The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs

by David E. Fastovsky and David B. Weishampel

Book Overview

Written for non-specialists, this detailed survey of dinosaur origins, diversity, and extinction is designed as a series of successive essays covering important and timely topics in dinosaur... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521444969
• ISBN13: 9780521444965
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 479 Pages
• Weight: 3.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 8.3" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

Great book

I've read several dinosaur books and I've generally found them to be very good. This one, along with "The Complete Dinosaur", ranks as one of my favorites. The reason I was interested in this book was that I was looking for something that focused on the evolution of dinosaurs and how the various taxa of dinosaurs related to each other. I was also looking for something at an intermediate level. This book exceeded my expectations on all fronts. The first two chapters mainly covered background material such as geological time scales, isotopic dating and fossilization. The next two introduced some concepts of evolution (not including natural selection, an understanding of this is presumed) and a very high level view of chordates. The discussion of clade diagrams was very through. After a chapter on the origin of dinosaurs, the book goes on devotes the next several chapters to describing a wide variety of dinosaur taxa and how they are related to each other. The chapters are grouped into parts, each part starts off with some high level discussion of a taxon. Then the individual chapters go on to elaborate the points by describing the taxa within the taxon. The chapters usually start with a description of the taxa's anatomy, distribution and behavior. Typically a fairly coarse grained clade diagram is presented early and more fine grained diagrams are presented as the chapter continues. The characteristics that distinguish one taxa from another are also described. The material isn't just presented as facts, it is justified by evidence from the fossil record. I liked the level of detail the authors typically chose, however someone else may want more or less. The final two chapters of the theropod part deal with the evolution of birds. I found the discussion of the origin of feathers to be very good. I especially enjoyed the illustrations (I thought the illustrations throughout the book were quite good) showing how they evolved and the structure of feathers used for flying versus those primarily useful for insulation. The remainder of the book deals with dinosaurs as a whole. I thought the chapter on thermoregulation was very good, much of the information being useful for studying animals in general, not just dinosaurs (the same could be said for several other parts of the book too). Following the thermoregulation chapter there is a chapter on patterns in dinosaur evolution that I thought really tied the previous material in the book together. The treatment of non-avian dinosaur extinction was excellent and balanced. My one quibble about the content concerns what I consider to be an omission. The authors address the question of "is a cow a fish". They naturally answer "yes". In my opinion it would have been nice if they had then gone on to discuss this in more detail, explaining how this means fish don't form a clade. This would have been a good opportunity to discuss the concept of a grade and perhaps paraclade too. The reason I this discussing fis

Clades of the past

"Dinosaur!" The word still makes children's faces bright with excitement. "Can we go to the museum, Dad?" - and a golf game is set aside. The authors note how pervasive the dinosaur has become in our society. We live in "dinosaur-crazy times with documentaries, colouring books and films - "we have thrice feasted on Jurassic Park movies". The authors feel this familiarity is all to the good - we learn something of Nature's ways from some of this exposure. They want us to take the next step and learn something of what the professional paleontologist does to bring the wealth of information about dinosaurs to our ken. We also need to understand what conditions prevailed while dinosaurs dominated the planet for 160 million years. That's a real success story and it deserves our attention. In presenting their story of these impressive animals, the authors start with the general environment. Dating rocks is a fundamental aspect of how dinosaurs developed over time. The explain the science of "chronostratigraphy" using the classical examples of layered rock and moving on to how radioactive isotopes provide dating. They portray what an organism goes through in the process of fossilisation, and how fortunate we are to have anything to assess. Continental drift, which at once complicates and explains what would otherwise appear as anomolies, adds background. Climate is a further tool to explain how the creatures studied lived at the time. With this background provided, they move on to depict the origin of dinosaurs. It's not a simple picture, as these "terrible lizards" didn't engage in a "takeover" of the planet as a given. It was a long, slow process from small beginnings. The first fossils, named by Darwin's major nemesis, Richard Owen, were an enigma. Years of study and conjecture led to the beginnings of dinosaur classification. The years of "the bone wars" in North America provided much insight into dinosaur development and diversity. As the story unfolds, the authors turn to an organisational method known as "cladistics". Clade diagrams demonstrating relationship between organisms are used to link more recent forms with their ancestral roots. It's an effective method, requiring only visible physical traits to establish the relationships. That, however, remains its greatest limitation and the source of enduring controversy. Each segment of the book depicts a type - Stegosauria with their massive back plates, Ceratopsia with their massive horns and frilled skulls and Theropoda, "nature red in tooth and claw". The types are described in detail, with an anatomy lesson provided for the type. The evolution of each is traced, with additional material on eating habits, social make-up and how they attacked or defended themselves. Capping each section is an account of how each was first discovered, with biographies of the major figures in paleontology appended. In this second edition, the book updates the information gathered in

Best Book Out There About Dinosaurs For Educated Dino-Fans

I cannot say enough good things about this text! It covers the bulk of the dinosaur research up to the time that writing of the book ended and does so in a fairly unjudgmental fashion. It makes a point to show the multiple views of the arguments found within its covers. The authors' writing is also in a style that encourages the reader to continue reading, and is quite lively in places which gives new "spring" to the reader's "steps" as they journey through.This book starts by introducing the reader to fossils and their collecting. It then sets the stage of "when" the book is speaking of so as to aid the reader's understanding of the subject. In setting this "when" the book discusses subjects like plate tectonics, stratigraphy and climatology. It then explains about how paleontology classifies creatures and a bit about organic evolution. After this the book talks of the relationships between the various animals out in the world which have backbones, collectively called vertebrates. This is the first four chapters and 94 pages setting the stage for the reader. Some may describe this as "boring" but it is necessary for a greater understanding of the dinosaur section of the text. In chapter five we are introduced to the origin of dinosaurs both as animals in the Mesozoic Time and in modern science in the 19th Century. This ends Part I of the text.Parts II & III, 8 chapters and 216 pages, are where all the dinosaur lovers want to be - the parts that actually discuss the various types of dinosaurs. Part II talks of Ornithischia or "bird-hipped" dinosaurs while Part III is about Saurischia or "lizard-hipped" dinosaurs. What is absolutely inspired is the structure of each of the dinosaur chapters. Each chapter starts speaking of the history of the discoveries of that type of dinosaur's fossils. It then defines that general type of dinosaur and proceeds with talking about the diversity of that type and its evolutionary path. After that the book takes the reader into the Paleobiology and Paleoecology on that dinosaur type - the FUN STUFF! Why is it the FUN STUFF? Because most of these sections of each of these chapters is educated dreaming or speculation. The authors speak on a variety of matters such as the feeding, reproductive and social habits of these animals and they do so credibly without resorting to uncontrolled flights of fancy.Part IV carries the learning experience on through some final serious issues concerning dinosaurs. Were they endothermic or "warm-blooded"? How were they distributed through the Mesozoic Era? What is an extinction? Lastly, what is and caused the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction where dinosaurs disappeared? What is commendable is that the authors describe all of the possible theories for the dinosaurs' extinction.Some prior reviewers have made disparaging comments on the illustrations and diagrams found herein. I, too, wish there were more illustrations and di

outstanding

As an avid dinosaur buff, this undergraduate level textbook is a mandatory part of one's collection. The text is very readable yet complete, filling a void between child-oriented dinosaur books and books written for professional paleontologists. I must confess I could not put the book down. Although it is several hundred pages in length, I read the book in less than a week. Topics range from basic dinosaur paleontology to special subjects such as the evolutionary relationship between dinosaurs and birds. If you are a dino-phile, this textbook is a must-read.Brett J. Guinn, MD

Well worth getting hold of if you like paleontology.

A fascinating and up-to-date look at the whole topic of dinosaurs and how they fit into the scheme of life. I really enjoyed the light and humorous touch on what can often be a very heavy topic. I have to make a comment I don't often use for texts - I couldn't put the book down. As a science teacher, I can recommend this book as good science, and as a book that lets the reader see how the authors and other people "do" science. Some diagrams, like the diagnostics on birds, were very helpful, but some diagrams that would have helped were missing or not as well done as they could have been.