(Part 2) Top products from r/Dinosaurs

Gregory Paul's Field Guide to Dinosaurs is pretty big and scientifically accurate for the most part. Some of the length is just brief descriptions of dinosaurs, however, and I wish it went into more depth.

I'm a big fan of Mark Witton and hope to order Recreating an Age of Reptiles soon. For some reason Amazon says it isn't out yet, but it was published a while ago. I find that Witton always does very meticulous research and does a great job of acknowledging and explaining disagreements. While not about dinosaurs, his book Pterosaurs is my favorite paleo book of all time. I love the artwork and it's clear that he has a real passion for these animals. He really goes into detail about different groups of pterosaurs, too. I felt like I learned a lot about pterosaurs reading the book and it really made me excited to read anything else he has written. His blog is also fantastic if you are looking for something to read!

As far as up-to-date, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs was just released and seems really interesting. It's has less of a textbook/encyclopedia feel than the other books I've recommended here and it seems like it might follow more of a narrative compared to the others which jump between types of dinosaurs. I haven't read it but I've heard good things and am excited to read my copy soon.

My favorite book is definitely Dr. Holtz's Dinosaur Encyclopedia; it's geared towards a high school level, but I know professional paleontologists who use it, it's just an awesome book.

The next step up is The Complete Dinosaur. It's a solid book, technical, but not as highly praised as ...

The Dinosauria

The Dinosauria is the gold standard, but it's incredibly dense. My best suggestion though is to read primary literature about subjects/clades that interest you. Google scholar is pretty useful for this, although paywalls will be an issue off-campus

I don't have a favorite documentary, but I will recommend the photo book Hunting Dinosaurs by Louie Psihoyos to anyone.

It's kind of dated (early 90s) but is a wonderfully written personal account of Psihoyos going around and meeting many of the great paleontologists of our time and talking about dinosaurs - alongside gorgeous photos.

Also: he somehow convinced the University of Pennsylvania to give him Edward Cope's skull and he talks about busting it out every time he met another paleontologist.

Depending on his interests, here are a few options:

• Model dinosaurs: There are several companies that sell accurate scale models of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life; Safari LTD and Collecta are two of my favorites. Beasts of the Mesozoic are some slightly higher-end poseable raptor models.
  
• If you think he'd be interested in a print of professionally-made dinosaur art, a couple of paleoartists whose sites I could find are Emily Willoughby and Mark Witton.
  
• If he might be into stickers, shirts, or other assorted dinosaur-themed merchandise such as mugs or phone cases: Permia sells shirts, stickers, and cards. Some paleoartists have Redbubble pages or similar. A few I recommend looking at: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
  
• If you think he'd be interested in scientifically accurate plushies, Palaeoplushies might be worth looking at.
  
• Books: There are a wide variety of paleontology-related books. Depending on what he's read, and what he's interested in, here are a few possibilities:
  
  • Books about prehistoric life (mostly dinosaurs) in general:
    
    • Pterosaurs by Mark Witton
      
    • A Field Guide to Mesozoic Birds and Other Winged Dinosaurs by Matt Martyniuk
      
    • The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
      
    • The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs by Gregory Paul
      
    • Dinosaurs: How they Lived and Evolved by Darren Naish and Paul Barrett
      
  • Books about paleoart:
    
    • Extreme Dinosaurs 2: The Projects by Luis Rey
      
    • The Palaeoartist's Handbook by Mark Witton
      
    • Recreating an Age of Reptiles by Mark Witton
      
    • All Yesterdays by John Conway, C. M. Kosemen, and Darren Naish

I bought myself this necktie (the black and tan variant), and people seem to love it. That being said, I see your post says "she," so I'm not sure how much it helps... Great question, though! Interested in the results myself.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Allosaurus-Dinosaur-Necktie-Fossil-Tracks/dp/B07DNKM3GZ/?th=1

Robert Mash wrote a book called "How to Keep Dinosaurs," endorsed by Richard Dawkins on this topic. Great little book that ranks and gives helpful tips about keeping different genera of popular and relatively obscure dinosaurs. Worth spending a buck or two on as a Christmas gift and reading yourself before passing off.

AFAIK there is no dinosaur focused book that has been written to specifically counter creationist claims - it would be a worth endeavor. I would point to the Counter-Creationism Handbook. It's pretty thoroughly dismantles most creationist claims - including those related to paleontology.

My Beloved Brontosaurus is great, especially since the author compares what you probably knew as a kid to what scientists have figured out now.

I don’t know if this is exactly on point but The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs is a great starting point.


https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Dinosaurs-History-World/dp/0062490427/ref=nodl_

I just finished reading Dinosaurs: A Concise Natural History, which is literally a college textbook, and I quite enjoyed it. It's not in color thought, if that's what you're looking for.

The second edition is now really dated (though the 3rd ed should be out next year). It's really not a good book to start on though, if you have no more than a general interest in dinosaurs you need something more basic to build up your knowledge and understanding to tackle something like that which is very technical.

Look to something that's more aimed at college students or equivalents like these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dinosaur-Paleobiology-TOPA-Topics/dp/0470656581 and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dinosaurs-Concise-Natural-David-Fastovsky/dp/1316501159/ref=pd_sim_14_8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KKXQASPCZSWD9F1TT35H

I used to have a book with this on the cover. I can't remember what it was called though.

On a side note, I love how naive they were about feathers back then. It's like they couldn't give up on the idea that dromaesaurs had to be scaly monsters instead of actual animals that had to deal with stuff like freezing to death.


"I know! We'll just give a little mowhawk. Boom feathers! And he still looks terrifying."

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/

It happened much, much earlier:

https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Deed-Prehistoric-Origins-Sex/dp/022614349X

Maybe Dinosaurs: an A-to-Z Guide?

and also

http://www.amazon.com/Dinosaur-Lives-Harvest-Book-Horner/dp/0156006073

[The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life is my favorite.] (http://www.amazon.com/Macmillan-Illustrated-Encyclopedia-Dinosaurs-Prehistoric/dp/0025801910/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462237228&sr=8-1&keywords=macmillan+encyclopedia+of+dinosaurs)

Dinosaurs and Dinosaurs II. Sorry, couldn't link when I originally posted

Thanks, I didn't know the feet were a big factor, I thought it was more the bones and hip structure? Although I know nothing about vertebrate paleo. My paleo prof had some inferiority issues with the vertebrate guys and didn't go near it.

I recently picked up Rise and Fall of the the Dinosaurs by Brusatte. I'm looking forward to reading it, but I have 2 kids under two, so my reading time is at an all time low.

I don't know how useful Allosaurus' arms were, but it did battle Stegosaurus. An Allosaurus tail vertebra did have a puncture wound made by a Stegosaurus. It also did have a bite force weaker than alligators, lions, and leopards.
Further reading on Allosaurus:
https://palaeo-electronica.org/2009_3/186/index.html
https://www.livescience.com/34556-allosaurus-dinosaur-feeding-technique.html
https://www.livescience.com/45400-dinosaur-healed-battle-wounds-fast.html
https://www.amazon.com/Carnivorous-Dinosaurs-Life-Past/dp/0253345391