Book recommendations

[Paleona]

Hi guys, I haven't posted on this forum in some time, but I was wondering if any of you owned this book: 



I'm looking for a refresher, focusing on the different dinosaur species, when they lived, tidbits of new info, etc.  I've seen the Dougal Dixon book mentioned and that looks very promising, despite it containing some inaccuracies.  Anyway, I did not see this book anywhere in this thread and I would like to know if it's worth picking up!  I'm a fan of Fabio Pastori's artwork, which seems to be featured in this, even if much of it is sketches (I actually very much enjoy sketch-type artwork, so that's not really off-putting for me).   

[HD-man]

I'm looking for a refresher, focusing on the different dinosaur species, when they lived, tidbits of new info, etc.  I've seen the Dougal Dixon book mentioned and that looks very promising, despite it containing some inaccuracies.  Anyway, I did not see this book anywhere in this thread and I would like to know if it's worth picking up!  I'm a fan of Fabio Pastori's artwork, which seems to be featured in this, even if much of it is sketches (I actually very much enjoy sketch-type artwork, so that's not really off-putting for me).

I haven't read it in its entirety, but based on what I have read, I'd describe it as "The Dino Directory" ( http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/dinosaurs-other-extinct-creatures/dino-directory/index.html ) in book form.

[Takama]

Hi guys, I haven't posted on this forum in some time, but I was wondering if any of you owned this book: 



I'm looking for a refresher, focusing on the different dinosaur species, when they lived, tidbits of new info, etc.  I've seen the Dougal Dixon book mentioned and that looks very promising, despite it containing some inaccuracies.  Anyway, I did not see this book anywhere in this thread and I would like to know if it's worth picking up!  I'm a fan of Fabio Pastori's artwork, which seems to be featured in this, even if much of it is sketches (I actually very much enjoy sketch-type artwork, so that's not really off-putting for me).

That book has maney great species to look up, however some of the information is OUTDATED even for 2014

For instance, Spinosaurus is still treated as a long legged Animal, Scrirumimus is still considered a Megalosaur when most people now agree that it was a Coelurosaur. And Tianyulong is listed as a Cretaceous animal when it was really a Jurassic animal. 

[Paleona]

Hmm, maybe I'll have to see if I can find it at a local store and check it out myself.  I would have thought this one wouldn't be outdated, since it was released late last year!  I think that may explain why Spino's legs are still long in it, though; they may not have had enough time to rewrite the passage and get new artwork from the artist.

It's a shame all of these beginner-friendly encyclopedia styled books aren't 100% up-to-date.  I suppose that's difficult, with discoveries happening all the time.  Of course it's wonderful having so much information available online, but it would be great to be able to sit down with a real book.

[HD-man]

For instance, Spinosaurus is still treated as a long legged Animal,

Hmm, maybe I'll have to see if I can find it at a local store and check it out myself.  I would have thought this one wouldn't be outdated, since it was released late last year!  I think that may explain why Spino's legs are still long in it, though; they may not have had enough time to rewrite the passage and get new artwork from the artist.

To be fair, the short-legged version of Spinosaurus isn't necessarily accurate given all the uncertainties surrounding Ibrahim et al. 2014 ( http://waxing-paleontological.blogspot.com/2014/10/spinosaurus-world-problems.html ).

[Fluffysaurus]

I hope there Will be Some new dinosaur encyclopedias out this or next year.
Covering new species, and finds. Anyone knows about upcoming bookreleases?

[Ceresiosaurus]

I'm looking for books on chinese dinosaurs for a pet-project of mine. To specify more, I'm looking for books on the Dashanpu Formation.

I don't know any chinese, I just want to make it clear haha

Books on the chinese Methriacantosaurids can be helpful, too.

[HD-man]

Quoting Bakker ( http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/29qwys/iama_we_are_paleontologists_dr_robert_bakker_and/ ):

DrBobBakker here. Yes indeed, I and others at my museums are seeking ways to help Jim K. and his colleagues extract the entire family of Utahraptors. As for Raptor Red, I have finished the prequel which, God willing, should appear next year. The first book was optioned for the movies but was deemed too expensive to execute in fine CGI. That was a while ago. Now we could do feathered Utahraptors more easily.

Can't wait, especially if it's anything like Raptor Pack (albeit for adults)!

Quoting Bakker ( https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/39g2py/iama_we_are_paleontologists_dr_robert_bakker_and/ ):

Raptor Red's prequel is just about finished -- "Raptor Fire" It takes place as Raptor Red was growing up among the volcanic islands in what is now Alaska. The original Raptor Red was optioned three times for tv and/or big screen. But, as with most options, eventually nothing happened. Ah...but animation has gotten better, faster, even cheaper per second now. So.......keep praying.

[Viking Spawn]

Is anyone familiar with this new book series out of Japan called Biological Mystery Series ?  There are 8 volumes so far and look beautifully presented.   The only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger is that they are written in Japanese.   

[Halichoeres]

Is anyone familiar with this new book series out of Japan called Biological Mystery Series ?  There are 8 volumes so far and look beautifully presented.   The only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger is that they are written in Japanese.   

Those look so cool! Welp, time for us all to learn Japanese, then.

[Lusotitan]

I have this one book lying around that has a bunch of Greg Paul and Doug Henderson pictures in it. It's not big, just children's book sized in length, and has a little bit of text talking about the dinosaur renaissance, but it's obviously mostly about the images, some of which I've not been able to locate online (although they're probably out there somewhere), including a cool looking, albeit extremely shrink wrapped, Lewisuchus pair (described in the book as early dinosaurs, interestingly enough), by Greg Paul. It's a bit dated (implied coelurosaurian affinities of Coelophysis, anyone?), but I still look at the pictures every once and awhile. I believe it's called "The News About Dinosaurs" or something like that. Pretty old though, starting to fall apart.

[Newt]

When I was an eft, identifying theropods was easy: big and burly? It's a carnosaur! Small and slender? It's a coelurosaur!

These new-fangled classifications with their fancy phylogenetic cladistifications - I just don't cotton to 'em. No sir!

[tyrantqueen]

David Hone has a new book about Tyrannosaurs:



Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Being a Tyrannosaur fangirl, I am wondering if this is worth picking up. Any thoughts?

[edited to include links - admin]

[DinoToyForum]

I don't think it is released yet - still on pre-order. My go to comparison will be The Complete T. rex, but that's out of print.

[tyrantqueen]

I don't think it is released yet - still on pre-order. My go to comparison will be The Complete T. rex, but that's out of print.

I know, I'm thinking about preordering. It's on my wishlist at the moment. And I own The Complete T. rex, great book.

[Newt]

TQ- here's this, if it helps.

From Dave Hone's blog comments:

The book is very much aimed at a general audience. I hope it will still be of interest for keen dinosaur watchers but that's not the target.

I have no idea what the ebook situation is, but I suspect one is coming.

No it won't look at scales in much detail. It doesn't look at anything in much detail, I've got 80 000 words to cover a century of history, 100 m years of evolution, ecology, behaviour, taxonomy, anatomy, and explain the underlying principles of things like systematics and biomechanics and for a non-science audience. Given that I once wrote a paper that came in close to 10 000 words based on one tooth, you can see how this might be tricky to get into fine details.

Yes, I know the Amazon blurb is inaccurate – I didn't write it or get to edit it.

[tyrantqueen]

That is useful, thanks. Definitely going to purchase.

[Viking Spawn]

Looks interesting.  I'll add it to my want list as well!   

[Loxodon]

Okay, so, I have acquired a ton of books recently, and luckily, almost all of them were great. I will basically be running them down and saying yay or nay. Some have already been mentioned in this thread before.

Dinosaurs the most complete up to date encyclopedia:



This book probably needs to introduction. As many people have noted before, it is a great, thorough, and fantastically illustrated book, as should be expected when you know who wrote it. Covering all of dinosauria, it hits all the points you would expect, - history of paleontology, how evolution works, how fossils form, etc - but also makes a commendable effort to explain cladistics in a way that a layman would be able to understand. It is clearly written for a general audience, and could easily be read by a child, but also includes enough facts and information to be interesting for older more informed paleo-aficionados. The only downside is that it IS from 2007, almost 10 years old now, and as such has a few outdated sections(the megalosaur section in particular is completely bunkum). All in all a great book for people of all ages, but is also slightly out of date. 8/10

Pterosaurs:



Pterosaurs are a fascinating and incredibly important group, yet have typically been neglected in the literature. For a long time the only truly good books on the subject were severely out of date, and information on pterosauria was hard to come by. Then came Mark Witton with this fantastic book, and we finally had a proper, up-to-date, well illustrated and easily accessible piece of literature on the subject. Pterosaurs is a beautifully illustrated, well written, and incredibly exhaustive book on an underrepresented subject, and is a must-have, not only for people specifically interested in Pterosaurs, but for paleoartists in general, as it includes many skeletal diagrams, several not available online. 9/10

The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs:



This one has been mentioned before in this thread, and much bloodshed has been spilled about it elsewhere on the internet. As noted by many other people, the taxonomy in it is, to be blunt, nonsense. It is a confusing mess, with seemingly no rhyme or reason behind it. However. This is also a very, very well illustrated book, full of skeletal diagrams, invaluable to artists. If you want to draw dinosaurs, you really need this book in your collection, just be prepared to have to google almost every species name you stumble upon to be sure you are actually drawing Abelisaurus, and not just Aucasaurus renamed. 7/10

Mammoths, Sabertooths and Hominids: 65 million years of mammalian evolution in Europe:



What do you know about the history of fossil mammals in Europe? Probably not much. The internet wont help you, there is pretty much nothing on this subject online. No, if you want to learn about prehistoric European mammals, this is the book to get. Literally, there are pretty much no other books on this subject period. Luckily, the one book that is available on the subject is also an amazing one. Full of gorgeous illustrations, and laced with information unattainable anywhere else, this is one of the best books I own, and if there was one book alone I could recommend to you, it would be this one, its that good. 10/10


I have way more books than this, which I will cover at some later point if you want, but I did not want to make this post too long.

[timchadwick12]

Is the Dinosauria a good refernce for research?

I heard someone discribe it as the Bible of dinosaurs

When the The Dinosauria was first published, it was hailed as "the best scholarly reference work available on dinosaurs" and "an historically unparalleled compendium of information." This is a very good reference book for those that are truely interested in paleontology. As the name indecates, it covers the Dinosaurs from their origins in the late Triassic to their abrupt exit at the end of the Cretacous.