What do you think?
Rate this book
Absolute Expert
Absolute Expert: Dinosaurs
Tear through tons of facts, figures, timelines, and the most up-to-date intel straight from the field, with National Geographic explorer and paleontologist Steve Brusatte as your expert guide, in this cool book all about dinosaurs.
Have you met Pinocchio rex? Meet this fascinating dino along with favorites, such as Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Velociraptor, Apatosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and Giganotosaurus. Plus, check out some weird or newly discovered dinos you may not know about. See how fossils are formed. Learn about the epic, earth-shaking extinctions that paved the way for life today. Find out whether dinosaurs really had feathers, and so much more! All this, along with special features, awesome illustrations, sidebars, wacky trivia, and facts from experts in the field, make this the ultimate book to help YOU become an absolute expert on one of your favorite subjects.
Have you met Pinocchio rex? Meet this fascinating dino along with favorites, such as Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Velociraptor, Apatosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and Giganotosaurus. Plus, check out some weird or newly discovered dinos you may not know about. See how fossils are formed. Learn about the epic, earth-shaking extinctions that paved the way for life today. Find out whether dinosaurs really had feathers, and so much more! All this, along with special features, awesome illustrations, sidebars, wacky trivia, and facts from experts in the field, make this the ultimate book to help YOU become an absolute expert on one of your favorite subjects.
112 pages, Hardcover
First published August 21, 2018
3 people are currently reading
1179 people want to read
About the author
Lela Nargi
45 books42 followersI’m a writer of books for adults and children living in a leafy corner of Brooklyn, NY with my daughter, my husband and my dog.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 6, 2018
This is an interesting and well presented children's book on dinosaurs from how they are perceived to have lived and roamed Earth, what they looked like, what they ate, what they preyed upon or upon what they preyed, if they had scales, feathers, etc.
Finding fossilized bones and other artifacts relating to these long extinct creatures has really opened the door of investigative study and answered many questions.
The book has four chapters: Superstars of the Mesozoic Era, Here Come the Dinosaurs, The Lives of Dinosaurs, and After the Dinosaurs. Each of these chapters presents information that simply boggle the mind and that is because the existence of these creatures was beyond our wildest imagination. As the author says, "...reasons I think people find dinosaurs so fascinating is they were, in many ways, even more fantastic than the creatures we humans have created in our myths an legends: the monsters, dragons, and unicorns in old fairy tales." (pg 10)
NOTE: I acknowledge I am no scientist and the author and folks at National Geographic are certainly well versed in their fields. I do, however, wonder at the cause for the extinction of dinosaurs as presented in Chapter 4 as being the result of a "Mt.Everest sized asteroid" impacting the Earth in the vicinity of what "is now Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula" resulting in World-wide extinction of Earth and Sea dinosaurs. "Birds were the only dinos to survive the extinction." (pg 91) I don't discount the findings recounted regarding a possible asteroid impacting the Earth and do find the information quite informative and interesting.
I received a complimentary copy to facilitate this review. Opinions are mine alone and are freely given.
Finding fossilized bones and other artifacts relating to these long extinct creatures has really opened the door of investigative study and answered many questions.
The book has four chapters: Superstars of the Mesozoic Era, Here Come the Dinosaurs, The Lives of Dinosaurs, and After the Dinosaurs. Each of these chapters presents information that simply boggle the mind and that is because the existence of these creatures was beyond our wildest imagination. As the author says, "...reasons I think people find dinosaurs so fascinating is they were, in many ways, even more fantastic than the creatures we humans have created in our myths an legends: the monsters, dragons, and unicorns in old fairy tales." (pg 10)
NOTE: I acknowledge I am no scientist and the author and folks at National Geographic are certainly well versed in their fields. I do, however, wonder at the cause for the extinction of dinosaurs as presented in Chapter 4 as being the result of a "Mt.Everest sized asteroid" impacting the Earth in the vicinity of what "is now Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula" resulting in World-wide extinction of Earth and Sea dinosaurs. "Birds were the only dinos to survive the extinction." (pg 91) I don't discount the findings recounted regarding a possible asteroid impacting the Earth and do find the information quite informative and interesting.
I received a complimentary copy to facilitate this review. Opinions are mine alone and are freely given.
September 8, 2018
Who doesn’t dig dinosaurs? Lots of readers love learning as much as they can about dinosaurs and National Geographic Kids loves sharing information, photos and true accounts of experts and their love of all things regarding dinosaurs. Readers of all ages will learn, with this handy guide, how dinosaurs lived, ruled, evolved and what came after they were gone.
Have you wondered how the T-Rex used his tiny arms? Did you know that they were so strong the T-Rex could lift up to 400 pounds with them? We are all familiar with some of the biggest dinosaurs that walked upon the earth, but what were some of the smaller ones? The Microraptor was small like a bird and was thought to be able to fly. The Compsognathus was the size of a chicken and would run fast to catch lizards to eat. The Saltopus was the size of a cat and scientist guessed it could hop. Its nick name was hopping foot. Have you ever seen the dinosaur family tree? This guide has a very informative one inside these pages. It was an asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. Perhaps they would still be here if that asteroid landed on some other planet.
This guide may be small in size, but it certainly packs a punch with loads of information on how to dig, hunt for fossils, how they raised their young, why some were big and some were small and even words from National Geographic Explorer Steve Brusatte. Parents and teachers could use this guide at home or in the classroom. Its small size makes it great for travel while on vacation. The back pages have a pronunciation guide and a list of more resources for the readers who are eager to learn more about these amazing creatures that once walked the earth.
Have you wondered how the T-Rex used his tiny arms? Did you know that they were so strong the T-Rex could lift up to 400 pounds with them? We are all familiar with some of the biggest dinosaurs that walked upon the earth, but what were some of the smaller ones? The Microraptor was small like a bird and was thought to be able to fly. The Compsognathus was the size of a chicken and would run fast to catch lizards to eat. The Saltopus was the size of a cat and scientist guessed it could hop. Its nick name was hopping foot. Have you ever seen the dinosaur family tree? This guide has a very informative one inside these pages. It was an asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. Perhaps they would still be here if that asteroid landed on some other planet.
This guide may be small in size, but it certainly packs a punch with loads of information on how to dig, hunt for fossils, how they raised their young, why some were big and some were small and even words from National Geographic Explorer Steve Brusatte. Parents and teachers could use this guide at home or in the classroom. Its small size makes it great for travel while on vacation. The back pages have a pronunciation guide and a list of more resources for the readers who are eager to learn more about these amazing creatures that once walked the earth.
December 14, 2018
Most of my dinosaur knowledge has come from the amazing dinosaur books (most from National Geographic) that I have had the privilege to read and review. This book focuses its research in a more compact format perfect for middle-grade readers to get excited about dinosaurs and the research happening right now to help us understand how dinosaurs ruled the land many years ago.
If your child loves dinosaurs but now they are too old to “play” with them. This book is another opportunity to keep their interest and excitement about dinosaurs. If they have ever thought about being an explorer, researcher, or archaeologist, this is the book to get first-hand stories about what it is like to find fossils and other artifacts relating to the dinosaur eras. I think it is amazing that just by finding a bone fragment or fossil, researchers can piece together the type of dinosaur that lived in the area, what it ate, and what it looked like.
I also appreciated the pronunciation guide at the back for all the long and difficult names of the various dinosaurs. There is a map of the world showing the various types of dinosaur fossils that have been found including Antarctica, Montana, and Niger, Africa. Finding fossilized baby dinosaurs even helped explorers and scientists figure out how long the incubation period was. Just amazing!
If your child loves dinosaurs but now they are too old to “play” with them. This book is another opportunity to keep their interest and excitement about dinosaurs. If they have ever thought about being an explorer, researcher, or archaeologist, this is the book to get first-hand stories about what it is like to find fossils and other artifacts relating to the dinosaur eras. I think it is amazing that just by finding a bone fragment or fossil, researchers can piece together the type of dinosaur that lived in the area, what it ate, and what it looked like.
I also appreciated the pronunciation guide at the back for all the long and difficult names of the various dinosaurs. There is a map of the world showing the various types of dinosaur fossils that have been found including Antarctica, Montana, and Niger, Africa. Finding fossilized baby dinosaurs even helped explorers and scientists figure out how long the incubation period was. Just amazing!
February 8, 2023
A great book for young readers interested in both dinosaurs and paleontology. Lots of images to go along with a decent amount of facts. A bit more paleontology than what I personally cared to read about; I am far more interested in dinosaurs and felt that most of the paleontology information could have been left to it's own book or incorporated more in a book for fossils instead.
My one main issue with the book was how special sections often cut into the main sections of the reading. I'd have to skip a special page section to continue reading the chapter/section, then go back to read the special page just so I wound't lose track of what I was reading. So basically the layout needed work, otherwise it was fairly well written, just might get confusing for a kid reading it. I'd have also loved more images of dinosaurs/creatures mentioned as I found I was having to go search them on the internet to get an idea of what they were.
My one main issue with the book was how special sections often cut into the main sections of the reading. I'd have to skip a special page section to continue reading the chapter/section, then go back to read the special page just so I wound't lose track of what I was reading. So basically the layout needed work, otherwise it was fairly well written, just might get confusing for a kid reading it. I'd have also loved more images of dinosaurs/creatures mentioned as I found I was having to go search them on the internet to get an idea of what they were.
August 19, 2018
All the books in this series are ABSOLUTELY amazing! You will want to become an "absolute expert" in all the topics this series has written. In true National Geographic Kids fashion these books are filled to the brim with facts, tidbits, pictures, illustrations as well as tips, tricks and little known facts from experts in the field. Kids, and parents alike, are going to get lost in these books and want to learn all there is to know on each of these fascinating topics. I loved learning along with my boys and getting to become an "expert" on these cool and interesting things. I find that now I know more and want to continue to learn about each of these topics. These books are perfect for your home library or your child's classroom.
October 7, 2018
I sometimes wonder: there are so many books on dinosaurs; can the information be new, fresh, and exciting? Maybe so, because I like the approach this book takes.
For the full review: https://twobookwormsblog.wordpress.co...
For the full review: https://twobookwormsblog.wordpress.co...
January 25, 2019
Seemed ridiculously far fetched, and didn't go into as much detail about paleontology as I hoped.
February 9, 2019
💥👍I'm sure my grandkids Will Enjoy this booklet 💥❗thanks 4 awarded to me 🙏
April 17, 2023
A paleontology-focused look at dinosaurs. The pictures are a mix of real photos and cg art.
August 8, 2018
National Geographic Kids' Absolute Expert Series is a super fun and educational series that aims to educate, engage, and entertain! Each book in this series is full of captivating information from real life experts, awesome photos and illustrations, and plenty of imagination fuel for young readers
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews