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National Geographic Dinosaurs
99 pages, Paperback
Published May 20, 2022
About the author
National Geographic Society
4,832 books1,197 followersThe National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history. The National Geographic Society's logo is a yellow portrait frame—rectangular in shape—which appears on the margins surrounding the front covers of its magazines and as its television channel logo. Through National Geographic Partners (a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company), the Society operates the magazine, TV channels, a website, worldwide events, and other media operations.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history. The National Geographic Society's logo is a yellow portrait frame—rectangular in shape—which appears on the margins surrounding the front covers of its magazines and as its television channel logo. Through National Geographic Partners (a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company), the Society operates the magazine, TV channels, a website, worldwide events, and other media operations.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 1, 2024
Having been obsessed with dinosaurs for all of my living memory, it doesn't take much to convince me to read about them. However, I'd gone back and forth a lot in grocery store lines about buying the National Geographic special edition on the most updated science in the dinosaur field. In the end, I ended up exploring this wonderful issue of the magazine via different means: the videos I use to help fall asleep. (That video, by LLOYD'S ASMR, can be found here: https://youtu.be/MW3u3lAvGnA?si=rHhXY...--)
This was an immersive experience adjacent to that of an audiobook, but not quite. While the reader occasionally read quotes and passages, he largely showed the breathtaking paleoart that lays within, so I kept pausing to zoom in and read the easily approachable writing on the latest in dino science. With paleontology, science is changing so quickly and so an up-to-date magazine like this is the perfect way to dive into the interdisciplinary study: as one scientist within is quoted, "If you want to do modern, cutting-edge research, it takes a team of people from very diverse backgrounds."
Even though the science doesn't always correlate with the beautiful tyrants of franchises like "Jurassic Park," a film that it seeks in particular to contradict and disprove, the magazine does a great job of illustrating the present period as a new golden age of paleontology. As one article says, "there's never been a bigger boom of fossil discovery than right now." This is an accessible dinosaur read for all ages, though articles differ in how much hard science jargon they end up using.
This was an immersive experience adjacent to that of an audiobook, but not quite. While the reader occasionally read quotes and passages, he largely showed the breathtaking paleoart that lays within, so I kept pausing to zoom in and read the easily approachable writing on the latest in dino science. With paleontology, science is changing so quickly and so an up-to-date magazine like this is the perfect way to dive into the interdisciplinary study: as one scientist within is quoted, "If you want to do modern, cutting-edge research, it takes a team of people from very diverse backgrounds."
Even though the science doesn't always correlate with the beautiful tyrants of franchises like "Jurassic Park," a film that it seeks in particular to contradict and disprove, the magazine does a great job of illustrating the present period as a new golden age of paleontology. As one article says, "there's never been a bigger boom of fossil discovery than right now." This is an accessible dinosaur read for all ages, though articles differ in how much hard science jargon they end up using.
December 23, 2025
I love me some dinosaur facts
January 1, 2026
National Geographic Special: Dinosaurs - A New Look At The Prehistoric Icons
🌿🦕🌲🪶🌱🦖🍃
❌ could've been even more detailed, considering explanations
❌ the advertisment pages, but that's what you have to deal with
❌ I really really missed a picture of borealopelta markmitchelli, instead we've got a picture of what it has eaten before its death (but also very interesting to read about)
✅ very interesting points of view onto field work
✅ lots of paleontologists mentioned you already know if you're interested in vertebrate paleontology
✅ easily understandable explanations for people who aren't so deep into paleontology
✅ Dr. Nizar Ibrahim and the spinosaurus (my personal favourite, even more after the BBC documentation)
✅ theory of Chicxulub and Dekkan working against each other after the asteroid impact
❌✅ A mixture of feelings about the topic of people owning fossils for their private enjoyment. On the one hand, they are totally right - fossils should rather be studied by paleontologists and for science. But on the other hand, people dig out fossils themselves (in the magazine we see a boy sitting next to triceratops horridus skull) while science doesn't receive enough money to actually work on digging out fossils. The same happens with Bromacker (not too far away from my place and one of the most important places to find permian tetrapods in the world) in Germany, considering short field work times of about three or four weeks a year, allowed by the ministries. It feels like sabotage to not let scientists work on important revelations about prehistoric times.
🌿🦕🌲🪶🌱🦖🍃
❌ could've been even more detailed, considering explanations
❌ the advertisment pages, but that's what you have to deal with
❌ I really really missed a picture of borealopelta markmitchelli, instead we've got a picture of what it has eaten before its death (but also very interesting to read about)
✅ very interesting points of view onto field work
✅ lots of paleontologists mentioned you already know if you're interested in vertebrate paleontology
✅ easily understandable explanations for people who aren't so deep into paleontology
✅ Dr. Nizar Ibrahim and the spinosaurus (my personal favourite, even more after the BBC documentation)
✅ theory of Chicxulub and Dekkan working against each other after the asteroid impact
❌✅ A mixture of feelings about the topic of people owning fossils for their private enjoyment. On the one hand, they are totally right - fossils should rather be studied by paleontologists and for science. But on the other hand, people dig out fossils themselves (in the magazine we see a boy sitting next to triceratops horridus skull) while science doesn't receive enough money to actually work on digging out fossils. The same happens with Bromacker (not too far away from my place and one of the most important places to find permian tetrapods in the world) in Germany, considering short field work times of about three or four weeks a year, allowed by the ministries. It feels like sabotage to not let scientists work on important revelations about prehistoric times.
June 1, 2023
A nice summary of some of the key developments in dinosaur research, including warm-bloodedness, controversies regarding the causes of dinosaur extinction, what dinosaurs really looked like (color and feathers), and modern-day birds as their successors. A key theme is the collaborative approach of traditionally distinct branches of science to the study of dinosaurs: biomechanics, CT scans, and computer modeling to name a few. Individual paleontologists are interviewed and given a chance to explain their approach to research. Flaws in the depiction of dinosaurs in the popular JURASSIC PARK movies are used to underline the progress that has been made in just a few decades. Spinosaurus, velociraptor and dilophosaurus are looked at in some detail. As always, this NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC issue contains illustrations that are beautiful and informative.
September 9, 2024
I will forever scream my love for dinosaurs.
"[T]oday's birds are the last remaining twig on an otherwise demolished dinosaur family tree, grown from fierce predators and sculpted by evolution into an array of flapping, feathery fowl" (p.88).
To note: I read the updated version of 2024. Since this book has a cover (and the other version doesn't show up with a cover on GR) I marked it as read.
"[T]oday's birds are the last remaining twig on an otherwise demolished dinosaur family tree, grown from fierce predators and sculpted by evolution into an array of flapping, feathery fowl" (p.88).
To note: I read the updated version of 2024. Since this book has a cover (and the other version doesn't show up with a cover on GR) I marked it as read.
August 2, 2026
I actually read the updated version of this magazine but it wasn’t on Goodreads so I chose to use this version as a stand in. Very good! I like how they posed debates on dinosaur theories and the culture surrounding them as well as giving points for both sides. Was very interested in the debate on whether it was ethical to be able to buy dino bones.
March 21, 2026
Felt like I was walking through an exhibition at a museum. Loved the colored adaptations and the extinction theory section.
July 25, 2026
So many fascinating discoveries. I loved every word. I thought I already knew so much but I learned a lot more through this magazine.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews