Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds (Hardcover)

by Gregory S. Paul (Author) "The history of avian flight began far back in the Mesozoic Era and continues today as humans research the complex story and add new fossils..." (more)
Key Phrases: Late Cretaceous, Late Jurassic, South American (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In Dinosaurs of the Air, Greg Paul provides us with original and innovative ideas, fine analysis, beautiful illustrations, and an important contribution to the literature of paleontology. It takes an innovative direction, suggesting that many groups of birdlike dinosaurs are the flightless descendants of animals that we would normally consider birds. It thus has the potential to become a true classic." -- Lawrence Witmer, Ohio University

"In Dinosaurs of the Air, [Paul] boldly discusses the idea that familiar Cretaceous dinosaurs such as Velociraptor and Oviraptor may have had flying ancestors. While many will disagree with Paul's conclusions, his artistic skill and original thinking will make them hard to ignore." -- Thomas R. Holtz, Jr., University of Maryland, College Park

"Paul has succeeded in producing a beautiful book that will be an invaluable reference for those interested in avian origins for many years to come." -- Graham K. Taylor, Ibis

"If you want to dig seriously into one of today's most fascinating evolutionary debates, and aren't afraid of anatomy, you'll delight in Dinosaurs of the Air." -- New Scientist

Product Description
Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds presents the most recent work of renowned evolutionary scientist and dinosaur illustrator Gregory Paul. Dinosaurs of the Air synthesizes the growing body of evidence which suggests that modern-day birds have evolved from theropod dinosaurs of prehistoric times. Paul argues provocatively for the idea that the ancestor-descendant relationship between the dinosaurs and birds can on occasion be reversed, and that many dinosaurs were secondarily flightless descendants of creatures we would regard as birds. Controversial and comprehensive, Dinosaurs of the Air also offers new, firsthand interpretations of major fossils; a balanced, rewarding discussion of the ways we think flight may have evolved (comparing "ground up" and "trees down" scenarios); a close look at the famous urvogel Archaeopteryx, discussing what it can and cannot tell us about bird origins; and in-depth analyses of bird and theropod phylogenetics. Full of rich detail for the specialist but accessible to the intelligent lay reader, the book includes the author's own stunning illustrations and a technical appendix which provides information, for example, on body mass/wing dimension relationships and avian/dinosaurian metabolics.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 472 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801867630
• ISBN-13: 978-0801867637
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #214,798 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dinosaurs of the Air, November 9, 2002

By	Joe Zika "Khemprof" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds written by Gregory S. Paul is a well detailed book on comparetive anatomy between bird and dinosaurs.

The author is a well known evolutionary scientist and dinosaur illustrator and he has some interesting things to tell about in this book. For instance, the ancestor-descendant relationship of to birds and dinosaurs, most of the conventional thinking is that dinosaurs evolved into birds, but the author believes that on occasion the rolls could be reversed. That there may be many dinosaurs that were the secondarily flightless descendants of creatures we would think as birds.

This is contraversial, but the author makes his point with in-depth analyses of bird and theropod phylogenetics. There are many line-drawings that do a comparetive analysis, wing dimensions, avian/dinosaurian metabolics... this book has very detailed information. But, the book is written so that the layperson with a little scientific knowledge will unterstand the author intent.

This book has stunning illustrations throughout and well detailed bibliography making the information found in this book believable. There is a detail appendix toward the back of the book that covers in detail things of import for the book.

If you are one of the people who has an interest in avian/dinosaurian link this is a must purchase. This is an excellent book as it combines a large amount of technical data with drawings and related bird origins, including the energetics of the origin of avian flight. But, even with this detail, it is highly readable.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is actually longer than Amazon claims, May 15, 2002

By A Customer

First of all this book is 436 pages. The cover is a painting of Sinornithosaurus I believe. The only reason I took off a perfect five star rating is the lack of pictures. Let's face it, who doesn't check out Greg's pictures first? There are illustrations (all line drawings, no color) but they do not cover enough pterosaurs. The only Pteranodons are skeletal drawings, and there are no Quetzalcoatlus life drawings. There are life restorations of Anhanguera and Pterodaustro. There are pictures of lots of fossil birds and a new skeletal drawing of Bambiraptor and of Deinonychus with the re-evaluated skull that is more like what Ostrom described in 1969. Disappointed to see no new life restoration of it. There are some of the old drawings (Oviraptor, Archaeopteryx, Elaphrosaurus, etc). Don;t expect this textbook to show up on ebay or even at your local stores. Get it if you're a completist or a dino technician or not convinced that birds are related to dinos.