Book Reviews - Part 21

16 01, 2012

A Review of Deposits Magazine (New Issue 28)

By Mike|2024-04-22T14:28:54+01:00January 16th, 2012|Categories: Magazine Reviews|0 Comments

Deposits Magazine- the International Rock and Fossil Magazine

As subscribers to the Deposits magazine we thought it high time that we wrote a brief review on this quarterly bulletin which concerns itself with all things related to geology, palaeontology and fossil collecting. Team members at Everything Dinosaur have been readers for some time but as yet we have not put anything down in print with regards to this particular publication. However, with the threat to the foreshore at Bracklesham Bay (West Sussex) we could effectively “kill two birds with one stone” as it were, combining a review with a bit of publicity concerning the campaign to save the Bracklesham Bay site as a location for family fossil hunts.

Deposits Magazine

First the review of Deposits. This is a full colour glossy, fifty-two page high quality Earth science magazine. It is aimed at both beginners, enthusiasts and professionals. The magazine has gained a strong reputation worldwide, for its superb quality of articles in topical areas. Certainly, each issue does cover a great deal of ground (no pun intended). Take for example issue 28 (Autumn 2011) which ever since its arrival before Christmas, it has been in residence in our board room available for all the staff to read. In this particular edition, topics covered include an insight into the working day of a North Sea wellsite geologist, Palaeozoic fossils to be found in the southern Alps of Austria, ammonites from New Guinea and the last part of a highly informative overview of the geology of Barbados.

The Front Cover of Deposits Magazine

Issue 28 – Deposits Magazine.

Picture credit: UKGE

Aimed at the General Reader

One of the great benefits of this magazine, is that it is written for the general reader. Technical areas of geology are discussed using terms and concepts that everyone including casual fossil collectors can understand. Scientific papers are summarised in such a way that much of the technical language is removed thus permitting all readers to learn about new discoveries and such like. We at Everything Dinosaur, try to do the same for aspects of vertebrate palaeontology within this humble web log, so we greatly appreciated the efforts of the editorial team behind this excellent publication.

An example of this would be the article on the fossils of the Carpathian Basin (a substantial and highly fossiliferous region of eastern Europe covering Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and portions of Austria). The authors of what will be a series of articles about the Carpathian Basin (Gareth Dyke and Istvan Fozy), have provided a well-written and hugely enjoyable article and we look forward to reading more about this fascinating area of eastern Europe in future issues of the magazine.

Now for the plea for help. The foreshore at Bracklesham Bay running to Selsey in West Sussex is under threat and could potentially be closed to fossil collectors. The local district council intends to close the beach to families, visitors and fossil collectors to the east of the Bracklesham car park, as they want to designate this area as a kite surfing zone.

Bracklesham Bay

We know the Bracklesham Bay area very well, although it has been a few years since we visited this site whilst in the Chichester area. It is a beautiful part of the world and a very popular location for fossil collectors as the foreshore has abundant fossils, bivalves, sharks teeth, teeth from rays, gastropods etc. all dating from the Palaeogene Period (50-45 million years ago). The site has easy access and fossils can simply be picked up off the beach, it is a great location for families and many a young fossil collector has started their collection and fired their enthusiasm for geology after a visit to this part of West Sussex. Proposed changes to sea defences are already threatening the site, but if the Bracklesham Bay site is closed to fossil collectors this would be a great shame.

Whilst we accept that this location is also very popular with wind surfers and surfers, it remains one of the most family friendly fossil hunting locations in the whole of southern England and as such if this site or part of it were to be closed to families, then this would be extremely sad.

For models and replicas of iconic animals from the fossil record including belemnites and ammonites: Replicas of Iconic Fossil Animals and Models.

6 01, 2012

100th Edition of Prehistoric Times Magazine – Here we Go!

By Mike|2023-01-25T13:40:42+00:00January 6th, 2012|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Magazine Reviews|0 Comments

Expecting our Anniversary Edition of “Prehistoric Times” Any Day Now

One of the most exciting events of the Holocene epoch is nearly upon us, the long awaited, highly anticipated arrival of the 100th edition of “Prehistoric Times”. To mark this special occasion the team behind the U.S. based magazine will be printing it with two centenary front covers. As Mike Fredericks, the editor of “Prehistoric Times”, (otherwise known as PT) states:

“I am very proud to announce that the 100th issue of Prehistoric Times magazine is being printed now and will start shipping next week. The issue features Albertosaurus and Dimetrodon, has an interview with the amazingly talented artist Peter Schouten, a behind the scenes look at the Terra Nova TV show, plus Steve Brusatte lists the top Paleo News of 2011 and on and on!”

When asked about to describe the two special front covers that have been chosen for this landmark publication, Mike added:

“The issue sports two different awesome Albertosaurus front covers. One by Fabio Pastori and the other by Raul Martin. It is because of our loyal readers that I get to continue to have the time of my life producing this magazine. I can’t thank you enough.”

Which Cover will you Get?

All Albertosaurus but which one will you get?

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/Prehistoric Times

We are looking forward to receiving our copy and to writing a review of this very special publication.

To purchase models and replicas of prehistoric animals including Albertosaurus: Dinosaur Figures and Prehistoric Animal Models.

17 11, 2011

Guinness World Records Day – Our Favourite Entry 2012

By Mike|2023-01-23T21:47:04+00:00November 17th, 2011|Categories: Book Reviews, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates|0 Comments

Whales in the Sahara

Today, is the Guinness World Records Day – not too sure why it should be November 17th, other than the fact that it enables Guinness to promote their book in the run up to Christmas. However, we were asked to review the 2012 edition and it is absolutely bursting with amazing facts and feats.

Guinness World Records Day

During our coffee break we again discussed what the most interesting fact/record is in the latest edition of the World Records book. This is quite a difficult task as there are so many to chose from. There were several votes for the plant section (pages 64 and 65), especially for the fact that in the average life time 158,000 new plant species will be discovered that is about thirty-five per week. The were a few votes for the human endeavours and the universe sections but in the end we chose the fact about whales in the Sahara desert (page 40). The Sahara is not the world’s largest desert, read the book to find out the record holder for this, it is in there we promise, but it is an unusual place to find the fossilised bones of ancient whales.

The highest density of Eocene whale fossils are to be found in the Wadi Al-Hitan in Egypt’s Western Desert – a fact that is of particular importance to us at the moment as we have been researching dinosaur discoveries in Egypt. Since 1905, some 379 fossil whales from the Eocene era have been discovered.

Read our review of the Guinness Book of Records 2012 edition: Book Review.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

18 10, 2011

Guinness World Records 2012 – Book Review

By Mike|2023-01-22T19:41:32+00:00October 18th, 2011|Categories: Book Reviews, Educational Activities|0 Comments

Guinness World Records Book – Reviewed

Team members at Everything Dinosaur have a new pastime, during their breaks they consult the Guinness World Records Book (2012 edition) and test each other on their knowledge on an amazing array of subjects from the moons of Jupiter to the shortest bird migration via trying to guess the country with the largest oil consumption.

Guinness Book of World Records

The Guinness World Records book is absolutely stuffed full of astonishing facts, feats and statistics, if there is an area of human endeavour, an aspect of the natural world – animal, vegetable or mineral it seems that somebody, somewhere, holds a record and the Guinness team have set about compiling a immense compendium cataloguing it all.

The Guinness Book of Records 2012

Super Christmas Present Idea.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

With an eye on the London Olympics there is a special section within that part of the book concerning sports, dedicated to the Olympic movement and London 2012. The London Olympics Icon launched in June 2007 and designed by Wolff Olins is the most expensive Olympic logo ever costing £400,000 to design. In Beijing (2008) there were the most participants at an Olympics, these games attracted a record 10,942 athletes from 204 countries.

Feats and Fantastic Voyages

Royalty, juggling feats, fantastic voyages, apex predators, asteroids, peculiar plants, maps, giant spiders, climate, prehistoric whales – just about everything we could think of is featured somewhere in the 288, jam-packed pages. To read about “Cassius” the largest Saltwater crocodile in captivity turn to page 46 – we wrote a web log article about this particular specimen of Crocodylus porosus in this web log a few weeks ago, to see this article click on the link below:

Saltwater crocodile breaks record: Which was the largest crocodile of all time?

With more than 1,000,00 world record holders and some 4,000 new, updated and classic world records this book makes a super Christmas present and a very enjoyable read for all the family.

For dinosaur themed books and gifts: Everything Dinosaur.

14 10, 2011

The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs – An Excellent Reference Book

By Mike|2023-01-22T08:10:39+00:00October 14th, 2011|Categories: Book Reviews|0 Comments

Book Review – The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs – Gregory S. Paul

We had known about the launch of this book for sometime, after all, it came out last year and I recall reading the review out of Prehistoric Times magazine to colleagues at one of our Friday afternoon meetings, but nobody took the hint and purchased it. However, after having contacted the author on a technical issue concerning the anatomy of spinosaurids I decided that enough was enough and I have bought it, using the excuse of an “early Christmas present to myself”. We review the Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs.

Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs

For those not yet acquainted with the work and illustrations of Gregory S. Paul, let me quickly put you in the picture before providing a brief review of this offering. Gregory S. Paul is a world renowned illustrator of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. His enthusiasm for all things Dinosauria is quite remarkable and his research into this subject and deep understanding of these prehistoric animals makes him one of the most respected technical illustrators in the field of Earth Sciences. He has produced a number of books related to palaeontology as well as being a frequent contributor to Nature and Scientific American as well as numerous other respected science-based journals.

Caught on the Hop when my Field Guide Arrived

I promise I will keep this in the Everything Dinosaur office. The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs – Reviewed

This publication is aimed at the casual reader as well as the serious academic, it combines beautiful anatomical illustrations and life-pose depictions with concise data on a vast range of the Dinosauria. I note that the jacket states that more than 735 individual species are covered with over 600 colour and black/white illustrations, I won’t dispute these figures but suffice to say that this book is crammed full of dinosaurs, dinosaur illustrations and dinosaur facts and figures.

The book is laid out like a comprehensive field guide to the subject. It reminds me of the sort of handy, practical guidebooks produced for enthusiastic ornithologists and bird spotters. If one was able to travel back to the Mesozoic then this book would be just the thing to help the explorer distinguish between different hadrosaurines should he or she encounter them. A sort of “spotters” guide to dinosaurs with lavish accompanying notes. If dinosaur fans have ever tried to unravel the differences between Euoplocephalus and Ankylosaurus then reading pages 233-235 would be a good place to start.

However, this book is not just a dinosaur directory, it starts with a comprehensive outline of dinosaur research, dinosaur discoveries and other information setting the scene for the descriptions that are to follow. In fact, about one-fifth of the 320 pages or so are dedicated to providing detailed descriptions regarding dinosaur anatomy, physiology, behaviour and reproduction. Each of these subject areas is broken down into manageable “chunks” before the major dinosaur groups are introduced.

The rest of this highly informative volume is dedicated to describing the various dinosaur families, genera and species. Although it is not a comprehensive account, a number of “nomen dubium” the author has to be praised for featuring so many members of the Dinosauria. We have already found it useful, helping to resolve the issue we encountered regarding the spinosaurids. “The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs” has obviously been a labour of love and the author’s enthusiasm for these prehistoric animals really does come across. Just a couple of quibbles, being based on this side of the Atlantic, (Britain) we note that this book is written in American English so expect to see words such as paleontology and behavior, rather than the English spellings. Secondly, the back of the jacket shows a black and white illustration of a herd of mixed sauropods. The white area of the jacket is going to get quite grubby with all the handling, but these are really only minor points.

The overall layout is easy to follow, we loved the helpful guide to the group and species descriptions which included what we call a “taxonomic timeline” showing the different types of dinosaur families and when they lived. Also, extremely useful is the well crafted index of taxa and the separate listing of geological formations referred to within the text.

We thoroughly recommend this book, do what I did and treat yourself to an “early Christmas present”.

For dinosaur toys, books, games and prehistoric animal themed gifts, visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

26 09, 2011

The Front Cover of the Book Planet Dinosaur

By Mike|2023-01-21T11:13:22+00:00September 26th, 2011|Categories: Book Reviews, Dinosaur Fans|0 Comments

The Front Cover of the Book Planet Dinosaur

If Spinosaurus is one of your favourite dinosaurs, then read all about this huge, Cretaceous dinosaur in books about dinosaurs. One of the best illustrations of Spinosaurus that we have seen this year can be found on the front cover of the book called “Planet Dinosaur”, a book that accompanies the television series of the same name.

Planet Dinosaur Book

Planet Dinosaur Spinosaurus Illustrated

The front cover of the book “Planet Dinosaur”.

Picture credit: Ebury Publishing

To read Everything Dinosaur’s review of the Planet Dinosaur book: Planet Dinosaur Book Reviewed.

The front cover of this book shows the huge prehistoric animal called Spinosaurus fishing. It is a beautiful illustration on the front cover of a dinosaur book. If you are looking for dinosaur books for children check out Everything Dinosaur’s book range and other prehistoric animal themed items available from the company’s award-winning website.

Everything Dinosaur – dinosaur toys, models, books, games and clothing: Take a Look at Everything Dinosaur’s Website.

26 09, 2011

A Review of Planet Dinosaur – The Next Generation of Giant Killers in New Television Series

By Mike|2024-04-22T13:38:29+01:00September 26th, 2011|Categories: Book Reviews, Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page|10 Comments

Planet Dinosaur – Book Review

The new dinosaur discoveries, the huge, the tiny, the weird and the wonderful are revealed in remarkable detail in this book “Planet Dinosaur – The Next Generation of Giant Killers” that has been produced to accompany the BBC television series. Team members at Everything Dinosaur, were asked to write a review and true to our word here it is.

Planet Dinosaur

It is more than ten years since the ground-breaking BBC television series “Walking with Dinosaurs” was first broadcast on BBC1. Now, 2011 brings the much anticipated “Planet Dinosaur” to our screens, an opportunity to highlight some of the amazing dinosaur discoveries that have been made over the last decade or so. Accompanying the 1999 television series a book entitled “Walking with Dinosaurs – A Natural History” was published, in a continuation of this trend, BBC Books have produced a companion to “Planet Dinosaur” and what a visual feast it proves to be.

It may be just a blink in geological time since 1999, but this new publication is strikingly different from its predecessor. For example, “Walking with Dinosaurs – A Natural History” followed the format of the television programmes very closely. Each of the six chapters was dedicated to telling the story and introducing the prehistoric animals and the science behind them from a particular episode of the TV series. “Planet Dinosaur – The Next Generation of Giant Killers”; in contrast, focuses on the prehistoric animals and the palaeontology, with the use of a graphic novel style layout to highlight elements taken from individual television programmes.

Each of the main protagonists from the television series is given its own double page fact file – a vast array of amazing prehistoric creatures many of whom have been discovered since 1999. A highly detailed CGI image is surrounded by notes providing information about long extinct animals as diverse as Microraptor – a dinosaur that could glide and predator X a huge, marine reptile so new to science that it has yet to be formally named and described.

In contrast to the “Walking with Dinosaurs” publication, the majority of the animals featured are described using their binomial scientific name, that is, the genus and species name as if to reaffirm the publisher’s desire to provide a strong scientific undercurrent to the narrative.

The Front Cover of “Planet Dinosaur”

Dinosaurs help out with BBC research.

Picture credit: Ebury Publishing

A handy pronunciation guide is provided, a boon to parents and grand-parents who will no doubt be persuaded to read alongside their dinosaur obsessed younger family members.

An Excellent Book

One slight criticism we proffer in what is generally an excellent book, towards the end of the 238 pages there is a small section that attempts to place the prehistoric animals featured in the television series into context with geological time. We could take issue with the dates given for some of the geological periods, indeed there seems to be some discrepancies over the dates given in this section with those stated in the introduction, but our main gripe is that the Triassic has been omitted from the time-line altogether. This may be expediency on behalf of the publishers, as the television series focuses almost exclusively on the work of palaeontologists studying creatures that lived during the later part of the Mesozoic Era – the Jurassic and the Cretaceous.

Just as certain as planet Earth having been subjected to extraterrestrial impacts, this beautifully illustrated book will prove to be very popular amongst avid dinosaur fans. Its clever combination of stunning images and scientific detail will also intrigue and inform the casual reader, keen to see how the science of palaeontology and our understanding of the prehistoric world has moved on. Highly recommended.

For models of many of the prehistoric animals that are featured in this book: Safari Ltd. Dinosaur Figures and Prehistoric Animals.

25 09, 2011

An Exclusive Review of Planet Dinosaur – BBC Books

By Mike|2024-04-22T13:35:19+01:00September 25th, 2011|Categories: Book Reviews, Main Page|0 Comments

Planet Dinosaur – The Next Generation of Giant Killers

A definite requirement for the Christmas stockings of dinosaur fans this book, published to accompany the six-part BBC documentary series “Planet Dinosaur” is packed full of information and facts about the prehistoric creatures featured in the programmes.

Planet Dinosaur

Broken down into six chapters, although not reflecting the format of the television episodes, this 238-page volume updates readers on the progress made by palaeontologists over the last ten years as they uncover new evidence about dinosaurs and other ancient creatures from the past.

Despite the title, it is not just meat-eaters, or indeed dinosaurs that feature. For example, there is an in-depth assessment of the fossil evidence to support Argentinosaurus (A. huinculensis), a herbivore, as being the biggest land animal known to science. This book also features the marine reptiles Kimmerosaurus (k. langhami) and “predator X” – a giant pliosaur, so new it has yet to be formally described.

Pliosaurs Feature in the Book

A close-up view of the pliosaur that is suspended above the ground floor at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (Bristol, England). The life-size replica was nicknamed “Deadly Doris”. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The almost three-dimensional illustrations and the storyboard layout will appeal to dinosaur fans old and young alike. This publication will also help to inform the curious reader interested in learning more about these long extinct creatures. “Planet Dinosaur – The Next Generation of Giant Killers” helps to put the flesh on the bones of the animals featured in the television series.

For prehistoric animal models that represent creatures featured in the book: Age of Dinosaurs Prehistoric Animal Models (PNSO).

21 04, 2011

Review of the New “Prehistoric Times” (Spring 2011)

By Mike|2024-04-21T09:58:55+01:00April 21st, 2011|Categories: Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Magazine Reviews, Main Page|2 Comments

A Review of “Prehistoric Times” Magazine (Issue 97)

The latest edition of the magazine known as “Prehistoric Times” has just arrived in the office and what a bumper edition it is. The front cover shows the rather gory features of an Acrocanthosaurus (theropod dinosaur), as drawn by that talented artist Ricardo Delgado, an interview with Ricardo is featured and his work on the “Age of Reptiles” story series is discussed. Two often neglected but much admired prehistoric animals are in this magazine.

Firstly, there is Plateosaurus, that leviathan from the Triassic, Phil Hore provides an update on the latest research and information on this member of the Sauropodomorpha. The second prehistoric animal featured, it is really a group rather than a spotlight on a single genus – is the champosaurs (Champosaurus), long lasting members of the Choristodera, with their crocodilian-like appearance.

“Prehistoric Times”

Gregory S. Paul sets out the latest scientific work on the azhdarchids (giant pterosaurs) and asks the question – were these reptiles bigger than giraffes? The latest palaeontology news is dealt with in depth (anything that we at Everything Dinosaur have not reported on is covered here), and there is a special section on the genus Giraffatitan.

The Front Cover of “Prehistoric Times” (Issue 97)

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The magazine includes lots and lots of contributions from readers, the latest dinosaur and prehistoric animal models plus book reviews and a special feature on how to model a Giganotosaurus.

To visit the “Prehistoric Times” website: “Prehistoric Times”.

One article we enjoyed reading in particular, was the spread on the Museu de Paleontologia de Marilla, in Brazil. Dinosauria are truly a world-wide phenomenon – great pictures and plenty of information about this museum in Sao Paulo state.

6 04, 2011

Prehistoric Times – New Front Cover Issue 97

By Mike|2024-01-01T17:29:39+00:00April 6th, 2011|Categories: Magazine Reviews, Prehistoric Times|0 Comments

Prehistoric Times Front Cover (Issue 97)

Team members at Everything Dinosaur are looking forward to receiving their next copy of the dinosaur and model collectors magazine “Prehistoric Times”

Sneak Peek of the Front Cover of Issue 97

The front cover of the next edition of “Prehistoric Times”.

Picture credit: Mike Fredericks

“Prehistoric Times”

Everything Dinosaur team members would like to thank the magazine’s editor Mike Fredericks for sending an email that highlighted the rather gory, but extremely colourful front cover of issue number ninety-seven.

Visit the “Prehistoric Times” website to subscribe to this quarterly publication: Prehistoric Times Magazine.