A 2007 encyclopedia on dinosaurs created by the combined might of paleontologist Dr. Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
and famednote paleoartist Luis Rey. Unlike your average dino-book, this one doesn't merely cover the most well-known genera and calls it a day — the author instead divided it into 42 chapters, each revolving around a major theme, like geology, fossilization, the Mesozoic periods, but the bulk of the written material is dedicated to thoroughly detailing each of the branches on the dinosaur family tree. True to the title, this means birds get a chapter of their own, while pterosaurs and marine reptiles don't.
Written in a casual language both young and adult paleo-nerds will find readable and enjoyable, this volume is seen as the "Dinosaur Bible" by many enthusiasts of the subject, for its sheer completeness and scienciness. And for the colorful pictures supplied by one of today's top dino artists. The text is punctuated by short essays written by the world's most famous paleontologists, giving a deeper insight into the dinosaur age and the work that goes into deciphering it.
Sadly, it's become pretty outdated and incomplete by now... paleontology is, ironically, a science that evolves in a faster pace than most people can keep up with... but most of it still holds up well, and the basic scientific thought processes which the book employs and stresses so much are as solid as ever.
Also, see here for a load of supplementary material that touches upon nearly every little detail in the book that has proven incorrect or obsolete. A web address for the site is also given in the book.
The work contains examples of:
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: A staple of Luis V. Rey's paleoart — the dinosaurs tend to be very colorful. In the raptor chapter, notes that we don't have any idea what colors dinosaurs had (though
more recently scientists found a way) and offers several hypothetical color schemes for Deinonychus. - Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: From the chapter updates: "On the troodontid side of things, little Anchiornis shows that troodontids a) were present in the Middle Jurassic; b) had long leg feathers like primitive dromaeosaurids and primitive avialians; and c) were cute."
- Arch-Enemy: Holtz gives a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that there is an eternal rivalry between tyrannosaurs and ceratopsians, noting that from Guanolong and Yinlong to T.Rex and Triceratops, they tended to be in the same environment.
- Art Shift: Pencil sketches, digitally painted images with real-life backgrounds, and lavishly detailed, traditional paintings grace the pages.
- Author Appeal: Holtz is fairly open about Tyrannosauriodea being his favorite. Their chapter contains a lot of gushing about how cool they are, and he goes into special detail about their counterintuitive evolutionary history.
- Author Avatar: The last page of the book has Holtz as a tyrannosaurid and Rey as a basal pygostylian.
- Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: The crests on various hadrosaurs.
- Canon Discontinuity: Happens fairly often between the main text & genus list (for instance, in the carnosaur, deinonychosaur & basal ornithopod chapters).
- Captain Obvious: Often used to humorous effect. Holtz does this quite a bit in Real Life as well, it appears (quotes similar to the last two appear in the actual book).
- The Day the Dinosaurs Died: The final chapter is devoted to the K-PG extinction. Holtz discusses various theories about what caused it and why certain species survived while others died. He also briefly goes into the aftermath of the early Cenozoic and explains why resurrecting dinosaurs likely won't ever happen.
- Dumb Dinos: Holtz discusses how while some herbivores like sauropods and stegosaurs were likely not very smart, most of them were actually reasonably smart. However, he calls out the inaccuracy of the inversion — dinosaurs were not as smart as dolphins or primates, and were likely about as smart as relatively unintelligent birds and mammals like ostriches and possums.
- The Faceless: Deinocheirus is only show with its arms and lower body, as its skull had not yet been discovered when the book was published.
- Feathered Fiend: Most of the more fearsome coelurosaurs would qualify. These include, of course, tyrannosaurids (though most of the pictures of adults still depict them with tough scales).
- Fossil Revival: Holtz regretfully deconstructs this trope, saying he'd love to see a non-avian dinosaur in real life but that DNA doesn't fossilize and a Jurassic Park-style return of dinosaurs would not be possible.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: The narrative Holtz uses for tyrannosauroid evolution comes off as this. Holtz emphasizes how early tyrannosauroids like Guanolong, "Dilong, and Eotyrannus'' were lesser predators that lived in the shadow of carnosaurs and spinosaurs. But after carnosaurs declined, tyrannosaurs filled their niche and became some of largest and most ferocious predators to ever live.
- Giant Flyer: The later, larger pterosaurs which are briefly discussed.
- Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: Largely averted. Coelurosaurs are portrayed with feathers, in accordance with scientific theories, but the raptors, primitive tyrannosauroids, and other carnivorous coelosaurs all look like terrifying killers regardless. The pot-bellied therizinosaurs, flashy oviraptorosaurs, ostrich-like ornithomimosaurs, and just plain weird alverezasaurs sometimes run into this, though.
- Giant Swimmer: Marine reptiles, though again, the book only covers them cursorily.
- Lost World: Holtz somewhat sadly deconstructs this trope, showing how the world is well-explored and there's not very many places left for dinosaurs to be hiding.
- Mix-and-Match Critter: Therizinosaurs are lampshaded as this — they have a confusing mismatch of theropod, ornithischian, and sauropod traits that made paleontologists confused about just what kind of dinosaur they are. Ultimately, they turned out to be theropods. Troodontids are this to a lesser extent — they're clearly coelurosaurs, but they have similarities to dromaeosaurs, birds, and ornithomimosaurs that confused paleontologists about their closest relatives. Holtz notes he once thought they were closer to ornithomimosaurs, but it's now clear they're closer to dromaeosaurs.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Pelecanimimus, rebbachisaurids and hadrosaurs all have a lot of teeth in order to process specialized plant matter.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Mesozoic pseudosuchians are very briefly discussed, and some are noted as being potential threats to dinosaurs.
- Raptor Attack: All but averted. A number of paleo buffs don't find some of the half-scaly/half-fuzzy raptors that pleasing, and there are a few, let's just say "outlandish" reconstructions the illustrator is so well known for... That said, the majority of the underfeathered restorations are the artist's older works, though strangely not updated as some of his other old paintings have been.
- Savage Spinosaurs: Spinosauroidea gets its own chapter, and Holtz emphasizes them as ferocious predators that dominated both land and water. The writing and art were scientifically accurate at the time, but they were portrayed as bipeds when they're now thought to be quadrupeds.
- Shout-Out: Several of the headings within the text, such as "Walking with Dinosaurs" (on fossilized dinosaur tracks), "The Jaws That Bite, The Claws That Catch" (on adaptations of theropods for predation), and "Mostly Harmless" (on ornithomimosaur lifestyles).
- Social Ornithopod: Ornithopods get their own chapter, and Holtz discusses the evidence for them living in large social groups. He also calls out how many non-ornithopod small herbivores get lumped into the category.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Noticeable on occasions in the writing style. One sentence may be deadpan and full of complicated scientific terms, only to be followed by "Dinosaurs are totally cool, dude!".
- Terrifying Tyrannosaur: Holtz is a leading expert on Tyrannosaurus Rex, and he goes into detail about just why T.Rex and its family were able to be such dominant predators, noting their unique bone-crushing teeth and surprisingly fast walking speed. He emphasizes that they were very successful small predators and were able to outcompete the already-terrifying carnosaurs to become the deadliest predators of the Northern Hempishere. Even adolescent tyrannosaurs were a menace to smaller prey.
