Customer Reviews

Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My sons watched Chased by Dinosaurs and became interested in sea monsters. But we were very disappointed when we got this book. The 3-D photos are basically useless because the photos span two pages and the book does not open flat. When you do pry the book flat all the way almost breaking the binding, there is still about 2 centimeters lost in the middle - so don't try to count the bones on the elasmosaurus if your child wants to know exactly how many neck bones are there in the picture! Cretoxyrhina doesn't look impressive or even scary when you can't see it clearly - btw, that's 6 full pages wasted! I wish the author will just scale the pictures down to fit one page, that is still 9x11 inches and quite adequate. The pair of 3-D "glasses" is just a cardboard. So by the time you hold the "glasses" you don't have enough hands to flatten the book to avoid any glares.

In all honesty, this is just an okay book. We prefer Chased by Sea Monsters which has more sea monsters and better index.


Chased By Sea Monsters

This companion to the screen film SEA MONSTERS stands alone well as an excellent addition to any general-interest lending library strong in sea exploration and ecology. Some 100 images taken from the film - many in 3-D - bring these sea monsters to life, while accompanying dialogue from pioneering paleontologists trace the vanished worlds and creatures of the past and brings prehistory to life. An excellent pick for any collection appealing to lay readers of prehistoric life or aquatic history.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

One of the critics of TV is that it distracts people from reading. This might be true in some cases, but for the genre of prehistoric life (outside of dinosaurs), the CGI documentaries on cable and satellite TV have driven the sale of related books. This big, coffe-table book is one such example. Not quite as lavish as the books by Tim Haines, or the Walking with Dinosaurs series, this is still an impressive work by National Geographic, and features 3-D 2-page spreads with a pair of 3-D glasses. There is an accompanying movie of course, but the book is quite good by itself. It provides a mix of fossil-hunting documentary, to color illustrations of ancient sea monsters, along with descriptions of possible lifestyles and such. All told, a great book.

I love this book! I bought it for my 2yr old son who saw the movie for this book and has been watching it every day since.. He loves the movie, and when I saw this book on here for such a great price, I had to pick it up. The book is full of interesting information for me to read and then make it easier for my 2yr old to understand. The pictures are great and my son really enjoys talking about what is "going on" in each picture. I am really glad that I purchased this book for him, and I recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning more about these great sea monsters. It is a great book for a curious 2yr old and their parents as well!

This book references all the sea monsters based on fossil evidences and so it makes it worth reading because you know it's not all non-fictional garbage.
Some of the pictures are in 3D and you can view them using the provided 3-D glass.
I strongly recommend you to buy the DVD to go along w/ reading this. If you have Netflix, the movie is free to watch online.

My son LOVES this book. I find it everywhere throughout the house. Great price.

My 8 years old is impressed by the quality of the images on this book.
I can add the the paper is of very good quality also, and beeing hard cover makes it a keeper.
The 3d pictures work quite well for children's expectations, it is true that some of them are printed in two pages, but that doesn't bother much.
Recomendable.

I bought this book for my young son and he loves it. So do I! The artwork is fantastic, very realistic. It's also well written and packed with interesting information about prehistoric sea creatures. This book is a winner for all ages. I highly recommend it.

--Guy P. Harrison, author of

Race and Reality: What Everyone Should Know About Our Biological Diversity

and

50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God



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