Dinosaurs: A Concise Natural History

The ideal textbook for non-science majors, this lively and engaging introduction encourages students to ask questions, assess data critically and think like a scientist. Building on the success of the previous editions, Dinosaurs has been reorganised and extensively rewritten in response to instructor and student feedback. It continues to make science accessible and relevant through its clear explanations and extensive illustrations. Updated to reflect recent fossil discoveries and to include new taxa, the text guides students through the dinosaur groups, emphasising scientific concepts rather than presenting endless facts. It is grounded in the common language of modern evolutionary biology - phylogenetic systematics - so that students examine dinosaurs as professional paleontologists do. The key emerging theme of feathered dinosaurs, and the many implications of feathers, have been integrated throughout the book, highlighted by the inclusion of stunning new photographs in this beautifully illustrated text, now in full colour throughout.

David E. Fastovsky is Professor and Chair of the Department of Geosciences at the University of Rhode Island. His interest in dinosaurs began in his early years when he read about a paleontologist's adventures in the Gobi Desert early in the twentieth century. He has carried out fieldwork all over the world. He is known as a dynamic teacher as well as a respected researcher on the environments in which dinosaurs roamed, as well as their extinction.

David B. Weishampel is Professor at the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research focuses on dinosaur evolution and how dinosaurs function, and he is particularly interested in herbivorous dinosaurs and the dinosaur record of Europe. He is senior editor of The Dinosauria and has contributed to a number of popular publications, including acting as consultant to Michael Crichton in the writing of The Lost World, the inspiration for Steven Spielberg's film Jurassic Park. He was recently honoured in an International Symposium on duck-billled dinosaurs, dedicated to him and his research.

John Sibbick has been creating illustrations of extinct life forms and their environments for over thirty years, producing numerous books on dinosaurs, as well as pterosaurs, and general books on prehistoric life. His work has appeared in scientific magazines, television documentaries and museums, and featured on a set of stamps depicting dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles for the United Kingdom's Royal Mail.