Dinosaurs 101: What Everyone Should Know about Dinosaur Anatomy, Ecology, Evolution, and More

by W. Scott Persons IV, Philip J. Currie, Victoria Arbour

DINOSAURS 101 is your one-stop source for everything you should know about dinosaurs and paleontology.


Authored by world-renowned paleontologists, this book masterfully breaks down the otherwise complex world of dinosaurs and paleontology into well-organized and easy to understand language, concepts, and lessons. Further facilitating the reader’s knowledge of dinosaurs and paleontology, this book also includes over one hundred figures directly illustrating the language, concepts, and lessons it presents.


Topics covered in detail include anatomy; eating habits and diet; attack and defense mechanisms; birth, growth, and reproduction; origins and evolution; species and diversity; fossilization; and extinction. Also addressed is how paleontology relates to geology, geography, and other disciplines. The reader will even learn how dinosaurs relate to modern life-forms, including how some dinosaurs are still alive today and whether those that are not can be resurrected.


No matter your age, no matter your level of existing knowledge, and no matter your reason for interest, if you are looking for a comprehensive and easy to understand overview of the world of dinosaurs and paleontology, then this is the book for you.

190 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2019

Reviews

[Pat Eroh · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son was once an expert on dinosaurs which, by default, made me very knowledgeable. Then he grew out of it and now is all into bees (which I also love). But I still love dinosaurs. This book was awesome and made me very happy to remember those awesome creatures that in spite of everything we know, we still know very little about.

I received this book from Book Club and am voluntarily providing an honest review.

[Jack Seeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me make clear that I am reviewing the Kindle edition. The layout and contents of the paperback edition may be much different, although I can assume the basic text will be the same

As a child I enjoyed greatly pouring through my books of dinosaurs, and in later years reading the books and displaying the pictures to my children, and now my grandchildren. How wonderful, I thought, to increase my knowledge and be able to inspire these children with a love for knowledge and science.

That was not so easy. The text, as stated on the order page description, is fairly easy to follow, but there are myriad technical terms, many of them similar, which can be confusing if you’re not already familiar with these terms. There are also the names of seemingly countless dinosaurs. The authors describe the differences between similar dinosaurs, but those differences are hard to picture.

For example, in the chapter on eating, they describe the difference in tooth structure, then show several fossilized skulls. Those skulls are in good condition—for a fossil—but not so clear that your can really see the teeth that are described. In some, you can’t tell that there are teeth at all.

The book really needs many pages of pictures, drawn to highlight what the authors are describing, not photographs of fossils, which in my opinion only prove that there is actual evidence for the scientific conclusions and theories.

In my opinion this book is more for the specialist than the amateur—or grandfather—and yet I can’t help thinking that a specialist would have all of this information at hand.

In the introduction the author says “I hope that it provides a gateway for those of you who are curious about dinosaurs and that it leads to a greater appreciation. . . “ and so on.

He then says: “Over 700 species of dinosaurs are now known, and new species are now known, and new species are being discovered at a faster rate than ever before,. . .”

For readers in my circumstance, not only does the book need a vocabulary, but many pages of dinosaur pictures, showing the differences between related species. There are quite a few pictures, but never do we see related species together. It could also use charts showing the timelines of the various beasts.

The language is quite technical; each chapter starts with “Learning Objectives.” For example, let’s take a look at Chapter 3 on Eating.

“Learning Objective e.1: Recognize the morphological characteristics of a carnivore, herbivore, omnivore . . .[etc.].

Learning Objective 3.2: Compare tooth replacement in dinosaurs and humans.

Learning Objective 3.3: Understand the characteristics of a dental battery.”

And so on.

I could copy many such passages, not only for the learning objectives in each chapter, but in many passages.

Dinosaurs 101: did hold my attention, and I did learn many things about dinosaurs. But with so many technical terms and similar, I can’t comprehend as much as the description led me to believe I could.

I would say this could be a good textbook for a High School class on dinosaurs, but only if the instructor can supply the missing pictures and charts.

All in all the writing was decent and clear, with occasional poor word choices which one expects in technical writing.

2-1/2 stars.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting.