Customer Reviews

The Flight of Dragons

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Okay, let's set the record straight here. "The Flight Of Dragons" _has no plot_. Some of these reviews are referring to the wonderful characters, amazing plot line, etc. Obviously, these people haven't read the book. This book is a scientific view on how dragons could have actually existed. It gives theories on how they breathed fire, flew, lived, etc., drawing on evidence from story lore and legend. Now, for those of you who are thinking of the _movie_ "The Flight Of Dragons", yes, the movie was based on this book. But it was only based on it in terms of how the dragons were designed. The (very) basic plot and the wonderful characters were taken from Gordon R. Dickson's amazing book "The Dragon And The George". But the book "The Flight Of Dragons" is much different from the movie. For one thing, Peter Dickenson views dragons as lethargic beasts with a dull intelligence. He included a chapter on dragon-slaying, which, to me, was something of the last straw. Also, some of the pictures done by Wayne Anderson are horrific. I especially "enjoyed" the photos in the back of art from around the world----one had a picture of a troll-like "dragon" eating a man's head! . . . Now, don't get me wrong. This is a good book. Some of the pictures are fantastic. And most of Peter Dickenson's theories----especially the one about why there are no fossils of dragons------were really neat. And I love his saying: "Remember. The dragons live. Inside us." It's a decent book. But I spent nearly a year trying desperately to get my hands on a copy, and while it is interesting and a valuable addition to my collection of dragon lore, I was disappointed. But maybe I shouldn't judge something on my own expectations (obviously). But I did want all to understand . . . the book and movie are very different. If you want to re-meet the characters of "The Flight Of Dragons" from the movie, read "The Dragon And The George", an excellent book. And give the book "The Flight Of Dragons" a try. Just don't set your expectations too high!

This is a book for all of you out there who know that dragons are more than just fairytale creations to frighten small children. And for those of you who ARE convinced that dragons belong purely to fantasy, I invite you to come, read, and have your mind changed by this beautiful, engagingly written book. (It's science-friendly, too!) Peter Dickinson does a wonderful job of building up a theory by which dragons could once have truly roamed the skies and terrorized innocent villagers. His ideas are sound, his message clear, and through it all he maintains a tone which keeps the reader asking for more.

This book breathes new life into the world of fantasy. It is a compelling read, but backed with scientific evidence and explanation to make it credible. Also, it is a beautiful book with lots of full-color pictures and illustrations. Whether you believe in dragons or not, The Flight of Dragons is interesting and a wonderful conversation-piece. The book deserves more recognition than it has gotten in the U.S., and I consider myself extremely lucky for having found it in a second-hand bookstore and picking it up there. I had never heard of it before, and have never seen another copy, but I haven't been disappointed. And, by the way, I am NOT interested in selling mine!

I read this book about four years ago when I borrowed it from a friend. And have been looking for it ever since. I was so excited when I found out that it was going to be republished, but then I found out that it was only going to be in paperback. That's not that bad, but it would be really cool if they would put it out in hardcover again. This is one of my favorite books. I was always facinated with dragons, and this book is very convincing when it comes to how they were able to fly and about thier evolution. READ THIS BOOK! Trust me, you won't regret it.

What can i say..i saw the movie when i was 4 years old and read the book as soon as i was able..recently i was looking for a first edition and learned the price...i am glad that this book is getting the recognition it deserves but none of my friends have heard of it and knowledge about his book is at a minimum.so the publishers would do well to advertise it

The premise behind Peter Dickninson's book The Flight of Dragons is quite fascinating. Namely, the book speculates on how dragons could have been possible and how their biology would have been like if they were real.
A similar idea was later done in the documentary Dragon's World: A Fantasy Made Real, though this documentary portrayed dragons quite differently from how Dickinson portrays them (and in my opinion it also portrayed the dragons a lot better, with the exception of the rather silly concept of platinum being used as the catalyst for fire-breathing).

The Flight of Dragons begins with the whole problem of how something as gigantic as a dragon could fly. Dickinson offers the idea that they contained massive quantities of hydrogen gas, which made the dragon almost like a living balloon or airship. This hydrogen needed to be burned off now and then and this is how the dragon's fire-breathing capabilities are explained. (NOTE: The dragons-used-hydrogen idea has also been used in a number of later speculations other than Dickinson's).
To produce the hydrogen, the dragons ingested large quantities of calcium, obtained from limestone caves (a classic dragon habitat), from the bones of their prey and from partial digestion of their skeleton. The large acid chambers that comprise much of the dragons' interior structures form the basis for the myths about dragons having "poisonous blood".

Dickinson avoids the whole six-limbed-tetrapods issue by rejecting the idea that the wings developed from the forearms (as was the case in birds, bats and pterosaurs), and instead portraying the wings as fin-like extensions of the ribcage. Because the wings are used more for steering and propulsion rather than lift, they needed hardly any flight muscle.

Because Dickinson's dragons were evolutionary descendants of theropod dinosaurs, they walked on their hind legs, though they would get on all four if facing prey or dangerous animals (such as weapon bearing humans), so as to protect their underbelly.
Dickinson gives dragons a huge level of sexual dimorphism by portraying just the males as being flying animals, and having the females be semi-aquatic.

Overall, I like Dickinson's premise. But there are some problems.

First of all, because Dickinson's dragons use solely hydrogen to get in the air, with the wings just used for steering and propulsion, they need to be extremely massive (generally approximately 30 metres long) to fit enough hydrogen inside them to get off the ground. Thus, when it comes to all those dragon legends telling of dragons considerably smaller than this, Dickinson states that these understated the dragons' true size.
A better explanation would have been that the dragons used massive flapping wings with powerful wing muscles in addition to the hydrogen gas. This was what was, for instance, shown in the documentary Dragon's World. Such an explanation would allow for smaller dragons and one would not have to resort to saying anyone understated any dragon's size.

Another problem was the unusual life cycle Dickinson gives the dragons, with the young cannibalising each other in their aquatic freshwater habitat. Seeing as his dragons are dinosaur descendants, it would have made more sense for dragon mothers to care for their young just like any other dinosaur mother. But then this book was made back in the 70s when dinosaurs were still strongly misunderstood, so perhaps I'll let this pass.
Also, the strong dimorphism between the sexes seems a rather stretched speculation.

The part of the book explaining why there are no cave paintings of dragons is rather unnescessary for the simple reason that there ARE cave paintings of dragons. As cryptozoologist Richard Freeman points out in his book Dragons: More than a Myth, a prehistoric cave painting in Baume Latrone in France shows a serpent dragon dwarfing mammoths, whilst another dragon can be seen in prehistoric rock art in China's Shanxi Province.

The books strongest fail point was the claim that dragons could hypnotise their prey, thus explaining legends about dragons' mesmeric powers and speech (the speech would have just been a person hearing his/her own subconscious thoughts as voices in his/her head while hypnotised). For a real life biological example, Dickinson claims snakes and tigers can actually hypnotise their prey. Sorry, but no. These claims are no more than fictitious myths about the animals and have no real biological basis whatsoever.
A more sensible explanation for dragons paralysing people could involve them emitting intense sound blasts at the right frequency, and the speech could be simply explained as a case of mimicry (like how parrots can imitate human words and sentences). Again, the Dragon's World documentary featured these abilities (the prehistoric dragon in the documentary could emit a painfully loud screeching sound, and the Chinese forest dragon could mimic animal sounds).

Finally, Dickinson focuses almost entirely on the classical four-legged winged dragon of European mythology and folklore (this dragon type is known as the fire drake), with a small bit of info on Chinese dragons. He also mentions the wyrms, but neglects to mention how these are traditionally portrayed as legless. However, not a single mention is given to such other dragons as the wyverns (two-legged dragons with no arms) and the sea serpents.

Overall, this was a fairly interesting book with an interesting premise, but I would have liked some better arguments and explanations.

With this highly-illustrated nonfiction text, Dickinson intends to prove the existence of dragons: gigantic, firebreathing, flying reptiles. Through popular and historical descriptions of the beasts, he theorizes everything from dragon lifecycles, to dragon slaying, to the necessary connection between a dragon's form, firebreathing, and flight. He often draws on quotes from his sources, and Anderson's illustrations provide visual interest and help depict the mechanics of the dragon body and flight. Although Dickinson's arguments are often circular and his evidence is self-serving, the straightforward writing and novel theory make this an interesting and thoughtful read. Although neither fiction nor fantasy, it is also entertaining. This book is faulted, but I still recommend it.

Along with the book's good and bad traits, it was also, personally, a piece of nostalgia. I read this book as a child, and it withstands the test of time: Dickinson's theories are logical, fairly presented, and well-evidenced, and sound reasonable even to an adult reader. Pulling from everything from ancient Chinese myth and the story of Beowulf to modern authors such as J.R. Tolkien and Ursula K. Le Guin, Dickinson pulls his description of vampire behavior and ability direct from historical myth and popular culture. He then uses these excerpts to build and to prove the mechanics of the dragon, everything from lifecycles to flight. His theories on dragonflight (the chemical reactions of dragons blood produced gas, which were stored in huge internal chambers, allowing for flight; dragons belched fire to expel excess gas) is of course the highlight of the book (and the only similarity between the text and the movie of the same name). It is also the most reasonable, scientific, and convincing argument in the book. Here, Dickinson shines: he is well-researched, scientifically-minded, and very convincing.

Unfortunately, these qualities are not universally present. Often, the evidence is selected to fit the facts, or else the arguments are sustained by other arguments, not by evidence. Dickinson discards descriptions that don't fit his theories, instead justifying only what he can reasonably justify, and arguing that the rest is impossible--but never justifying the fact that his sources seem to be both reliable and unreliable in a single breath. He relies heavily on limited, specific sources. In a book of this length, he does not have the space to go into detail assessing any one source, making his choices seem arbitrary. In all, there are various faults and in the research and the proof, and Dickinson's theories are by no means factual, or provable, or even solid.

But what matters in this book is not what Dickinson fails to do, but rather what he manages to achieve. He brings dragons alive: not my vivid descriptions, not by stunning visuals, but by thought, reason, and research. Even though he fails to prove the existence of dragons, he succeeds in proving the possibility. This makes for a fascinating and, in many ways, invigorating read. Dickinson appeals to both imagination and rational thought, and he does so through a text that is easily readable and convincingly argued. I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend this book, despite all of its faults.

I am nine years old and i think this book is COMPLETELY cool. Even though I suspect it was meant for older kids (or even adults) I would definitely reccomend getting it, even though it's expensive. This books has lots of interesting theories and puts a lot of imaginative ideas in your head. In addition, it has amazing pictures! My favorite part is when they use a diagram of dinner plates and bricks to discuss a theory of how dragons flew. I have more to say, but must restrain myself to only two words: "must buy". Ben Z.

This phenomenal book from 1979 attempts to show how Dragons could really have existed, and sets about solving all the "fantastic" issues surrounding them through "scientific method": breathing fire, flight, caustic blood, why no remains have ever been found. It's a good companion volume for Faeries by Froud/Lee, Gnomes by Hugen/Portvleit, Dwarves by an author I cannot recall cause it's been out of print so long. The information in this book is the source for the excellent video, Dragon's World, by Discovery, as well as much of the content of the recent Dragonology series.

This book is a most excellent description of dragon anatomy and physiology. Dickinson's approach to the acceptance of wonder and magic by a scientific young man is heartwarming and well written. Giving the dragons their own personalities was a stroke of genius and speaks well of his abilities as a writer. Not just a young adult book but a book to be read by all ages...the world needs more wonder and magic.