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Gregory S. Paul was one of my favorite paleo-artists back in the day, and it pains me to write this review. There are just too many problems to recommend to young kids, and serious dinosaur lovers.
Greg Paul likes to do something we call lumping, meaning he lumps together different genera of dinosaurs. For example, Tarbosaurus bataar (a relative of T.rex) is called Tyrannosaurus bataar in this book. This is widely disregarded among paleontologists, but at least it had been suggested before. There are times when lumping is correct, but Paul goes one step further and lumps together dinosaurs no one suggested. Let me put it this way: Greg Paul is the reason to general public thinks Velociraptor is 6 feet tall. Writer Michael Crichton used his book (Predatory Dinosaurs of the World) for reference when he wrote Jurassic Park 25 years ago. Greg Paul lumped Deinonychus into Velociraptor thinking Deinonychus is just a different species of Velociraptor. If your kids want to learn the names of the dinosaurs, they would get a lot of the names wrong.
The writing is a mixed bag. The opening intro and talk about the history of paleontology is well done, but once you hit the list of dinosaurs, that's where things get dicey. Some of his size estimates are off the mark (he made Deinonychus too big in Predatory Dinosaurs of the World), though that's a minor issue. The biggest problem is the anatomical descriptions of the fossils are so vague that you learn almost nothing about them. He also likes to add silly notes like dinosaur X is the enemy of dinosaur Y, like they have some kind of ongoing feud or something. On the bright side, sometimes the descriptions are very on the mark. He also likes to put dinosaurs that haven't even been officially studied into the book. These dinosaurs don't even have names, so they are essentially useless.
The biggest reason to buy this book is the art. His skeletal reconstructions are some of the most detailed. Paul also likes to illustrate the dinosaur from a top down view, giving you a more 3 dimensional look at the animal. You get a feeling of how wide that body is, not just the length. Props to that! The book is also sprinkled with fully fleshed out drawings, and that's where it gets bad. A lot of his pencil drawings look more like sketches. They look nowhere near as polished as some of his earlier work (which are also sprinkled throughout the book). I have the E-book and I don't know if it's in the printed version, but you can even see the artifacts left behind from scanning the artwork. It just looks so sloppy. Worst of all, don't let Greg Paul catches your kids drawing or tracing his art. I wish I was joking, but he's threaten to sue anyone who uses his art for reference. If you want dinosaur skeletals, look up Scott Hartman instead. He might not draw his skeletons from a top down view, but he's also less of a jerk.
I wouldn't recommend this book if your kids want to learn about dinosaurs. There are much better book. If you're an artist looking for inspiration, it still MIGHT be worth checking out. Just make sure you develop your own style of art. Paul actually tried to trademark some of the dinosaur poses.
- Series: Princeton Field Guides (Book 71)
- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Princeton University Press; Princeton Field Guides edition (October 10, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9780691137209
- ISBN-13: 978-0691137209
- ASIN: 069113720X
- Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 1 x 11 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Average Customer Review: 74 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#402,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #79 in Biology of Dinosaurs
- #555 in Outdoors & Nature Reference
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