All About Dinosaurs

by Roy Chapman

All about Dinosaurs Hardcover – 1953 by Roy Chapman (Author), Thomas W.Voter (Illustrator)

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

146 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

Reviews

[Azra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good representation of why I like to read older books. Published in 1953, it doesn't talk down to its young audience. If there is a large word, like ovoviviparous, it breaks the word down in its correct pronunciation and moves on (o-vo-vi-vip-ar-ous.)

This book was written by a former director of the American Museum of Natural History. Not only does he write about what was known about the dinosaurs then, he also talks about his travels in the Gobi Desert to find them.

It was also interesting to see what the current thinking was back then. According to Andrews, all the large herbivores - Brachiosaur, Brontosaurus, Parasaurolophus - all swam around in lakes and ate mushy plants. Some even were said to go underwater because of their crests or the location of their nostrils!

All in all, a very good read.

[Prima Seadiva · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite childhood books. Somewhat out of date by today's standards but it engendered a life long fascination in dinosaurs and paleontology.
I still have a copy.

[Billy Leon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the first dinosaur books that I read as a kid. Of course that was a half century ago and I still enjoyed the read. However, this book was published years ago and is somewhat dated in both scope and even in descriptions. For starters the animal known as Brontosaurus we now know didn't even exist. It was a mistake made when a fossilized skeleton was discovered. If memory serves me correctly it was a Camarasaurus head mounted on another sauropods body that led to the confusion. That body has since been identified as Apatosaurus, no matter what the Flintstones have to say on the matter. Another point is that the Tyrannosaurus might have been given to much credit as an Alpha predator, as some sources today think he might have been a super scavenger and used his great size to scare other hunters off of their kills. Although that is a question that is still being hotly debated by scientists. And since their is no written record 60 million years ago, it is a question that may never be truly answered. The book was also written in between world wars and the geography of the earth has changed greatly since then. It was still an enjoyable read because it took me back to a simpler time. While dinosaurs and prehistoric life had taken a back seat to military history in my interests, this read kind of whetted my appetite again for all things prehistoric. Dr. Chapman's book still is a decent page turner and holds your interest even though some of the information might be inaccurate or dated.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite book as child. Noted paleontologist writes about great lizards and prehistoric history. There was not a dinosaur, Roy Chapman Andrews, did not like. Captivating. Profusely illustrated with drawings and photos.

[Susan Rainwater · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went through a dinosaur phase in 5th grade, and this is the book that started it. Real-life adventure combined with good (if dated) scientific information appropriate for grade school children.

[Eric Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my all-time favorite books when I was in the second and third grades; I had to have read this at least a dozen times. I was going through a huge dinosaur phase at the time and Mr. Andrews was a big reason I wanted to be a paleontologist at that age.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most interesting was the author's description of life in the field while excavating.

Also fun was the inscription of a little girl who owned the book in 1956. She must have loved it as her name and address appeared multiple times in the front of the book. She must be in her 70s at this point.

[Rob Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book, I wanted to be a paleontologist for several years. Pure boy fun!

[Len Knighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The All About books were a wonderful introduction to non-fiction reading back in the 1950's. Andrews wrote this one and one about whales that I devoured.

[Little Sheepling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very old but very lovely and uncomplicated book by Roy Chapman Andrews (whom I didn't even realize wrote any books himself, so was pleasantly surprised to find this book in an antique store).

Not everything is covered but enough of it is; The Introduction bombards you with quite a lot of things, but it soons calms down and breaks things down in various segments covering not only Dinosaurs, Marine & Aerial Reptiles but also Andrews's trips to the Gobi Desert - with the famous discoveries of Protoceratops, Oviraptor and of course... Dinosaur Eggs! being charmingly and excitingly recounted by Andrews himself. It's a bit of a shame how little of the backstory concerning his trips is described (you'll have to look for another book about that) as he's just... there.

As said already this book is very old (1959 my copy is) so expect a lot of dubious Dinosaurs - Palaeoscincus, Trachodon and of course Brontosaurus and outdated theories (Tyrannosaurus basically is described as living like a giant Lion) and the oddest thing of all... the lack of a giant meteorite wiping out most of the prehistoric reptiles of the Cretaceous. The theories present seemed valid enough to form a part of the great extinction but it's just so odd not seeing that here.

But all these are very minor complaints as this is a lovely lookback at what was thought right at the time and how ideas and theories (Palaeontology especially) can change so quickly.

[Billy Leon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a boy about 10 or 11 and remembered it vividly. So when I came across it in a used book store nearly half a century later I could not resist purchasing this book. Obviously the read is dated. It was written between world wars and the tales it tells of adventures in the Gobi desert tell of a different Mongolia, than the one we are presented with today. Some of the dinosaurs described to us as factual we now no simply didn't exist or that controversy surrounds their very existence. Even the belief back then that the Tyrannosaurus Rex was the largest and most fearsome predator that ever roamed this earth, has been questioned by latter day scientists. Who suggest that he may have been more of a scavenger than a hunter. That he used his great size and enormous teeth to scare other predators off of their kills to feed. Personally while I do not have any doubt that that did happen from time to time, I still believe he was an alpha predator and that if he was hungry and on the prowl, it was best to be somewhere else. I still enjoyed the read. Maybe it was nostalgia? or maybe somewhere deep in my mind I felt as if I reclaimed a part of my youth. That said, I can only with a clear conscience give it an average rating for content, although I enjoyed the read far more.

[PIETER · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose this book after I finished Jurassic Park. It was a sentimental choice. The 'All About' book series was very popular with young people in the mid-1950s. One Christmas, 1955 I believe, my parents gave me this book and my brother 'All About Strange Beasts of the Past'. It is amazing to see the change in knowledge from 1952 and 1990 when Jurassic was published. Roy Chapman Andrews writes mostly about exploration expeditions in Mongolia in the early 1920s and looks back to discoveries from the early 19th century. Andrews is a man of the 19th century and his style is very chauvinistic. He sees all scientists as men, in fact the only mention of a female in the book is of a young English woman who discovered and sold dinosaur bones in the 1820s. Unlike 'Jurassic', he describes dinosaurs as slow, dull and cold-blooded, the largest ones needing to support their weight in the water. In the last chapter Andrews' speculates about the downfall of the dinosaurs. He did not know about the cataclysmic collision of an asteroid with earth. I have read that Andrews was quite a showman in his time and the inspiration for Indiana Jones. The comparison with this childhood book and 'Jurassic' was eye-opening.

[Bill Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know remember where or when I got this book. But as a fan of most things dinosaur I figured it was time I read it. And I’m definitely glad I did. It was a very interesting and enjoyable read.

Considering the book was published in 1953 and is therefore 70 years old, I kept that in mind as I read along. Much new information has come out since this book was written and theories about dinosaurs have changed dramatically. Keeping that in mind it was still a well done book for its time and a great introduction of dinosaurs for children at that time.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dinosaurs aren’t exactly my area of expertise, but I did walk away from this feeling like I learned at least a little bit more about dinosaurs—not ALL about dinosaurs like the title implies, though. For a really old kids book, this was actually kind of fun to read. The little anecdotes kept me entertained the entire time!

[Jimmy · Rating 1 out of 5]

While there is some actual science in the book (the parts covering the author's Central Asia expedition were interesting), for the most part there are loads of evolutionary garbage all through the book (dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, etc.). Some statements can be proven wrong, such as "No human being ever saw a dinosaur alive" (see the book Dire Dragons by Vance Nelson).

Some of the ideas in the book are so strange it's a wonder how even evolutionists managed to believe them, such as "racial senescence". The author doesn't actually explain how a set of animals could have "reached the end of their rope".

[Tommyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children's non-fiction,Natural history,Dinosaurs

[Coalbanks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great intro to dinosauria.