Book Review - The Princeton Guide to Pterosaurs - Princeton University Press

 

     I think that everyone who has ever seen a Great Blue Heron in flight, or perhaps a Marabou Stork or a Jabiru, has entertained the thought that the bird looks prehistoric, that it somehow conjures in the imagination what we imagine early bird radiation must have looked like. I have even heard people utter, "It looks like a pterodactyl!"

     There is also a perception that pterodactyls (and all pterosaurs were not pterodactyls) were huge, lumbering beasts, capable of flight, but unable to achieve fine adjustment in the air, and were little more than soaring archosaurs. 

     This book lays to rest all of these myths. Airborne pterosaurs ranged from as small as modern day swallows to the equivalent of flying trucks. They could achieve subtle movements while airborne, enabling feeding and escape from predators, and used various methods to get off the ground.

     This book is the most complete examination of pterosaurs that I have seen and when the last page is turned the reader has a comprehensive understanding of the beast, from history to biology, to life style to extinction. One is even taken on an imaginary pterosaur safari. Move over Jurassic Park! 

     The text is wonderfully crafted, displaying great command of language, with nuance and style, all the while presented in a manner that no one would have any difficulty following. It is a fascinating and detailed account of a long departed group of animals that has intrigued humanity ever since.

     Gregory S. Paul not only provides the scintillating text, his skeletal drawings and other illustrations are carefully crafted to support the story being told. Let me cite just one example. On page 67 there is an enchanting black-and-white illustration with the following caption, "Pteranodon feeding on fish and belemnite schools driven to the surface by the mosasaur Platecarpus." Surely one sees the origins of modern behaviour when cetaceans herd fish from below and birds plunder the shoals from above. Pictures such as this really make the text come alive for me.

     From an artistic perspective the most splendid accomplishment of all is reserved for the species descriptions, where each species is shown in glorious colour, depicting the colourful crests possessed by so many. The coloured illustrations are enchantingly detailed, evocative, even haunting in some cases, yet conveying the impression of wonder such as might have been created by a child. This is not to infer that the pictures are in any way childlike, but they nevetheless impart the sense of mystery that comes from creating scenes that can only be inferred from fossil records and other clues, and that we will never see. Accompanying drawings depicting skeletal details and representations of flight are splendidly done.

     This is a very fine book. As someone who has studied birds for as long as I can remember, there is so much to incite my imagination, I will be consulting this book for many years to come.

     Bravo, Gregory Paul!

The Princeton Field Guide to Pterosaurs

Gregory S. Paul

Hardcover - US$29.95 - ISBN 9780691180175

184 pages - colour and black-and-white illustrations

8.5 x 11 inches (21.25 x 27.5 cm)

Publication date: 7 June, 2022