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Through
the years I've read many books on dinosaurs, both in
fiction and non-fiction. On this page I plan to introduce
you to some of those books, as well as movies and toys,
and give you a chance to check them out for yourself.
Additionally, You will be able to purchase some of these
books, videos and toys right from this page with the
help of AMAZON.COM.
FICTION
| NON-FICTION | DINOSAUR
ART | VIDEO & DVD | TOYS
& REPLICAS
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The
Enormous Egg
by
Oliver Butterworth, Louise Darling (Illustrator)
One
of my favorite books as a kid. Nate Twitchell's hen
lays an incredibly large egg one night, and instead
of making a family-sized omelet, he waits for it to
hatch. When it does, to everyone's surprise, Nate is
the proud owner of a baby Triceratops! But Nate has
no experience raising dinosaurs, and soon finds that
owning one can lead to all sorts of problems. Wonderfully
illustrated by Louise Darling.
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Dinotopia
: A Land Apart from Time
by
James Gurney
Beautifully
illustrated by James Gurney, one of the best dinosaur
artists of all time. This is a sort of Gulliver's Travels
story set in a land where humans and dinosaurs co-exist
in a symbiotic society. The great dinosaur art alone
is worth the price of admission. The first of many books
about this imaginary land.
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How
Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?
by
Jane Yolen, Mark Teague (Illustrator)
This
is a bed-time book for small children. Nothing substantive
on dinosaurs here, but the illustrations are lush and
colorful. As with anyting to do with dinosaurs, I couldn't
pass this one up.
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The
Lost World
by
Arthur Conan, Sir Doyle
From
the author who created Sherlock Holmes, "The Lost
World" is the grand daddy of all dinosaur fiction.
Professor George E. Challenger discovers and attempt
s to conquer a land untouched by time. On a forbidding
plateau shut off from the rest of the world by the savage
amazon jungle, he and his team encounter dinosaurs and
primitive beast-men. Written in 1912 as a series for
a magazine, it's still a great read today.
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Jurassic
Park
by
Michael Crichton
This
is the one that broke open the gates of Dino-mania.
With the success of the Steven Speilberg movie and the
inevitable sequels, we could finally see what dinosaurs
were supposed to look like. The images brought
to film are incredible. But if the story seemed a little
empty, try reading the book. Much more interesting and
meaty than the movie, Michael Crichton is a great author
who's books are a pleasure to read... especially this
one.
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The
Dinosaur Heresies
by
Robert T. Bakker
The
more modern theories of dinosaur evolution and extinction
are covered here, including the case for warm-bloodedness
and the rise of birds. Lots of black and white drawings
and diagrams help to explain his theories and embellish
his evidence as he re-examines old ideas and presents
new ones.
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Dinosaur!
by
Dr. Norman David
Based
on the A&E television series of the same name hosted
by Walter Cronkite. This book covers the history of
the study of dinosaurs, from the first fossils found
and the great fossil hunts, to more recent discoveries
and theories. Some good information here and very nice
illustrations.
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The
Science of Jurassic Park and the Lost World
by
Rob Desalle, David Lindley
Is
it really possible to bring back dinosaurs as they did
in "Jurassic Park," and if so how would one
go about doing it. This book investigates these questions
and explores what science is capable in today's world.
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Walking
with Dinosaurs: A Natural History
by
Tim Haines
With
images taken directly from the TV show "Walking
With Dinosaurs," this book is nicely illustrated
and offers the same information about dinosaurs as the
show. The computer graphics and puppets used in the
production make the art in this book look more like
nature photography than most other books on the subject.
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The
New Dinosaurs
by
William Stout
Known
for his work in underground comics, William Stout offers
us his vision of the world of the dinosaurs with this
wonderful book. This volume expands and updates his
previous book "The Dinosaurs" (now out of
print). His Art Nouveau style is an interesting and
welcome departure from the styles of most of today's
dinosaur artists.
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Dinosaurs!
The Biggest, Baddest, Strangest, Fastest
by
Howard Zimmerman, George Olshevsky
This
book was written for kids, but the wonderful illustrations
make it one that eveyone will enjoy. It's an over-sized
book with over 75 full color illustrations depicting
how many dinosaurs may have looked in the flesh.
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Age
of Reptiles : Tribal Warfare
by
Ricardo Delgado
One
of my other great interests is comic books, and here
is a comic book about dinosaurs. Wonderful illustrations
and stories without dialog. This is a "graphic
novel" which is a collection of several individual
comic issues sold as one volume.
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Walking
with Dinosaurs
BBC
The
dinosaurs on this DVD rival those in the Jurassic Park
movies. Covering all three eras in which the dinosaurs
evolved, ruled and ultimately met final extinction,
the studies of dinosaurs here are based on scientific
evidence and conjecture. Filmed in a wildlife documentary
style, this is the best educational video on dinosaurs
to date. Included with the DVD is an additional disc;
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs. If you
haven't seen this one, make sure you do.
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Allosaurus
- A Walking With Dinosaurs Special
BBC
As
a sequal to Walking With Dinosaurs, the BBC offers this
half-hour video with the same wildlife documentary flavor.
The story this time follows the life of a single Allosaurus,
based on the most complete fossil skeleton of one of
the beasts ever found. Creative guessing provides us
with possible explanations for the numerous broken bones
and growths on the actual skeleton. A wonderful follow-up
to Walking With Dinosaurs for those of us who couldn't
get enough.
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Jurassic
Park
Universal
Pictures
Steven
Speilberg and Michael Crichton brought us the ultimate
dinosaur experience in 1993 with Jurassic Park.
Rather than traveling back through time or to a lost
jungle cut off from the rest of the world, we are transported
to a theme park that breeds genetically-engineered dinosaurs
cloned from cells found in mosquitoes preserved in amber.
If you're into dinosaurs, you've undoubtably seen this
one, and probably the sequels.
The
Lost World: Jurassic Park
Jurassic
Park III
Jurassic
Park Trilogy
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When
Dinosaurs Roamed America
Discovery
Channel
This
is another DVD in the flavor of "Walking With Dinosaurs"
with narration provided by John Goodman. While the CGI
in this production is not as polished as the previously
mentioned "Walking," it still is an entertaining
and informative look into what the lives of living dinosaurs
may have been like.
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Dinosaur
Disney
The
Walt Disney Company decided to catch the wave of dinosaur
mania and created this animated feature using state-of-the-art
computer graphics. Made for children, my problems with
the film are the talking dinosaurs and mixing together
of animals from different times. I felt the simple story
could have been told relatively easily without dialog.
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Tyrannosaurus
Tooth Replica with Stand
by
Skullduggery
A
plastic replica of a Tyrannosaurus tooth is what every
dinosaur fanatic should have. Covered with wonderful
detail, including it's knife-like serrations, this tooth
is an exact replica from the jaws of the most ferocious
animal to ever walk the Earth. The original is on display
at the Museum of Geology in South Dakota.
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Utahraptor
Claw Replica with Stand
by
Skullduggery
Another
terrific fossil replica,this amazing weapon of the Cretaceous
period was used by one of the most vicious dinosaurs
evern known. The original Utahraptor Claw, from which
this replica was molded, is housed at the
College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum.
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Saber
Tooth Cat Skull Replica
by
Skullduggery
So,
it's not a dinosaur, but it sure is cool. This skull
is
an exact replica measuring 13" long, 8" wide
and 12" high, and includes an oak base for mounting
in the "attack" position. The original skull
is part of the collection at the Natural History Museum
of Los Angeles.
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Carnegie
Mountain Display
by
Safari
The
Carnegie Collection is one of the most acurrate toy
reproductions of dinosaurs I've ever seen. I've bought
a lot of these plastic figures, but this set looks like
the way to go (some of these sell for $25 or more individually).
Every piece in the series is crafted in durable polyvinyl
and is set on one of three massive scales; 1:10, 1:15,
1:40 and comes complete with an educational hang tag
detailing the behaviors and ecology of the species.
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Brachiosaurus
by
Safari
This
is the Carnegie Collection's replica of the Brachiosaurus.
Hand painted, this museum quality replica is 22"
tall making it a 1: 40 scale size.
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Tyrannosaurus
by
Safari
The
terrible and ferocious Tyrannosaurus, hand painted and
realistic looking. This replica is 10" long making
it 1: 40 scale size.
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Diplodocus
by
Safari
One
of the longest dinosaurs ever to have lived, this replica
of Diplodocus is 24" long making it 1: 40 scale
size. Hand painted, each model has been crafted with
exacting attention by paleontologists at the Carnegie
Museum of Natural history in Pittsburgh, Pa., using
the most recent discoveries and findings to ensure accuracy.
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