Synopsis:
For the layperson and the paleontologist, this is the definitive reference work on dinosaurian genera. Section I provides a thorough history of fieldwork, laboratory studies and paleontological research, and outlines several of the scientific theories of dinosaur extinction. Section II provides dinosaurian systematics toward the end of organizing the various taxa into a convenient and workable order. Section III is an alphabetically arranged compilation of dinosaurian genera. Section IV details the doubtful genera that have appeared in the paleontological literature. Section V lists “excluded genera,” or taxa that had been previously regarded as dinosaurian. This heavily illustrated volume contains many depictions of life models constructed by experts in vertebrate paleontology restoration and based on the original fossil material.
Review:
If you think the title Dinosaurs: the Encyclopedia has a movie-sequel ring, you're only partly mistaken; editor Donald F. Glut has already authored The Dinosaur Dictionary and The Complete Dinosaur Dictionary. But you'll find no T. rex running amok here; this is a dense and rigorously scientific tome meant for only the most dedicated dinosaur lover. Part 1 contains an excellent background history of scientific findings in this rapidly changing field. (Also here is a wonderful, paragraph-long sentence detailing possible causes of the dinosaurs' demise, including "brains too small" and "inability to mate, sexual frustration, suicide.") Once into the alphabetical listings, however, it's easy for the layman to get lost. If the description "articular facets of prezygapophyses much enlarged in anterior caudals" makes your eyes cross, perhaps this is not the reference for you. But if your amateur paleontologist shows signs of getting serious, you won't get much more detailed, thorough, or reliable information than that contained here. And there's always the glossary in back, wherein you'll find words such as "ginglymus" and "astragalus" defined in everyday English.
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