Customer Reviews

Big Book of Dinosaurs

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Dinosaur lovers (or their parents) have many books to turn to these days, in a wide range of genres: technical encyclopedias, with carefully drawn skeletons and accurate scientific information; exciting memoirs of digging expeditions; historical accounts of the "Bone Wars"; and illustrated guides for a popular audience.

"The Big Book of Dinosaurs" falls into the last category; the main credit rightly goes to the artist, Bob Walters, whose fine illustrations make this a tempting gift for any young dino-phile of your acquaintance. Like many dino-artists, Walters' style and colour preferences are quite distinct, and I find his renderings rather pleasing.

Sadly, there are some errors in the text that really shouldn't be there: Giganotosaurus comes out as Gigantosaurus, theropods become therapods, to cite two examples. When the prevailing standard for dinosaur books nowadays is meticulous accuracy (no serious palaeontologist would have let those errors slip by), this is genuinely disappointing.

For stunningly illustrated dinosaurs *with* careful, accurate accompanying text, I would turn to "Dinosaurs: the Biggest, Baddest, Strangest, Fastest" by Zimmerman/Olshevsky, to name one outstanding example.

Walters' artwork certainly deserves better; perhaps the next edition?

This is the real deal!

Walters is one of only a handful of artists qualified to create scientifically grounded anatomical reconstructions of prehistoric animals. The great thing is that his dino paintings are stunningly detailed, gloriously colored and eye-poppingly cool!

Amazingly, this big, beautuful book of incredible dino art is about half the price of anything comparable.

The Paleoart of Robert Walters I have to say is quite fascinating. His best drawings put in this book, from dinosaurs like maisaura to oviraptor all the way to t-rex. His drawings flow with the art and colors of the dinosaurs. This part I loved. But if you're looking for true 100% clear scientific information, this is the wrong book for you. The text is good for younger readers, but definatley not for the amateur(like me) who already knows alot. Not all the info in Walter's book is scientifically accurate, but then again not all "children's" books might be. Definatley get this book if you love the art though.

Showcased with the superb, science based artwork of Bob Walters, The Big Book Of Dinosaurs is an ideal introduction for young readers to the fascinating world of the dinosaur. Replete with up-to-date information on the latest discoveries in the paleontological study of dinosaurs, there are profiles of more than one hundred dinosaurs from all regions of the world presented an easy-to-read, the fact-filled text. Of special interest is the section devoted to how dinosaurs evolved over millions of years into some of the animals populating the earth today. The Big Book Of Dinosaurs is an enthusiastically recommended addition to any school or community library collection for children of all ages on the subject of the dinosaur!