Dinosaurs: The Textbook

By Spencer G. Lucas

Book Overview

Geared towards a broad variety of students, Dinosaurs: The Textbook, sixth edition, is a concise and lucid presentation of the biological and geological concepts of dinosaur science. It clarifies the evolution, phylogeny, and classification of the various species while modeling the best approach for navigating new and existing research. Revised to reflect recent fossil discoveries and the current consensus on dinosaur science, this text moves through the major taxonomic groups--including theropods, sauropodomorphs, ornithopods, ceratopsians, pachycephalosaurs, stegosaurs, and ankylosaurs--and concludes with updated chapters on the behavior and extinction of the dinosaurs, their biological relationship to birds, and their representation (or misrepresentation) in art, literature, film, and other forms of popular culture.

The sixth edition represents a major revision of the leading text for an introductory course on dinosaurs, including comprehensive updates based on the latest scientific discoveries, research, and literature. With an extensive art program revised by leading paleoartists that features cutting-edge illustrations, it is a complete reader-friendly pedagogical package with extensive end-of-chapter summary tools, review questions, a detailed glossary, a dinosaur dictionary, and a comprehensive index.

Please visit our supplemental materials page (https: //cup.columbia.edu/extras/supplement/dinosaurs-the-textbook-sixth-edition) to find study and teaching aides for both students and teachers using Dinosaurs: The Textbook, sixth edition in class.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231183607
• ISBN13: 9780231173117
• Release Date: January 2018
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.3" x 10.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Excellent Introduction to the study of Dinosaurs

This book is a basic introduction to the study of dinosaurs. It briefly covers the history of paleontology in general and of dinosaur paleontology specifically. The reader will learn what makes a dinosaur a dinosaur, and why other reptiles aren't. It covers the major divisions of dinosaurs with brief descriptions of all of the large subgroups. If you're looking for a book that will get you beyond general audience level without requiring years of other studies to understand, this will be a good choice.

Excellent for non-science majors

I teach a course about Dinosaur biology at a local community college and this textbook is exactly what we need for this type of course. This text allows me to teach science to students who think that science is boring or too hard. Although I have added a lot of scientific thinking on top of this text, the book itself does introduce students to thinking like a scientist by presenting both sides of an argument - for example what caused Dinosaurs to go extinct. The text allows me to teach both sides, all the facts behind each, and to allow the students to draw their own conclusions.

Dinosaurs the textbook

I have used two editions of this book as one of the texts for a general vertebrate paleontology course. The class, organismic biology majors, with some secondary science, PE., elementary education and geography majors, liked the clear writing, statement of objectives, and reviews of each chapter. Diagrams were also clear. It perhaps needs more background on plate tectonics, stratigraphy/sedimentation and extinction/bird origins.