My favorite non-NHD dino books

[HD-man]

I originally posted the following at deviantART ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-My-favorite-non-NHD-dino-books-940115599 ).

Hi everybody,

This journal entry is the sequel to "SD: Top 4 children's natural histories of dinos" ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-Top-4-children-s-natural-histories-of-dinos-924726008 ). It's nothing formal, just a list of what I (as a non-expert dino fan) think are my favorite non-NHD dino books & why. Even still, I hope that at least some of you will get something out of it.

Cheers,
Herman Diaz

4) Tie btwn Bonner's "When Dinos Dawned" & "Dining With Dinosaurs: A Tasty Guide to Mesozoic Munching" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/RP5K90YL2VODH/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 ): If I had to pick a favorite btwn these 2 books, it would be the 2nd book. That said, I think they work best together: To quote Sampson ( http://edge.org/3rd_culture/sampson05/sampson05_index.html ), "The web of life is composed of two distinctly different kinds of threads<those that link organisms at any given moment in time through the flow of energy (ecology), and those that link all lifeforms through deep time via genetic information and shared common ancestry (evolution). Seen from this dual and complementary perspective, the two themes are inseparable. Without evolution, our vision is severely limited to the present day and we cannot begin to fathom the blossoming of life's diversity from single-celled forebears. Without ecology, the intricate interconnections we share with the current panoply of lifeforms cannot truly be envisioned. United in a single theme, evolution and ecology provide a powerful lens through which to view life's web, forming the foundation of an integrated and underutilized perspective on nature. In short, we need dramatic increases in levels of both ecological literacy, or "ecoliteracy," and evolutionary literacy, or "evoliteracy," with this dynamic pair of concepts reinforcing each other"; That's exactly what Bonner does; These 2 books are an especially good example of evoliteracy (in reference to the 1st book) & ecoliteracy (in reference to the 2nd book) reinforcing each other.

3) Tie btwn Norell et al.'s "Discovering Dinosaurs" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1BP8LPRNRAT01/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 ) & Abramson et al.'s "Inside Dinosaurs" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1G5HZTPACE9QG/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 ): As you may remember, many of the most "lavishly illustrated, scientifically up-to-date" dino books are backed by "the world's greatest and most famous...natural history museums" ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-Top-4-natural-histories-of-dinos-758236511 ). As you may also remember, "the AMNH...is the best popular source of any dino museum next to the NHM" ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-Good-semi-good-and-bad-dino-sources-3-632615112 ). That's part of the reason why these 2 books are tied at #2, the other part being that they're both the best of their kinds (which is especially impressive given that, as discussed in my reviews, their kinds aren't my favorites).

2) Tie btwn Hedley's "Dinosaurs and Their Living Relatives" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1SCM65CLPZD4M/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 ) & GSPaul's "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide": These 2 books are tied at #2 for 3 main reasons:
-1) They're both great 1980s dino books on special topics. More specifically, the 1st book is a great children's introduction to cladistics, so much so that it "should be required reading for anyone who talks to laypeople about phylogeny" ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-Ben-s-Phylogenetics-is-Moon-Man-Talk-654612768 ), & the 2nd book is a great natural history of theropods (& thus, "treats [theropods] as a group of living animals, making frequent reference to today's animals as a basis for comparison": https://www.amazon.co.uk/Natural-History-Museum-Book-Dinosaurs/dp/184442183X ).
-2) They're both very nostalgic in terms of paleoart. More specifically, the 1st book's paleoart is very "Jurassic Park"-esque (See reason #3 in my review) & the 2nd book's paleoart is very field guide-esque (I.e. GSPaul's "portrayals of dinosaurs [are] similar to that of naturalists in the wild, observing living animals of our own era": https://www.abebooks.com/9780785829027/Field-Guide-Dinosaurs-Essential-Handbook-0785829024/plp ).
-3) They're both outdated in ways that are hard to ignore, especially compared to #1 (E.g. For the 1st book, see the Hamilton quote; For the 2nd book, see the Naish quote).

Quoting Hamilton ( https://books.google.com/books?id=-XI9PLx2uFYC&pg=PA889&dq=%22taxonomically+extinct%22 ): "So the birds are closely related to some animals that we call dinosaurs. This means that the classical idea of the dinosaurs (Dinosauria) is only tenable if the birds are included. But we cannot validate the group Saurischia and cannot establish relationships with the Ornithischia. Therefore, as Charig suggests, it may be necessary to include the crocodiles and pterosaurs which would make the Dinosauria and Archosauria synonymous. Not much future in this: the group Dinosauria seems to be taxonomically extinct."

Quoting Naish ( http://tetzoo.com/blog/2018/8/16/could-we-domesticate-non-bird-dinosaurs ): "A girl and her ornithomimid. Greg Paul said of theropods in Predatory Dinosaurs of the World that "Their stiff, perhaps feathery bodies were not what one would care to have sleep at the foot of the bed" (Paul 1988, p. 19), but maybe he was wrong. This is another of Mike Skrepnick's illustrations from his 'Would Dinosaurs Make Good Pets' project. Image: Mike Skrepnick."

1) Tie btwn Bakker's "Raptor Pack" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/R31DUDVR9BXOSV/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 ) & Naish's "Dinopedia: A Brief Compendium of Dinosaur Lore" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2CVSWQO7RN0QK/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 ) for reasons discussed in my reviews.

Honorable Mentions) Just to clarify, I don't necessarily favor #2-4 over the following books. It's just that I've spent more time figuring out my feelings about #2-4:
-Willoughby's "Drawing and Painting Dinosaurs: Using Art and Science to Bring the Past to Life" (1 of my favorite dino art books!)
-Rey's "Extreme Dinosaurs! Part 2: The Projects" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/R30VGMGZ7WL3V4/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 )
-Witton's "Recreating an Age of Reptiles" (1 of my favorite dino art books!)
-White's "Dinosaur Hunter: The Ultimate Guide to the Biggest Game" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2DH2U4T7MNS0N/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 )
-Bakker's "Dino Babies!" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/RGGG87Q9W2PHE/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 )
-Bakker's "Maximum Triceratops" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/R16K64LXYBME69/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 )
-Sloan's "Feathered Dinosaurs" (which I reviewed: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1UO9MSFJ9W37N/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 )