It is a cause for celebration when the renowned dinosaur researcher, Gregory S. Paul, authors another book. Our knowledge of these ancient taxa grows exponentially each year, aided by advances in technology and computer wizardry, but in no small measure as a result of the ongoing contribution of experts such as Paul.
As usual, the book is an incredible compendium of facts, incorporating the latest knowledge, accompanied by the always mind-blowing artwork that is such an important feature of Paul's works. The book is written in classic Paul style, easy to read, flowing, jocular at times, but never straying from the facts as currently known. Possessed of that enviable skill of being the illustrator of his own works ensures accuracy, and leaves us all in awe that one man can do so much.
Along the way we are treated to snapshots and vignettes of those researchers who have gone before, their foibles and the perpetuation of myth and downright inaccuracy, sometimes even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
The pictorial images are quite splendid, often accurate as to colour and background vegetation, and the schematic depictions of skeletal and musculature features, are nothing short of breathtaking. One really feels that one could walk with dinosaurs.
The pictorial images are quite splendid, often accurate as to colour and background vegetation, and the schematic depictions of skeletal and musculature features, are nothing short of breathtaking. One really feels that one could walk with dinosaurs.
In fact, as he has done in the past, Paul leads us on an imaginary safari in the Age of Dinosaurs.
Oh to have experienced such a thrill! I am quite willing to set aside the impossibility of it all, and contemplate my own Jurassic Park!
The "field guide" section of the book covers 275 species and tells you all that you could ever wish to know. It is on these pages that you really appreciate the anatomical details, enabling you to interpret the kinetic abilities of these sometimes huge (I mean huge) beasts.
There are doubtless those who do not especially care for the flora and fauna of the distant past, even those who believe in a six thousand year-old Earth, but for most of us there is a fascination with what once existed on our ancient planet, the creatures that preceded us and the nature of their extinction, and its relevance to the Anthropocene and the Sixth Extinction, currently advancing at full steam.
This is the book for you!
The Princeton Field Guide to Sauropod and Prosauropod Dinosaurs - Princeton University Press
Gregory S. Paul
Hardcover - US$35.00 - ISBN: 9780691268651
176 pages - 8.5 x 11 inches (21.25 x 27.5 cm)
150 colour and black-and-white illustrations
Publication date: 03 March, 2026
Paul is a truly gifted artist! I love the inside first page here and if you look carefully he might have MY style in that one page. I may try to copy cat in procreate and if I make a book of my drawings, without incredible knowledge written in it, will you buy it?
ReplyDeletethis is a fantastic book. glad you are back home safe and sound and did not get bombed on a boat down there....
I will be first in line to buy your book!
DeleteThen someday, if I could get my hands on this book, I would buy it, and I am really interested in dinosaurs and plants that originated from that time, like rhododendrons and sonchuses (with which I still battle in the garden).
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