cover image Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide

Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide

Gregory S. Paul. Simon & Schuster, $22.45 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-671-61946-6

Paul thinks dinosaurs are fun, and he conveys his enthusiasm in this well-written account of their life and times. In the first part of the book he describes how the predatory dinosaurs (meat-eating dinosaurs, as opposed to herbivorous dinosaurs) evolved, what they looked like and how they lived. He dispels some commonly held notions: dinosaurs were not cold-blooded, slow or stupid; they were, in fact, the ancestors of birds. The second part of the book is an illustrated catalogue of all important predatory dinosaurs known to date, a new reorganization of predatory dinosaur taxonomy and systematics. Dinosaur are obviously the love of Paul's life, and he sometimes makes us forget that these extraordinary creatures have been extinct for at least 65 million years. In addition, as a paleontologist who does his own illustrations, he can back up his contention that dinosaurs ``look neat.''