Reddit reviews Dinosaurs: A Concise Natural History

Amazon.com. For instance, I bought Dinosaurs: A Concise Natural History, which is an undergrad textbook, for $7.25, including shipping. Just search for the books you want and look to the used section in the listing. Most of the ones I've bought on Amazon came from libraries so they have the tough plastic outer jackets on them, which helps reduce wear and tear.

I'm in the same boat as you and have been researching on Amazon. So far I've come up with:

http://www.amazon.com/Princeton-Field-Guide-Dinosaurs-Guides/dp/069113720X

http://www.amazon.com/Dinosaurs-Prehistoric-Animals-Smithsonian-Handbooks/dp/0789493616/

http://www.amazon.com/Dinosaurs-Complete-Up-Date-Encyclopedia/dp/0375824197/

http://www.amazon.com/Dinosaurs-Concise-Natural-David-Fastovsky/dp/052171902X/

I know it is not an answer to your question for good books to further your education, but a good Sci-Fi Author to check out would be Frederik Pohl. Specifically, The World at the End of Time was a really good book. It has probably some of the best descriptions of relativistic effects of any Sci-Fi I have read. I'd also recommend continuing to read the Rama series. It gets a bit.. different... when Clarke isn't writing it, but it is still worth a read. Also, finish the Odyssey series if you haven't (2010, 2061, and 3001). Shelly's Frankenstein (not any of the movies, although Young Frankenstein with Gene Wilder is a funny spoof that I'd recommend) is worth a read. The book is completely different from most popular adaptations of it. Also, there are several good Sci-Fi writers here on reddit, and /r/WritingPrompts usually has interesting stuff going on in it.

Finally, here is a list of Non-fiction Dinosaur books: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/17226.The_Best_Non_fiction_Dinosaur_Books, with http://www.amazon.com/Dinosaurs-Concise-Natural-David-Fastovsky/dp/052171902X/ being a good book too, I hear.