Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia (Dinosaurs the Encyclopedia) (Hardcover)

by Donald F. Glut (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
If you think the title Dinosaurs: the Encyclopedia has a movie-sequel ring, you're only partly mistaken; editor Donald F. Glut has already authored The Dinosaur Dictionary and The Complete Dinosaur Dictionary. But you'll find no T. rex running amok here; this is a dense and rigorously scientific tome meant for only the most dedicated dinosaur lover. Part 1 contains an excellent background history of scientific findings in this rapidly changing field. (Also here is a wonderful, paragraph-long sentence detailing possible causes of the dinosaurs' demise, including "brains too small" and "inability to mate, sexual frustration, suicide.") Once into the alphabetical listings, however, it's easy for the layman to get lost. If the description "articular facets of prezygapophyses much enlarged in anterior caudals" makes your eyes cross, perhaps this is not the reference for you. But if your amateur paleontologist shows signs of getting serious, you won't get much more detailed, thorough, or reliable information than that contained here. And there's always the glossary in back, wherein you'll find words such as "ginglymus" and "astragalus" defined in everyday English.

From Library Journal
Here are two new encyclopedias for the more serious dinosaur enthusiast. Intended as a companion to the classic taxonomic reference, The Dinosauria (LJ 3/15/91), Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs emphasizes discoveries published in the scientific literature since 1990. In this context, the paucity of maps and illustrations seems a less serious omission. Written by well-known paleontologists and organized alphabetically by subject, the signed articles cover kinds of dinosaurs, biology, geology, research, and museums where dinosaurs are on display, including a worldwide list of museums and sites. There is some overlap with The Dinosauria in dinosaur descriptions, but this encyclopedia offers authoritative articles on many topics not covered in that work, such as "color," "intelligence," and "ornamentation." While the language may sometimes be too technical for the general reader, Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs provides a nice link between popular and scientific dinosaur studies. The author of The Complete Dinosaur Dictionary (Carol Pub., 1995), which was aimed at young adults, Glut now offers a far more detailed and technical work oriented toward dinosaur material in museum collections. Following 74 pages of background information, the encyclopedia is devoted to an alphabetical list of dinosaur genera. Each entry tells the date of discovery, name derivation, occurrence, age, and diagnosis; gives a list of key print references; and refers to important museum specimens that have furthered the study of dinosaur paleontology. The black-and-white illustrations are mainly photos of museum specimens and reconstructions, with a deliberate avoidance of fanciful interpretation. The emphasis on museum collections makes this a unique work. Both titles are recommended for academic and larger public libraries.?Amy Brunvand, Univ. of Utah Lib., Salt Lake City
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1088 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899509177
• ISBN-13: 978-0899509174
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #499,484 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic and comprehensive, July 24, 2001

By	M. Flegal (CT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are a serious dinosaur lover with some money to spend, this is the book. At the time of publication, every classified species was included, along with pertinent details and from 1-3 pages of write-up. It talks of the holotypes, it has 1-2 photos on every page, it gives it all. It is exhaustive, well written, and just simply outstanding. Put it this way, paleontologists and reconstructionist-artists keep this on their desk like the military folk keep a copy of Jane's, it's simply far and away the best reference on the various species of dinosaurs. Is it pricey? Yup. However, you could easily spend far more buying every dinosaur encyclopedia sold on Amazon and still come up with a fraction of the material that is in this book. To be blunt, no other reference is in it's class. Throw in that periodic supplements are published that describe all of the new species and information discovered from the previous release, and you simply can't go wrong.

If I have to pick one flaw, it's that some of the photographs are of poor quality, however most of these seem to be because the only surviving photo is a zerox or what have you, so the quality is dependant on the source picture, not due to any corner-cutting (of which there seems to be NONE) in the book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How do you top the perfect book? Add to it!, April 15, 2001

By	Bronson Barton "bjmonkeyman" (Panguitch, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia, Supplement I (Dinosaurs the Encyclopedia) (Hardcover)

In the ever changing science of paleontology, sometimes it is impossible to keep up...until now. Donald F. Glut's Dinosaurs: the Encyclopedia, along with this subsequent and future supplements, reviews and condenses ALL (not merely some) of the technical papers published on the "terrible lizards" and packs them into one place. Want to know whatever happened to Brontosaurus? Look it up! For the budding enthusiast who is not quite sure what all the jargon means, a dictionary of terms is included in the back. If you are serious or want to be serious about the study of dinosaurs, Glut's encyclopedia is the place to start. Personally, I plan to purchase any and all future supplements to this wonderful bible of dinosaur science.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More good stuff, February 6, 2000

By	Thomas Hempel (Redwood City, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia, Supplement I (Dinosaurs the Encyclopedia) (Hardcover)

Following in the footsteps of the original, the suppliment provides a detailed account of dinosaur research in the last couple of years. It covers both newly discovered species, as well as revisions of old ones, and goes at some length into general controversies about the life and extinction of the dinosaurs as well. Like the original, it makes no concessions to the lay person. But if you can follow the lingo, it's got all the information you could want, and lots of cool pictures to boot.