The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs by Dr Dean Lomax, with illustrations by Bob Nicholls, offers a fascinating look at prehistoric animal behaviour as reflected in the fossil record. Moreover, this engaging book is written for the general reader as well as students, researchers and academics.  It has been highly praised.  For example, Slash the guitarist with American rock band Guns N’ Roses endorses it.

Slash is reported to have stated that this recently published book was “fantastic, engrossing and funny.”

The front cover of the recently published book “The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs – Unearthing the Real Behaviors of Prehistoric Animals” written by Dr Dean Lomax and illustrated by Bob Nicholls. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

“The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs”

Throughout the book, Dr Lomax explains complex palaeontology with clarity. As a result, the writing feels both authoritative and welcoming. Short chapters keep the pace brisk. Moreover, each fossil discovery tells a clear story grounded in scientific evidence. Predator–prey encounters sit alongside moments of parenting and survival. Consequently, these ancient creatures feel vivid and real.

“The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs” is the second collaboration on this theme between the highly respected British palaeontologist and award-winning palaeoartist Bob Nicholls.  Their earlier book, also published by Columbia University Press “Locked in Time” was a huge success.

To read our review of “Locked in Time”: Unlocking the Lives of Extinct Animals.

The “Secret Lives of Dinosaurs” is the second collaboration between Dr Dean Lomax and Bob Nicholls examining remarkable fossils. The first book to be published was the highly successful “Locked in Time”. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Stunning Illustrations

It is packed full of interesting facts and insights.  This book will delight readers.  The beautiful illustrations play a vital role in bringing prehistoric animals to life.  The visuals support the science and along with the engaging text “The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs” is a joy. It suits enthusiasts and general readers alike.

One of the stunning, colour images created by the highly respected British palaeoartist Bob Nicholls. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture (above) shows one of the illustrations contained within the book.  To learn what inspired this amazing illustration, purchase it.

The website of the publisher: Columbia University Press. Find the book by searching for “Dean Lomax”.

Overall, it is informative, engaging, and highly recommended.

Mike from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“Sue and I have had the pleasure of working with both Dean and Bob.  We commend their dedication and devotion.  This is an excellent book, and they bring ancient, long extinct animals to live with stunning illustrations and engaging commentary.”

As November draws to a close, interest in Dr Dean Lomax’s new book, “The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs”, continues to surge. It is a top selling book as we approach the festive season. Author Dr Dean Lomax has once again penned a beautiful book that highlights the fascinating stories preserved in the fossil record.

This captivating title has already sparked curiosity worldwide by revealing intimate snapshots of prehistoric life. Through extraordinary fossils, Dean uncovers the real behaviours of ancient animals, from tender acts of parenting to dramatic confrontations between predators and prey. With Bob Nicholls’ vivid reconstructions enhancing every account, the book offers a rare and enthralling journey into deep time.

A book tour is taking place, including a very special event next Wednesday in Florida.

Dr Dean Lomax will be speaking about his new book and his adventures in palaeontology on Wednesday, December 3, 2025 (7pm) at The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center / 1051 Main Street / The Villages, Florida, USA. Picture credit: Dr Dean Lomax.

Picture credit: Dr Dean Lomax

Author Dr Dean Lomax Speaking in Florida

For our American friends, there is an opportunity to experience these remarkable fossil tales live. On Wednesday, 3 December 2025, Dean will appear at The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center in The Villages, Florida, for a special evening celebrating the secret lives of dinosaurs. This exclusive event is not to be missed. Dean will be joined by his close friends and special guests—Elaine Howard, an attorney turned dinosaur hunter, and renowned science educator Jimmy Waldron. Together, they will guide the audience through incredible stories of discovery, excavation, and adventure.

Palaeontologist Dr Dean Lomax in front of two iconic dinosaur exhibits. Picture credit: Dr Dean Lomax.

Picture credit: Dr Dean Lomax

During the talk, Dean shares highlights of his remarkable career, including unearthing prehistoric creatures, identifying new species, and presenting popular science television programmes.  Sue and I at Everything Dinosaur have had the privilege of hearing Dr Lomax speak on several occasions.  He has a remarkable gift for science communication.  Afterwards, attendees can take part in a question-and-answer session before meeting Dean and the guests at a book signing and photo session.

With the date fast approaching, this is your last call to secure tickets.  Further details can be found here: Dr Dean Lomax Speaking in Florida.

If you want to dive deeper into “The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs” and hear extraordinary stories directly from the experts, this unforgettable evening in Florida next Wednesday is not to be missed.

A Wonderful Science Communicator

Mike from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“Dean’s new book illustrated by the extremely talented Bob Nicholls is wonderful.  Aimed at the general reader it shines a spotlight on the remarkable lives of prehistoric animals as revealed by astonishing fossil discoveries.  It is an ideal gift for the festive season.”

“The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs” is published by Columbia University Press and it can be purchased here: The Columbia University Press Website.

Search for author Dr Dean Lomax.

For full details and ticket information about the Florida event, visit Dean’s events page.

Looking forward to reading “The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs”.  This book explores the real behaviours of prehistoric animals as revealed in remarkable fossils.  Written by Dr Dean Lomax and with beautiful illustrations by palaeo-reconstruction artist Bob Nicholls, it tells the real-world stories of creatures that lived in the past.  The book has been endorsed by Slash of Guns N’ Roses fame.

The front cover of “The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs” by Dr Dean Lomax which is beautifully illustrated by palaeo-reconstruction artist Bob Nicholls. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

“The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs”

The book is published by Columbia University Press and is a follow-up to the hugely successful “Locked in Time” that was published a couple of years ago.  After a short prologue, our accomplished author takes us on an exploration of the lives of prehistoric animals covering subjects like diets, finding food, eggs, babies and reproduction.  Despite the title, there is a veritable smorgasbord of prehistoric animals featured.

Various aspects of behaviour are revealed using remarkable fossils and exquisite illustrations.

A female ammonite deposits her fertilised eggs whilst her mate, the much smaller male, strokes her shell. The opposite page shows examples of ammonite egg sacs and other fossil evidence. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Visit the publisher’s website and search for author Dean Lomax to order: Columbia University Press Website.

Dinosaur Dung and Digestion

For Dean and illustrator Bob Nicholls it has been a busy time.  For example, both have pursued numerous projects including collaborating with Everything Dinosaur with the development of the Everything Dinosaur Evolution 1:33 scale Tyrannosaurus rex figure.  The display base features a tyrannosaur coprolite and in “The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs” the fossil evidence, a whopping forty-four centimetres in length is discussed in detail.

Mike from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“Occasionally, two projects overlap.  We wanted to include a tyrannosaur coprolite on our model’s display base, and Bob and Dean wanted to feature the remarkable fossil evidence in their highly informative chapter on digestion.”

The Everything Dinosaur Evolution T. rex display base. There is a metal rod to help secure the model to the base. In addition, the base, which represents a dried-up lake contains two tyrannosaur tracks and a pile of dinosaur dung. Both the tracks and dung are based on real fossils. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the Everything Dinosaur Evolution range: Everything Dinosaur Evolution Models.

Distinctive Fossils Provide Remarkable Insights

“The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs” outlines the amazing tales of the lives of prehistoric animals through some of the most remarkable fossil specimens ever found.  These specimens, provide a glimpse into the lives and behaviours of long extinct animals. Author Dean Lomax provides a breathtaking glimpse through a window in deep time, and his engaging writing style and wit keeps the reader entertained and informed.  Dr Lomax’s passion for palaeontology comes across on every page.  The stunning artwork contributed by Bob Nicholls makes this new book a double delight and a worthy sequel to the award-winning “Locked in Time”.

Allosaurus pathology in the famous “Big Al” specimen and a battle-hardened Dilophosaurus feature in the chapter on health and mortality. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

This is a wonderful book.  Aimed at students, dinosaur fans and the general reader, it is highly recommended.

Sue and I were delighted to receive a unique and thoughtful gift from the talented illustrator Cordula Marks Venters. Cordula is an Edinburgh-based artist with a passion for prehistoric animals. Her work blends the worlds of science, history, and myth. Drawing inspiration from dinosaurs, medieval events, historical figures, and ancient legends, her art is original and imaginative.

The gift was a copy of her book “Illuminated Beasts and Other Oddities”.  It showcases her clever illustrations.  Many of them feature prehistoric animals.  Cordula is a customer of Everything Dinosaur.  She recently purchased a CollectA Gallimimus model and nicknamed her theropod “Gustav”.

The front cover of “Illuminated Beasts and Other Oddities” Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Cordula Marks Venters and the 100 Days Project Scotland

The book was inspired by last year’s 100 Days Project Scotland.  The challenge is to undertake a creative task each day and record it.

The artist commented:

“I was inspired by medieval bestiaries and decided to create my own, featuring a mashup of historical, mythological and prehistorical creatures/events over the course of 100 days”.

Over the course of a hundred days, Cordula created her own bestiary. It features a brilliant mix of mythological creatures, prehistoric animals, science fiction and historical events. Each drawing reveals her love of art and her enduring creative spirit.

Dinosaurs often feature in her artwork.  Her playful, yet informed, interpretations of prehistoric creatures are outstanding.  For example, there is much to admire in Cordula’s red-clawed, fishing baryonychid.

Gone fishing with an old friend – an Early Cretaceous baryonychid theropod dinosaur. Picture credit: Cordula Marks Venters

Picture credit: Cordula Marks Venters

Lots of Different Prehistoric Animals

The colourful illustrations feature a diverse range of prehistoric animals.  Even a large dicynodont gets a look in.  We suspect this is the first time that this synapsid has been illustrated alongside a group of gnomes.

We want to say a huge thank you to Cordula Marks Venters. Your generosity, creativity, and support mean so much to us here at Everything Dinosaur.

After a hard day’s work gnomes head for home aided by a dicynodont. Picture credit: Cordula Marks Venters

Picture credit: Cordula Marks Venters

We can’t wait to see what you create next.

To discover more of Cordula’s work, be sure to visit her website: The Artwork of Cordula Marks Venters.

About the Author

Mike is part of the team at Everything Dinosaur. With a background in teaching and science communication. He has shared his fascination with prehistoric animals, fossils, palaeontology and dinosaurs on this blog since 2005. He and Sue are prehistoric animal model collectors too.

Visit: Everything Dinosaur for dinosaur toys and prehistoric animal figures.

The last days on Earth of an iconic bird species is re-told in remarkable detail by Gísli Pálsson in his book documenting the decline of the Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis). Entitled “The Last of Its Kind” anthropologist Gísli Pálsson tells the haunting story of the Great Auk’s extinction.  The Great Auk extinction provides a powerful reminder of our culpability and the impact Homo sapiens is having on the planet.

Once abundant in the North Atlantic, this flightless bird was extinct by the middle of the 19th century. Through meticulous research and vivid storytelling, Pálsson reconstructs not just the bird’s fate, but the birth of a modern awareness of the natural world and our role in extinctions.

The front cover of the Princeton University Press release “The Last of its Kind” by Great Auk extinction explored in “The Last of Its Kind” by Gísli Pálsson. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The Great Auk Extinction

The Great Auk extinction was perhaps the first extinction event to attract widespread public awareness of our impact on the natural world.  It remains one of the most tragic and well-documented examples of extinction.  A large, flightless bird that mainly bred on remote, inaccessible islands in the North Atlantic was wiped out by hunting and egg collecting.  The last remaining Great Auks were killed on the Icelandic island of Eldey on the 3rd of June 1844.

The book mixes science, history and cultural analysis. It vividly recounts how British ornithologists Alfred Newton and John Wolley set out for Iceland to collect specimens, only for them to discover that these magnificent birds were gone forever. Pálsson explores museum archives, personal journals, and ecological data to build a compelling narrative. A species lost that helped to awaken our sense of environmental responsibility.

This book is both timely and thought-provoking. It invites readers to reflect on today’s biodiversity crisis through the lens of a single vanished bird. Bird lovers and conservationists alike will find it essential reading.  It has been shortlisted for the prestigious Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize.

Book Details

Title: “The Last of its Kind – The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction”
Author: Gísli Pálsson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication Date: April 2024
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 291
ISBN: 9780691230986

List Price: £22.00 GBP/$27.95 USD

This remarkable book can be ordered at this website: Princeton University Press.

Mike Walley from Everything Dinosaur observed:

“The extinction of the Great Auk offers a stark reminder of humanity’s lasting impact on nature. Furthermore, Pálsson’s work challenges us to reflect, take responsibility, and act—before more species are lost forever.”

The award-winning Everything Dinosaur website: Models of Prehistoric and Extinct Animals.

Fans of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals are eagerly awaiting the first episode of the “Walking with Dinosaurs” sequel. Episode one, telling the tale of an orphaned Triceratops is due to be shown this weekend.  This six-part television series has been made by the BBC Studios Science Unit and is co-produced by ZDF and France Télévisions. A companion book has been published to accompany this exciting television event.

The companion book to the long-awaited “Walking With Dinosaurs” sequel. This new six-part series is made by the BBC Studios Science Unit production for the BBC and PBS, co-produced with ZDF and France Télévisions. Picture credit: DK Penguin Random House.

Picture credit: DK Penguin Random House

Walking with Dinosaurs

This new series made some twenty-six years after the original “Walking with Dinosaurs” first aired takes the viewer on a journey through deep time.  Each episode focuses on an individual dinosaur, whose remains are currently being studied by palaeontologists. A lonely giant Lusotitan (brachiosaurid) roaming the Late Jurassic of Portugal, a Tyrannosaurus rex in North America, the perils faced by an African Spinosaurus raising its young and in the first episode a young Triceratops takes centre stage.

The companion book goes beyond the television series.  It highlights the rich backstories of each dinosaur.  In addition, it explains the extraordinary work undertaken by palaeontologists in their quest to learn more about these amazing prehistoric animals.

Co-author Andrew Cohen (Head of the BBC Studios Science Unit), explained:

“This book will take readers behind the scenes of the series and back 100 million years to meet and understand these dinosaurs in ways never possible before.”

Mark Searle, Managing Director, DK+ added:

“Walking With Dinosaurs set a new ceiling for factual and documentary TV making back in 1999, and its influence on our continued fascination with dinosaurs cannot be underestimated. It’s a huge honour for DK to be working with the BBC Studios Science Unit on this fascinating book and we know dinosaur fans old and new will be amazed by the sheer level of insight Andrew, Helen, Kirsty and their teams have brought to the text.”

This exciting companion book, “Walking With Dinosaurs: Uncovering the Secret Stories of Prehistoric Life” will be released on the 5th of June 2025.

Book Details

Title: “Walking With Dinosaurs: Uncovering the Secret Stories of Prehistoric Life”
Authors: Andrew Cohen, Helen Thomas and Kirsty Wilson
Publisher: DK
Publication Date: June 5th, 2025
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9780241761533

List Price: £25.00

This remarkable book can be pre-ordered here: “Walking with Dinosaurs” Companion Book.

Talented author and illustrator Dr Mark Witton has come up trumps again.  His recently published book “King Tyrant” is an excellent read. Dr Witton sets out to update the reader on the most famous of all the dinosaurs – Tyrannosaurus rex.  The book, entitled “King Tyrant a Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex” is a detailed and beautifully crafted publication from an author at the very top of their game.

The fabulous front cover of the new book “King Tyrant A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex” by Dr Mark P. Witton. Dr Witton is an accomplished author and palaeoartist as well as a highly respected palaeontologist. Naturally, this stunning T. rex artwork on the front cover was created by the author. Picture credit: Princeton University Press.

Picture credit: Princeton University Press

“King Tyrant”

Published by Princeton University Press, this is a comprehensive review of the “Tyrant Lizard King”. Dr Mark Witton masterfully weaves his in-depth knowledge of Tyrannosaurus rex into the narrative.  He makes complex topics accessible and engaging for readers. The book features beautiful illustrations and stunning colour photographs of fossils that bring the prehistoric world of T. rex to life. Dr Witton’s passion for this subject shines through on every page.  It is an inspiring book, one that highlights the skills of an accomplished science communicator.

To read Everything Dinosaur’s earlier blog post about this fascinating book: A New Tyrannosaurus rex Book.

Book Details

Title: “King Tyrant A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex”

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: May 13th, 2025 | Price: £35.00/$39.95 | Pages: 320

Illustrations: 150+ colour illustrations

ISBN: 9780691245584

Size: 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 inches)

Visit the website of Princeton University Press to purchase: Princeton University Press.

Haolonggood Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur model (Chao Gai).

An Iconic Dinosaur

Dr Mark Witton documents the media presence of Tyrannosaurus rex compared to other dinosaurs. It has a much larger media profile.  This is reflected in dinosaur model sales. For example, Everything Dinosaur team members calculate that T. rex models outsell other dinosaur models by a ratio of six to one.  This has motivated manufacturers to continue to produce figures of this famous tyrannosaur. For instance, the new for 2025 Haolonggood T. rex figures (see image above).

To view the range of Haolonggood prehistoric animal models in stock at Everything Dinosaur: Haolonggood Prehistoric Animal Models and Figures.

Mike from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“This is a superb dinosaur book!  I congratulate Dr Mark Witton, and I look forward to catching up with him at the forthcoming Lyme Regis Fossil Festival.  I recommend this book to fans of dinosaurs.”

For prehistoric animal models and toys: Prehistoric Animal Models and Toys.