The Complete Dinosaur - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0253333490 ISBN 13: 9780253333490

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2012

Synopsis

This book is the single most authoriative and accessible source for the general reader on dinosaur science today. In the past decade, dinosaur paleontology has experienced an explosive growth. So rapidly has the field expanded that no individual can hope to master all its aspects. The editors have brought together 47 experts in subjects ranging from functional morphology and paleobiology to biogeography and systematics to present a thorough survey of dinosaurs from the earliest discoveries through the contemporary controverises over their extinction. Where contention exists, as over the question of whether dinosaurs, were warmblooded or cold-blooded, the editors have let the experts agree to disagree. Technical jargon is kept to a minimum, and there is a glossary of less familiar terms.

About this title

About the Author

James O. Farlow, Professor of Geology and Geophysics at Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne, has written about dinosaurs in numerous scientific articles as well as in books aimed at children and young adults. He has appeared on a number of popular television programs about dinosaurs, often as an expert on dinosaur tracks. His research interests include dinosaur paleobiology and ichnology.

M.K. Brett-Surmann, Assistant Professorial Lecturer in Geology at George Washington University and Museum Specialist at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution, has named three new duckbill dinosaurs--Anatotitan, Gilmoreosaurus, and Secernosaurus. He has served as a consultant to paleoartists, publishers, and television producers, and has appeared in videos and on radio. His picture was "secretly" featured in the book Dinotopia--The Lost World.

Reviews

Very similar in length and scope to the Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs (LJ 11/1/97), this work features signed articles by many of the same distinguished paleontologists with the goal of providing a single authoritative account of dinosaur paleontology accessible to the general reader. The contributors were instructed to keep technical jargon to a minimum. The articles are grouped by six categories: Discovery of Dinosaurs, Study of Dinosaurs, Groups of Dinosaurs, Biology of Dinosaurs, Dinosaur Evolution, and Dinosaurs and the Media. When controversial topics arise, the editors have provided opposing viewpoints rather than picking sides. For example, the "extinction" article is presented as "A dialogue between a Catastrophist and a Gradualist." Dinosaurs are described by group rather than by individual genera, so this is not the place to find a picture of a specific kind of dinosaur (though the illustrations are generally informative). With simpler language, more background information, and a subject rather than an alphabetical organization that makes for a more coherent presentation, this is a better purchase for public and school libraries than the Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, which is written as a review of dinosaur research literature for specialists. An excellent encyclopedia that serves as a nice bridge between popular and scholarly dinosaur literature.?Amy Brunvand, Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0253333490
• ISBN 13: 9780253333490
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 768
• Editor: James O. Farlow, M. K. Brett-Surman