Customer Reviews

National Audubon Society Pocket Guide to Familiar Dinosaurs (Audubon Society Pocket Guides)

5 star:		(3)
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This is without a doubt my son's favorite book. He takes it everywhere with him and has most of the 80+ dinosaurs names and habits memorized. Five year old says- "Daddy, this protoavis is a lot like the archaeopteryx", or, "Daddy, this dilophosaurus, it's the one that ate Newman in Jurassic Park, he spits poison". The illustrations are excellent, the text informative and interesting.

I had this book when I was a child and it was my favorite:

1. Because it was the first dinosaur book I'd ever seen that had realistic dinosaur paintings. At 10 years old I was impressed. All the other dinosaur books I'd seen had unrealistic paintings and I had always hated them. I mean, what is it with publishers thinking that children aren't going to notice the difference between a realistic-looking dinosaur and a realistic one? Seriously... The realism in the dooks like James Gurney's Dinotopia and the Audobon Society's Dinosaur Pocket Guide are the reasons children want them so bad. If James Gurney had painted the dinosaurs like the half-hearted artists in 99% of all dinosaur books, do you think he or his books would be as popular no matter how great his storylines are? No.

2. Because of the up-to-date theories it showcased in the images. I remember the Velociraptor in it has feathers (Black and white feathers) and looked so awesome! Velociraptor had been my favorite dinosaur long before the Jurassic Park films came out and that one impressed me (now my favorite is Allosaurus, but I still hold a special place for the Velociraptor). Not to mention, the raptor in this book is realistic, unlike the ones in the first and second film. Even the third Jurassic Park Velociraptors aren't that realistic. The Velociraptor's head was much closer to the Velociraptors you see in Dinosaur (look up the skull, you'll see). I believe the Tyrannosaurus in this book also had feathers, but I can't remember. If I'm remembering right, it had brown feathers. However, I may be remembering a different painting by another artist. I've seen so many renditions of Tyrannosaurus I can't remember which one was the book version.

3. Because of all of the wonderful dinosaurs in it!

Somewhere along the way it got lost. Mine had a dark green border surrounding the triceratops picture. That's how I remembered it and I'd been searching for it for years. Finally stopped and forgot about it until yesterday and decided to do an online search. Because I couldn't remember the name, it took me 1.5 hours to find the book (I finally remembered it'd been called Dinosaur Pocket Guide or something similar and, sure enough, the Audobon book was the second to pop up in Amazon's list). So, of course I ordered it again because it's my all-time favorite informative dinosaur book. The Nationl Audobon Society is the best! We all love you! (And you too Amazon! I knew if I was to find the book, I'd find it here! Amazon.com is the first and only place I looked for it. Thank you so much!)

This small format pocket guide with 80 full-page,
full-color realistic pictures of dinosaurs, painted by the most prominent paleo life artists including Brian Franczak, Donna Braginetz and others, will take you to the incredible lost worlds where the strange creatures once roamed.
The text is simple and correct. This book is a perfect gift for all nature enthusiasts and all those interested in paleontology and dinosaurs respectively. Especially recommended for young readers