Dinosaurios

by David Norman, John Sibbick, Equipo Susaeta (Illustrator)

Este libro es una completa puesta al día de los conocimientos actuales sobre los dinosaurios. Contiene una descripción detallada de todas las familias, dentro de sus órdenes, con más de 700 ilustraciones, 370 dibujos detallados, 200 fotografías y unos 110 diagramas explicativos que indican la localización de los hallazgos, los periodos en que vivieron esos dinosaurios y su "árbol genealógico".

Genres: Dinosaurs, Science, Nonfiction, Animals, History, Childrens, Palaeontology

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

David Bruce Norman is a British paleontologist, currently the main curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge University. From 1991 to 2011, Norman has also been the Sedgwick Museum's director.

There is more than one author with this name.

Reviews

[Herman Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best edition ( www.amazon.com/review/RZ0S3CGZFRCPL/r... ): 4/5

As far as I know, there are 5 editions of "Dinosaur (DK Eyewitness Books)" (henceforth DD 1989/2004/2008/2010/2014). As much as I love DD, it was never truly great: For 1, see the Ben quote; What Ben says about "the AMNH fossil halls" goes for DD; For another, DD is a mixed bag in terms of paleoart.* If you want the current best DD-style book, get Abramson et al.'s "Inside Dinosaurs". If I were to recommend reading an edition of DD in conjunction with other, more recent books (E.g. Holtz's "Dinosaurs"), it'd be DD 2004. In this review, I list the 2 main reasons why that is.

1) In reference to "For 1" (which mainly refers to DD 1989), DD 2004 partially solves this problem with "8 pages of new text", all of which are "distinctly color-coded". This is especially apparent in the "Find out more" & Glossary sections: The former lists some of the best dino museums in the U.S. & their websites (which is good because [1] it makes DD interactive, & [2] to quote Norman/Milner, "You can also take a virtual tour of many museums over the internet if you cannot visit them in person"); The latter clearly explains all technical terms. DD 2008 is almost exactly the same in content, the problem being that much of what was accurate in 2004 was inaccurate in 2008 (E.g. The records for "biggest dinosaur", "biggest meat-eater", & "shortest dinosaur name"). DD 2010/2014 have the opposite problem as DD 1989. While DD 1989 is too esoteric, DD 2010/2014 are too simple & condescending (E.g. "Hadrosaur" is defined 10 times throughout DD 2010, including twice on page 70). & if that's not bad enough, DD 2010/2014 are even more inaccurate for their time (probably because they're authored by a non-expert) & exclude said websites.

2) In reference to "For another", DD 2004 partially solves this problem with "stunning real-life photographs of dinosaur bones, skulls, teeth and more". This is especially apparent in the "and more" photos: Many of DD 1989's not-so-good life reconstructions, most of which were outdated even in 1989, were replaced in DD 2004 (E.g. Hill & Winterbotham's tail-dragging Mamenchisaurus & Diplodocus, respectively, were replaced by a herd of Graham High's Brachiosaurus); Many of those that weren't replaced got new captions (E.g. The new caption for Graham High's Deinonychus reads, "Most scientists now agree that, unlike the model shown here, Deinonychus was probably feathered"). Pixel-shack's bad life reconstructions started to replace DD's good ones in 2008 & almost completely took over in 2010/2014. Pixel-shack's "DK 2003" Velociraptor ( https://web.archive.org/web/202211220... ) replacing the AMNH's "Fighting Dinos" Velociraptor ( https://web.archive.org/web/202211221... ) is an especially good example of that.

*I'm specifically referring to DD's life reconstructions, many of which are not-so-good (I.e. Those by various illustrators & Pixel-shack in the older & newer editions, respectively).

Quoting Ben ( https://extinctmonsters.net/2015/02/2... ): "Within the actual fossil halls, interpretation remains stubbornly unapproachable. For example, the sign introducing proboscidians tells visitors that this group is defined primarily by eye sockets located near the snout. An observant visitor might wonder why scientists rely on such an obscure detail, as opposed to the obvious trunks and tusks. There’s a good teaching moment there concerning why some characteristics might face more selection pressure (and thus change more radically) than others, but instead visitors are only offered esoteric statements. Relatedly, the exhibit does little to prioritize information. Most label text is quite small, and there’s a lot of it. Compare this to Evolving Planet at the Field Museum, where there is a clear hierarchy of headings and sub-headings. Visitors can read the main point of a display without even stopping, and parents can quickly find relevant information to answer their charges’ questions (rather than making something up).
Evolving Planet also compares favorably to the AMNH fossil halls in its informative aesthetics and spatial logic. At FMNH, walls and signs in each section are distinctly color-coded, making transitions obvious and intuitive. Likewise, consistent iconography – such as the mass extinction zones – helps visitors match recurring themes and topics throughout the exhibit. AMNH, in contrast, has a uniform glass and white-walled Apple Store aesthetic. It’s visually appealing, but doesn’t do much to help visitors navigate the space in a meaningful way."

[Pablo Galván · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy interesante y completo, aunque la información está desactualizada.

[Gabby Tedesco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a big fan when it comes to reading and learning stuff about dinosaurs. If you are someone who likes to read and learn about dinosaurs, then this book would be great for you. It is also a great book for children to read if they are interested in dinosaurs. It has a lot of information that is clear, but also engaging to read. It has many different topics dealing with dinosaurs. No matter how old you are, this book would be great to read if you are interested in dinosaurs. If you're a teacher and you have a lesson on dinosaurs, this book would also be great for the classroom and the lesson.

[Gavirro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiene dos versiones: la primera es una versión reducida del segundo, o el segundo una ampliada del primero. El primero tiene exclusivamente las ilustraciones de dinosaurios y sus descripciones, mientras que el segundo contiene detalles anatómicos, descripción histórica y otros apartados adicionales.

Siguen el eje Triásico-Jurásico-Cretácico. El texto y las descripciones se encuadran alrededor de las ilustraciones principales, aunque algún que otro gráfico está descuadrado.

El primer libro tiene un evidente esquema infantil, para una lectura cómoda y sencilla de las criaturas. Este segundo, el atlas, aborda ya tecnicismos y aspectos complejos de las especies, en una lectura más desarrollada de los mismos.

No encuentro una fecha concreta de publicación para estos libros, pero por las ilustraciones y especies, estimo que su contenido es del 90 y tantos como mucho, por lo que está desactualizado con el conocimiento actual. Sin embargo, sigue completo en cuanto a anatomía de estas criaturas.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have a young reader in your family, and that youngster likes dinosaurs. this is a good volume to acquire. It is meant for young readers and is pitched nicely at that age group. I fact, I bought about twenty of the volumes in the Eyewitness Books series for my son, when he was a lot younger than he is today. It seemed like a good investment then, and I think I got my money's worth out of the purchases. And this book is no exception to that judgment..

It provides a solid introduction to what we know about dinosaurs. It even includes a discussion of whether or not birds are the descendants of dinosaurs (pages 50-51).

So, a nice addition to a young reader's library. . . .

[Bea · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

So I thought I was really into dinosaurs after really enjoying Jurassic Park; I have an apatosaurus from Michaels, and I was told that I apparently loved dinosaurs as a kid. To be honest, this book kind of bored me. The only thing I really enjoyed was looking at all of the pictures. I'm probably going to try reading the Ancient Egypt version: Ancient Egypt.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to read! It gives you snip its of information throughout, however, it doesn't group masses of information together. I enjoy lists. I was looking for something that branches from Carnivores/Herbivores/Omnivores into subcategories like Sauropods and then a list of examples. It makes it easier to learn that way. It does take you through the daily routine of a dinosaur's life though, which is always interesting.

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

At nine yrs old, I prefered the DVD of this topic in the Eyewitness series. I skimmed through parts of it but this edition has too much techinical detail and really read less than a third of the book. The graphics and photos are always excellent. There is a page with text about timescale, but anybook about dinosaurs (for children or adults) should have a linegraph displaying the scale of how far back in time this era is.

[Alex Wingrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is all about dinosaurs, and everything about them. It talks about the different types, the parts of their body and function, etc.
I liked this book because I've always been fascinated with dinosaurs!
This book would be good to read to kids, especially boys, because they are very interested in dinosaurs.

[(NS)Jordyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading the Adobe e-books digital edition. This book would be great for use on a SMART board as the images are great and you could "write" on it to point out or highlight important features for students to take note of.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 5 year old son LOVES these Eyewitness Books. The best part is that there's so much information that you really can't outgrow them.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

a great resource for children, bold and striking pictures, and well researched information

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a decent book, though it wasn't quite as informative as I expected it to be. It was more of an overview of dinosaurs, specifically some species. Very quick read. Great pictures.

[Nirvana · Rating 1 out of 5]

So... DK Publishing published a book about dinosaurs... and presented these things as fact.
Why didn't they make it FACTUAL? There should be DRAGONS and JESUS in there :D

[Kiki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like animals so I read this book and learned the original organism in the earth before. The reason why I like this book is it’s let me knew more information about dinosaurs.

[Morghin]

I thought that this book was very intriguing and I learned a lot from it.

[Leyla B · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was an amazing book, i learned lots of things about dinosaurs!