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The Sauropod Dinosaurs
From The Land Before Time to Jurassic Park, images of fantastically large, long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs have captured our imaginations. These are the sauropods: centerpieces of museums and gentle giants of the distant past. Imagine what it must have been like to crest a hill and see in the valley below not just one sauropod, but an entire herd, feeding its way across the landscape.
The most massive land animals ever to have lived, sauropods roamed widely across the continents through most of the "Age of Dinosaurs" from about 220 to 65 million years ago. They reached incredible sizes, giving rise to the question: Why were they so big? Early guesses suggested that they gained protection from predators by virtue of their size, which also allowed them to reach the tops of trees in order to eat leaves and conifer needles. More recent hypotheses hold that they needed a long and complicated digestive tract due to their consumption of low-nutrient food sources: size was an offshoot of that need. Whatever the explanation, there is little doubt that natural selection produced something extraordinary when the Sauropoda diversified into a wide variety of species. This book combines majestic artwork and the best of paleontological research to resurrect the lives of sauropods. The Sauropod Dinosaurs shows how these amazing creatures raised and defended their young, traveled in groups, and interacted with the rich diversity of Mesozoic plants and animals. Beautiful enough to sit on the coffee table, the book also serves as the best reference available on these bygone giants. Anyone with a passion for dinosaurs or prehistoric life will cherish this once-in-a-generation masterpiece.
The book includes the following features: - Over 200 full-color illustrations- More than 100 color photographs from museums, field sites, and collections around the world- Thoughtfully placed drawings and charts- Clearly written text reviewed by major sauropod researchers- Descriptions of the latest sauropod concepts and discoveries- A field guide to major groups of sauropods- Detailed skeletal reconstructions and anatomical restorations- A comprehensive glossary
The most massive land animals ever to have lived, sauropods roamed widely across the continents through most of the "Age of Dinosaurs" from about 220 to 65 million years ago. They reached incredible sizes, giving rise to the question: Why were they so big? Early guesses suggested that they gained protection from predators by virtue of their size, which also allowed them to reach the tops of trees in order to eat leaves and conifer needles. More recent hypotheses hold that they needed a long and complicated digestive tract due to their consumption of low-nutrient food sources: size was an offshoot of that need. Whatever the explanation, there is little doubt that natural selection produced something extraordinary when the Sauropoda diversified into a wide variety of species. This book combines majestic artwork and the best of paleontological research to resurrect the lives of sauropods. The Sauropod Dinosaurs shows how these amazing creatures raised and defended their young, traveled in groups, and interacted with the rich diversity of Mesozoic plants and animals. Beautiful enough to sit on the coffee table, the book also serves as the best reference available on these bygone giants. Anyone with a passion for dinosaurs or prehistoric life will cherish this once-in-a-generation masterpiece.
The book includes the following features: - Over 200 full-color illustrations- More than 100 color photographs from museums, field sites, and collections around the world- Thoughtfully placed drawings and charts- Clearly written text reviewed by major sauropod researchers- Descriptions of the latest sauropod concepts and discoveries- A field guide to major groups of sauropods- Detailed skeletal reconstructions and anatomical restorations- A comprehensive glossary
336 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 2016
9 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Mark Hallett
54 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 17, 2022
I got this book for Christmas, so almost a year ago. What really stands out are the quality and quantity of illustrations, diagrams, cutaways, and natural scenes. It is a book for interested adults, not children or experts. It contains as much information as a textbook, but doesn't use specialized vocabulary like rugose, dorsoventral, or gracile, and doesn't present quantitative statistics except in summary.
Other dinosaurs are big, but even Tyrannosaurus Rex is only about the weight of a large bull elephant. The sauropods, though, are like nothing else that ever walked on land. The nice thing about the book is that it is able to go into so much detail. Did they rear up, or stretch the neck along the ground? (It depends on the species.) How did their feet work? (Kind of like an elephant and kind of like a tortoise. They also had spikes of keratin on the sole to increase their grip.) Did they have a crop? (Probably not). How long did they live? Did they stay with their eggs? Were their nostrils on top of their heads, or in the front like most animals? How did they drink? Could they swim? What did they prefer to eat? How did they defend themselves? And so on.
Other dinosaurs are big, but even Tyrannosaurus Rex is only about the weight of a large bull elephant. The sauropods, though, are like nothing else that ever walked on land. The nice thing about the book is that it is able to go into so much detail. Did they rear up, or stretch the neck along the ground? (It depends on the species.) How did their feet work? (Kind of like an elephant and kind of like a tortoise. They also had spikes of keratin on the sole to increase their grip.) Did they have a crop? (Probably not). How long did they live? Did they stay with their eggs? Were their nostrils on top of their heads, or in the front like most animals? How did they drink? Could they swim? What did they prefer to eat? How did they defend themselves? And so on.
October 26, 2023
After seeing the Dinosaurs of Patagonia exposition, I wanted to read some books about dinosaurs. This one is well illustrated, which helps to lighten the experience, but it is also heavily academic. I'm just taking my time, reading a bit at a time (but now I'm finished).
I was given a pictorial book about dinosaurs when I was about ten, and it was fascinating. They had names like brontosaurus, allosaurus, diplodocus, tyrannosaurus rex, ornithorhyncus, and pterodactyl. I practised to pronounce them correctly, it was a matter of some small pride for me. That was in the late fifties / early sixties. The movie Jurassic Park reawakened my fascination, but in a vague sort of way. I never gave much thought to the dinosaurs and how they lived, it was just a general wow factor.
Now I know more than I ever thought possible about these ancient creatures. They are divided into plant-eaters (sauropods) and meat eaters or predators (theropods), but if it's divisions and classifications you like, this is the book for you. The specialists in studying dinosaurs have so much more knowledge, and of course technology has also advanced in helpful ways. Let's say you find a skeleton of diplodocus and wonder what killed this animal MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO. This book tells you how an expert did it, provided you don't miss that bit if you are a "skipper". That really made an impression on me. The experts in this field have not so much to work with, and they must therefore think very deeply to test ideas and select the most likely. I take my hat off to them.
How many people have wondered how and why the dinosaurs got so big? They needed to eat a lot, and they didn't chew their food - digestion occurred further down the line. They needed to disperse heat from their metabolism, so a large skin area helped. How were babies formed (eggs)? And, errhh, the bedroom bit (read the book)?
How did they manage various weight issues? Small heads are easier for long necks to carry. Bones have air holes to keep the total weight down.
The very dense scientific language really slows down the read, but the photographs, pictures and drawings help with comprehension. The authors have done a lot to make the material accessible, but still, it's no kids' book. There's a certain amount of repetition of various words and concepts, a minor criticism. I'd have liked more diagrams to show various timelines, but certainly there is a reasonably detailed index.
For various readers it may evoke wonder at what the scene may have been like in those times, or empathy with the excitement of the archaeologists who made the earliest discoveries of this amazing part of world history.
The above is a small sample of what I learned and felt, and I don't plan to summarise the whole text. If you are interested in the subject, and are not too daunted by academic language, give it a go. Even skimming, you will learn a lot about the incredible sauropods.
I've rated this 4.6.
I was given a pictorial book about dinosaurs when I was about ten, and it was fascinating. They had names like brontosaurus, allosaurus, diplodocus, tyrannosaurus rex, ornithorhyncus, and pterodactyl. I practised to pronounce them correctly, it was a matter of some small pride for me. That was in the late fifties / early sixties. The movie Jurassic Park reawakened my fascination, but in a vague sort of way. I never gave much thought to the dinosaurs and how they lived, it was just a general wow factor.
Now I know more than I ever thought possible about these ancient creatures. They are divided into plant-eaters (sauropods) and meat eaters or predators (theropods), but if it's divisions and classifications you like, this is the book for you. The specialists in studying dinosaurs have so much more knowledge, and of course technology has also advanced in helpful ways. Let's say you find a skeleton of diplodocus and wonder what killed this animal MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO. This book tells you how an expert did it, provided you don't miss that bit if you are a "skipper". That really made an impression on me. The experts in this field have not so much to work with, and they must therefore think very deeply to test ideas and select the most likely. I take my hat off to them.
How many people have wondered how and why the dinosaurs got so big? They needed to eat a lot, and they didn't chew their food - digestion occurred further down the line. They needed to disperse heat from their metabolism, so a large skin area helped. How were babies formed (eggs)? And, errhh, the bedroom bit (read the book)?
How did they manage various weight issues? Small heads are easier for long necks to carry. Bones have air holes to keep the total weight down.
The very dense scientific language really slows down the read, but the photographs, pictures and drawings help with comprehension. The authors have done a lot to make the material accessible, but still, it's no kids' book. There's a certain amount of repetition of various words and concepts, a minor criticism. I'd have liked more diagrams to show various timelines, but certainly there is a reasonably detailed index.
For various readers it may evoke wonder at what the scene may have been like in those times, or empathy with the excitement of the archaeologists who made the earliest discoveries of this amazing part of world history.
The above is a small sample of what I learned and felt, and I don't plan to summarise the whole text. If you are interested in the subject, and are not too daunted by academic language, give it a go. Even skimming, you will learn a lot about the incredible sauropods.
I've rated this 4.6.
November 13, 2019
A fascinating book of exhaustive and precise detail, The Sauropod Dinosaurs is a wonderful treasure trove of research and information that shares all current knowledge of sauropod existence. Mark Hallett and Mathew J. Wedel have produced an impressive book that thoroughly examines, explains and visually informs the reader about everything you’d ever wish to know about these amazing creatures.
The sauropods possessed many notable features, including: enormous size and weight; long, crane-like necks featuring ligaments which distributed tensional loading; incredibly strong yet light pneumatic bones; an ability to rear up and reach high food, and then efficiently process it in an extensive hindgut after swallowing, not chewing their food; air sacs and tubes in a bird-like respiratory system; early sexual maturity to offset predation; and an amazing adaptability to a wide range of climates and environments, where they thrived. Every aspect worthy of consideration is covered in The Sauropod Dinosaurs, supported by paleontological research from qualified consultants covering anatomy, paleobotany, biomechanics, systematics, evolution and ecology.
The denseness of all the scientific language and information contained within each chapter may be too much for some – and I did wonder if it would be so for me – however, the complex, precise explanations are extremely interesting, and the authors make good use of ancient storylines and fictional events (plus charts, diagrams and skeletal reconstructions) to aid in the explanation of the more challenging details. I do prefer reference books such as this to be written in a style beyond a layman’s level of understanding, with enough consideration given to making the information accessible to a range of readers. Thankfully, although scholarly and very comprehensive, the semi-informal style of the text makes it quite easy to enjoy and understand.
Mark Hallett’s fantastic art expertly brings these plant-eating, bygone giants – and other dinosaurs – to life, capturing them as individuals or groups in diverse natural environments, highlighting their locomotion, behaviour and way of life. I would have liked more full-page illustrations to be included, but that’s probably just my love of dino art making me greedy!
The Sauropod Dinosaurs is a complete package: quality content, design and presentation that never fails to provide worthwhile knowledge and explanation. It’s a compelling and essential field guide to the biggest and most successful herbivores that our planet has seen.
The sauropods possessed many notable features, including: enormous size and weight; long, crane-like necks featuring ligaments which distributed tensional loading; incredibly strong yet light pneumatic bones; an ability to rear up and reach high food, and then efficiently process it in an extensive hindgut after swallowing, not chewing their food; air sacs and tubes in a bird-like respiratory system; early sexual maturity to offset predation; and an amazing adaptability to a wide range of climates and environments, where they thrived. Every aspect worthy of consideration is covered in The Sauropod Dinosaurs, supported by paleontological research from qualified consultants covering anatomy, paleobotany, biomechanics, systematics, evolution and ecology.
The denseness of all the scientific language and information contained within each chapter may be too much for some – and I did wonder if it would be so for me – however, the complex, precise explanations are extremely interesting, and the authors make good use of ancient storylines and fictional events (plus charts, diagrams and skeletal reconstructions) to aid in the explanation of the more challenging details. I do prefer reference books such as this to be written in a style beyond a layman’s level of understanding, with enough consideration given to making the information accessible to a range of readers. Thankfully, although scholarly and very comprehensive, the semi-informal style of the text makes it quite easy to enjoy and understand.
Mark Hallett’s fantastic art expertly brings these plant-eating, bygone giants – and other dinosaurs – to life, capturing them as individuals or groups in diverse natural environments, highlighting their locomotion, behaviour and way of life. I would have liked more full-page illustrations to be included, but that’s probably just my love of dino art making me greedy!
The Sauropod Dinosaurs is a complete package: quality content, design and presentation that never fails to provide worthwhile knowledge and explanation. It’s a compelling and essential field guide to the biggest and most successful herbivores that our planet has seen.
September 15, 2017
I can't tell if this is supposed to be an undergraduate text book or a book for particularly enthusiastic laymen. I fall in the latter category. I found this book very interesting but a bit too long and repetitive. This book goes into significant detail about nearly everything a paleontologist might think to wonder about sauropods. In the end, this book got the benefit of the doubt for a third star because it was sophisticated and comprehensive without being so technical that only grad students can read it. I especially liked the chapters on the phylogeny of sauropods and on the way sauropods' skeletons evolved to manage their huge size and long necks. The chapter on Mesozoic plants and their potential place in sauropod diets was less interesting to me, and while the author's imaginative depictions of particular Mesozoic wildlife scenes were fairly immersive, I found them uncompelling.
My main complaint with this book is that it is very long. To some extent this is the price you pay for getting a comprehensive book, but sometimes it felt like a chore to plow through some less interesting subjects and get to the next chapter. I think that this was in part due to the fact that the book is very repetitive. For example, sauropods' eating habits obviously affected diverse aspects of their lives (e.g. the size and shape of body needed, the plants they ate, the time/energy available for migration & reproduction, etc). Every time eating habits come up, the authors recapitulate certain points about the feeding habits of major clades and the basic fossil (primarily tooth) evidence that supports it before actually explaining how different eating habits bear on the subject at hand. The authors have my sympathy because it is always hard to linearly organize information that is intrinsically interrelated, and overly technical books sometimes make the opposite mistake of assuming you remember every nuance mentioned several chapters ago.
This book is indeed generously filled with pictures and diagrams. Unfortunately, in the Kindle edition, the way the book format was transcribed into an ebook sometimes puts the pictures several pages separated from the relevant text, often breaking up paragraphs of unrelated text. I'm not holding this against the book for purposes of this review.
My main complaint with this book is that it is very long. To some extent this is the price you pay for getting a comprehensive book, but sometimes it felt like a chore to plow through some less interesting subjects and get to the next chapter. I think that this was in part due to the fact that the book is very repetitive. For example, sauropods' eating habits obviously affected diverse aspects of their lives (e.g. the size and shape of body needed, the plants they ate, the time/energy available for migration & reproduction, etc). Every time eating habits come up, the authors recapitulate certain points about the feeding habits of major clades and the basic fossil (primarily tooth) evidence that supports it before actually explaining how different eating habits bear on the subject at hand. The authors have my sympathy because it is always hard to linearly organize information that is intrinsically interrelated, and overly technical books sometimes make the opposite mistake of assuming you remember every nuance mentioned several chapters ago.
This book is indeed generously filled with pictures and diagrams. Unfortunately, in the Kindle edition, the way the book format was transcribed into an ebook sometimes puts the pictures several pages separated from the relevant text, often breaking up paragraphs of unrelated text. I'm not holding this against the book for purposes of this review.
December 21, 2025
Excellent introduction for me to this group. very detailed but necessarily so. Loved the illustrations
September 7, 2016
A wonderful guide to the sauropod dinosaur family. Explained clearly numerous paleontological terms that are commonly used, and then used those definitions/terms to clearly define various aspects of the world in which sauropods lived as well as the biology of the beasts themselves. The illustrations by Hallett were a wonderful addition and often helped make the text all the clearer.
September 23, 2016
Fantastic! Wonderfully written for even amateur dinosaur enthusiasts! Beautifully illustrated with many explanatory photos and graphs included. I was very impressed.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews