Dinosaurs: The Textbook

by Spencer G. Lucas

Geared towards a broad variety of students, The Textbook , sixth edition, is a concise and lucid presentation of the biological and geological concepts of dinosaur science. It clarifies the evolution, phylogeny, and classification of the various species while modeling the best approach for navigating new and existing research. Revised to reflect recent fossil discoveries and the current consensus on dinosaur science, this text moves through the major taxonomic groups―including theropods, sauropodomorphs, ornithopods, ceratopsians, pachycephalosaurs, stegosaurs, and ankylosaurs―and concludes with updated chapters on the behavior and extinction of the dinosaurs, their biological relationship to birds, and their representation (or misrepresentation) in art, literature, film, and other forms of popular culture.

The sixth edition represents a major revision of the leading text for an introductory course on dinosaurs, including comprehensive updates based on the latest scientific discoveries, research, and literature. With an extensive art program revised by leading paleoartists that features cutting-edge illustrations, it is a complete reader-friendly pedagogical package with extensive end-of-chapter summary tools, review questions, a detailed glossary, a dinosaur dictionary, and a comprehensive index.

Please visit our supplemental materials page ( to find study and teaching aides for both students and teachers using The Textbook , sixth edition in class.

Genres: Dinosaurs, Palaeontology

392 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1993

Reviews

[Monique Crowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has great information about dinosaurs and the world they lived in. I deducted a star due to the american/eurocentric view of the book, other country's discoveries are mentioned in passing but not as well as I'd like. It also fails to recognize the controversy of removing fossils from countries without their permission as well as the effect colonialism had on these discoveries. Another star deducted for not including any of the contributions of women to this field.

[Nadvornix · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview.
It's a textbook for people outside the field who signed up for a dinosaur course for fun. So somewhere halfway between a college textbook and a popular book. The first half covers descriptions of individual dinosaur groups. The second half was more interesting for me, with each chapter about a specific question (Were they warm-blooded? How did the climate change?).
Some questions aren't nearly as definitively settled as I thought. Eg. if they died out due to an asteroid impact. Or if they had feathers.
The field is developing rapidly (thank you, Jurassic Park), so get the newest edition. Good for reading just the chapters that seem most interesting to you.

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very technical and at times complicated, but it's a textbook, so what do you expect?