Review
"... Dinosaurs of Italy represents another valuable contribution to the IU Press Life of the Past series, and I warmly recommend it to everyone with interest not only in dinosaurs but in extinct life as well. It will give you an engaging and picturesque insight into the life on Earth, as it once was..." —Palaios
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Palaios 2005)
"... [T]he book is engaging and very readable.... Highly recommended." —Choice
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Choice )
"Although dinosaurs are rare in Italy, recent (within the last 15, 20 years) dinosaur discoveries provide the basis for Dinosaurs of Italy. As head of the Laboratory of Paleontology at the Museum of Natural History in Milan, dal Sasso has been involved in the excavation and/or description of Italy's most significant dinosaur finds. Three significant dinosaur specimens and the geology of the enclosing strata are discussed in detail in this book. The most spectacular of the fossils is a juvenile specimen of the Triassic theropod Scipionyx in which some internal organs were preserved. The other specimens discussed are an exceptionally preserved and perfectly articulated hadrosaur and a large Early Jurassic carnosaur. Dinosaur trackway sites round out the dinosaur portion of the book. Two chapters are devoted to nondinosaurs: the marine reptiles (mostly ichthyosaurs) and pterosaurs. The chapter on dinosaur extinction hypotheses focuses on the paleontological and geochemical evidence discovered at Gubbio that ultimately led to the extraterrestrial impact hypothesis. In addition to descriptions of the fossils, dal Sasso presents paleoenvironmental and paleogeographic reconstructions of Italy at different times during the Mesozoic. Although most readers would find some of the anatomical terminology difficult, the book is engaging and very readable. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through faculty." —T. J. Kroeger, Bemidji State University, Choice, September 2005
(T. J. Kroeger, Bemidji State University
Choice )
About the Author
Cristiano dal Sasso is Head of the Laboratory of Paleontology at the Museum of Natural History in Milan. He was technical coordinator of the excavations at the Triassic fossil site of Besano. He has described three new kinds of reptiles (Aphanizocnemus, Besanosaurus, and Scipionyx) and has authored numerous popular reports and scientific papers, which have been published in international reviews such as Nature, Science, and the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Giuseppe Brillante is a freelance journalist. He writes for various scientific reviews, including Airone and Newton. He lives and works in Milan.
