nd kind, besides the paleoart.*

1) The Introduction summarizes everything you need to do before going on Mesozoic safaris. My favorite parts are "So, what happens now?" & "If I pass the training/acclimatization?": For 1, said parts emphasize the extreme danger of hunting in the Mesozoic, making it clear that it's only meant for true hunters like Theodore Roosevelt & not for "shooters" like Walter Palmer ( www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/... ); For another, said parts emphasize the extreme importance of altitude acclimatization & breathing equipment, making it clear that (to paraphrase Boromir) "one does not simply walk into [the Mesozoic]". This reminds me of the "Dinosaur Safari" part of the Introduction in GSPaul's "The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs" ( https://archive.ph/gVujY ).

2) After the Introduction, DH consists of 5 chapters, each of which focuses on a different Mesozoic site (1 Late Triassic, 1 Late Jurassic, 3 Late Cretaceous). The 1st part of each chapter describes the site's natural history, beginning with "Conditions"/"Geography and environment", continuing with "Licensed targets" (I.e. Top predators & Triceratops), & ending with "Other fauna" (I.e. Mesopredators & prey). Thus, DH is similarly in-depth to Lessem's "Dinosaur Worlds" (See reason #3: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3478204607 ). Also similarly to Lessem's book, DH is very complete. Using Holtz's "Dinosaurs" as a guide, the least speciose site in DH (I.e. The Bahariya Formation) features representatives of 9 different dino groups, almost as many as the entire Late Cretaceous in Gee/Rey's book (I.e. 13).

3) The 2nd part of each chapter tells a day-in-the-life story of 2 previous hunters, 1 of whom gets killed or maimed. I originally wasn't expecting to like the stories as much as I did, mostly because I thought they'd all be the same. In actuality, each story depicts a different combination of personalities & circumstances. Also, each story is written in a way that reminds me of Elder/Finch's "The Norton Book of Nature Writing". This is especially apparent in Chapter 4's story (I.e. "The Hide"; 1st, see the Nicci Holmes quote, which is from said story; Then, compare it to the Matthiessen quote, which is from Elder/Finch's book).

If I could, I'd give DH a 4.5/5. My only gripes are a few weird bits in the writing (E.g. "T-rexes") & a lack of maps/landscapes (which would've made it MUCH easier to understand the geographic/environmental info). However, for the purposes of this review, I'll round up to 5/5. 2 more things of note: 1) I'm not a fan of the "Papo" T. rex (which is a shameless rip-off of the "Jurassic Park" T. rex) on the cover; 2) As much as I like the Bahariya (which reminds me of "a special habitat where the Cypress swamps meet the Everglades": https://archive.org/details/wild-krat... ), DH would've been even better if Chapter 3 focused on the Cedar Mountain Formation; For 1, none of the chapters focus on Early Cretaceous or dromaeosaur-dominated sites; For another, all but Chapter 3 focus on N.American sites; In other words, Chapter 3 could've both been uniquely interesting & helped tell a more complete/cohesive story.

*Remember what I said about Sibbick's "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" work ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3519227469 )? The same goes for White's DH work, even more so because of White's mostly-accurate comic book-style paleoart.

Quoting Nicci Holmes: "The colony now looked like the remains of a Napoleonic battlefield, covered in adult bodies that looked like blasted fortifications, skeletons like wheel spokes, and bodies everywhere, while overhead, scavenging birds circled remorselessly. Our first day at the hide, we'd worn the rebreathers. It helped with the smell. It was the stench not just of rotten flesh but of rotten vegetation and rotten eggs. We had sat thunderstruck while trying not to puke when the wind shifted and blew the fug into the hide. Through binoculars we watched raptors, so beautiful as they went about their ugly business, wrestling baby Ceratopsians almost as large as they were out of their nests. The cries of the baby would sometimes bring an adult charging in but as it was invariably not their own nest, once the raptors had scattered it would leave and the hunters would return and continue on. These calves died slowly, the raptors lacking the killing power to put an end to the suffering with any speed. And usually one became two became three became more. These were not packs but mobs."

Quoting Matthiessen: "A mile and a half east of the den, the pack cut off a herd of zebra and ran it in tight circles. There were foals in this herd, but the dogs had singled out a pregnant mare. When the herd scattered, they closed in, streaming along in the early light, and almost immediately she fell behind and then gave up, standing motionless as one dog seized her nose and others ripped at her pregnant belly and others piled up under her tail to get at her entrails at the anus, surging at her with such force that the flesh of her uplifted quarters quaked in the striped skin. Perhaps in shock, their quarry shares the detachment of the dogs, which attack it peaceably, ears forward, with no slightest sign of snapping or snarling. The mare seemed entirely docile, unafraid, as if she had run as she had been hunted, out of instinct, and without emotion: only rarely will a herd animal attempt to defend itself with the hooves and teeth used so effectively in battles with its own kind, though such resistance might well spare its life. The zebra still stood a full half-minute after her guts had been snatched out, then sagged down dead. Her unborn colt was dragged into the clear and snapped apart off to one side."

[Robert Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not that I didn't dislike it. It's just that my time with dinosaurs is done. I bought one when I was ten, watched the Jurassic Park movies and now, this. Top and tailed, you might say.

Five sections, each outlining the geography, flora, fauna and climate of a time, all millions of years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Oh, and five cautionary tales where man meets dinosaur with predictable results. The last one made feel for and side with the dinosaur rather than the man, which I guess was the point. Man destroys another part of nature and all of that.

I mean, it's not that there's anything wrong with this book. It's well written (if a bit formulaic) and for anyone that's into dinosaurs, especially if they're ten, then it's an excellent intro. But, y'know, for me, they're dead. That said, if they managed to clone them and ... oh, but wait - that's Jurassic Park.

[Piemaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

More or less Carnivores: the Book. I would have preferred more emphasis on the 'hunter' part - much of the book is a fairly decent coverage of some interesting species for each locale and era, but there's very little detail on how you'd actually go about the hunting, to the book's detriment. It's not that it's badly written or inaccurate - it's that this is a book about dinosaur hunting, not just dinosaurs, and the interstitial fiction is where 95% of that content is. Unfortunately, that adds up to maybe 2/5ths or so of the entire book, which is a little light. The rest is good though, just not quite what you'd hope for with a book of this title.

[PJ Walther · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! The scientific accuracy with a sprinkle of imagination made this really compelling for me. Actually, I can see the right people possibly making this into some type of TV series or movie. Unlike Jurassic Park/Jurassic World, you are dealing with actual and real dinosaurs that have not been genetically manipulated or altered in any way. With much respect Michael Crighton and his work I believe this book represents a dinosaur adventure in its purest form. A novel approach. (No pun intended.)

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Speculative naturalism at its finest!!

This short title is a masterpiece of hard science fiction. When I was a kid I used to read my dad's copies of Field and Stream looking for the harrowing animal attack articles involving bears and pumas. The short stories that follow the description of each geological formation remind me of those reports. Very detailed, fascinating, and highly recommended.

[Josef Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok take on dinosaurs

For a full review, please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/dinosa... or http://areviewerdarkly.blogspot.com/ and follow me on Twitter @josenher