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Flying Dinosaurs: How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds Hardcover – Illustrated, September 16, 2014
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Mixing colorful portraits with news on the latest fossil findings and interviews with leading paleontologists in the United States, China, Europe, and Australia, John Pickrell explains and details dinosaurs' development of flight. This special capacity introduced a whole new range of abilities for the animals and helped them survive a mass extinction, when thousands of other dinosaur species that once populated the Earth did not. Pickrell also turns his journalistic eye toward the stories behind the latest discoveries, investigating the role of the Chinese black market in trading fossils, the controversies among various dinosaur hunters, the interference of national governments intent on protecting scientific information, and the race to publish findings first that make this research such a dynamic area of science.
- Print length240 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherColumbia University Press
- Publication dateSeptember 16, 2014
- Dimensions6.2 x 0.8 x 9.4 inches
- ISBN-100231171781
- ISBN-13978-0231171786
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Editorial Reviews
Review
After digesting all that Pickrell has to offer, it will be difficult for any reader to think about dinosaurs -- or birds -- in the same ways they had before. ― Publishers Weekly
[An] engaging book. ― GrrlScientist - a Guardian Blog
A remarkable book, with a wealth of interviews with palaeontologists and a comprehensive catalogue of virtually all the findings of feathered dinosaurs since 1996. It's a useful catch-up if you have lost track of this rapidly developing area of palaentology, and full of fascinating, unusual facts―did you know that birds are the closest living relatives to the crocodile? -- Bill Condie ― Cosmos Magazine
[Flying Dinosaurs] deftly covers the history behind the decades-old debate over just when and how birds first arose. -- Bruce Dorminey ― Forbes
Pickrell covers the history of changing thought on dinosaurs and the bird-dinosaur link.... Pickrell's book is well written and accessible, and thus is an excellent companion. -- Greg Laden ― Greg Laden's Blog
A detailed and timely overview of our rapidly-improving scientific understanding of how massive, lumbering dinosaurs evolved into agile, flying birds. -- Mike Lee ― The Conversation
A readable introduction to the subject. -- Ian Paulsen ― The Bridbooker Report
[A] fast-paced.... Fascinating read. ― BirdWatching
A well-structured overview of the various lines of evidence connecting the evolution of birds with that of theropod dinosaurs.... Any general reader or student interested in dinosaurs should find it a pleasure to read.... Highly recommended. ― Choice
An exceptional read.... I would recommend this volume not only to dinosaur aficionados, who will find in its pages a plethora of interesting facts about dinosaurs and birds, but also to professional paleontologists who are looking for a comprehensive yet quick account on the most recent research in dinosaur paleontology. -- Marco Signore ― Quarterly Review of Biology
Delightful and accessible. I highly recommend it for readers of all ages and backgrounds. ― ZME Science
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Columbia University Press; Illustrated edition (September 16, 2014)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 240 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0231171781
- ISBN-13 : 978-0231171786
- Item Weight : 1.15 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.2 x 0.8 x 9.4 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #450,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #103 in Biology of Dinosaurs
- #124 in Biology of Fossils
- #226 in Ornithology (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

John Pickrell is an award-winning journalist, the former editor of Australian Geographic magazine and the author of Flying Dinosaurs and Weird Dinosaurs. He has worked in London, Washington DC and Sydney for publications including New Scientist, Science, Science News and Cosmos. John’s articles can also be found online and in print at National Geographic, Nature, Scientific American, Science Focus and the ABC. When he's not writing or editing, he can be found on fossil digs in the Australian outback or Mongolia's Gobi Desert. He has been a finalist in the Australian Museum’s Eureka prizes three times, won an Earth Journalism Award and featured in The Best Australian Science Writing in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019. He was the editor of the The Best Australian Science Writing 2018. John studied biology at Imperial College in the United Kingdom, and has a Master of Science in taxonomy and biodiversity from the Natural History Museum, London. Follow him on Twitter @john_pickrell and at www.flyingdinosaurs.net.
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The author himself is a science writer rather than a scientist but he conducts extensive interviews with a number of key scientists in this field. This approach means that the book is both informed and highly readable. Also, the author notes the extensive and exciting feathered dinosaur discoveries in China.
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2019
The author himself is a science writer rather than a scientist but he conducts extensive interviews with a number of key scientists in this field. This approach means that the book is both informed and highly readable. Also, the author notes the extensive and exciting feathered dinosaur discoveries in China.
These are my summaries of the content of each chapter:
Introduction about how birds are dinosaurs, and the fossil boom in China.
1. Connection between birds and dinosaurs in paleontological history.
2. Sinosauropteryx and feathered dinos from China.
3. Xu Xing (Chinese paleotologist) and the dinosaur boom; comparison to Marsh and Cope in the 19th century.
4. Dinosaur origins of bird genetics, disease, metabolism, and behavior.
5. Fossil poaching and forgery in China.
6. Evolution of feathers.
7. Theories for how flight evolved - ground-up vs tree-down, gliding vs flying, temporal paradox, wing-assisted movement that is not actual flying.
8. Dinosaur origins for bird nesting, brooding, courtship, and sex (T. Rex penises are discussed here).
9. Color and sound in dinosaurs compared to birds.
10. Bird DNA contains the potential for previous dinosaurian traits (ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny).
11. Why did avian dinosaurs survive K-T and no others? We're not sure, but here are some ideas.
Appendix with a simple cladogram and a listing of every feathered dinosaur species.
This was an engaging and interesting book that looks at modern research and international and interdisciplinary work. My only critique is that I wish there were more diagrams and illustrations. The example that stands out to my mind is the chapter on feather development, where the author verbally describes how feathers develop - how much better if a page had been devoted to illustrating the stages! But I did enjoy this book, and I would recommend it.
It's a shame that there is so much economic incentive for Chinese farmers to hastily excavate fossils that some valuable scientific information is lost and paleontologists have to be extra aware of possible fraud in doctoring some fossils.
Top reviews from other countries
But what I "know" from my childhood has changed radically with the advances in palaeontology over the past few decades, and the discovery of many fascinating fossils that have dramatically developed what we initially assumed about dinosaurs.
This book - as the title suggests - takes as its theme the modern view that dinosaurs were the ancient predecessors of birds, and that many dinosaurs were feathered to some degree or another. Examples are drawn from the many fossils that have been found in recent years, and the new theories that have resulted from those discoveries.
The author writes with evident authority - his passion for the subject and mastery of the complexity of species spanning tens of millions of years are clear - and with a light touch that makes for a highly readable, enjoyable and immensely informative insight into a subject once close to my heart.
Having read this book, I will never watch Jurassic Park in the same way again. And I can see that I will continue to be - in the author's words - a "dino buff" for many more years.
Well-written and accessible, the stories of the recent finds in Liaoning province in China read like a combined detective-thriller, and made me realise how lucky we are to have any fossil records at all, let alone the incredible specimens which have been found there in the last 20 or so years.
Well worth a read, whatever your interests.










