Review of Dinosaur Atlas: An Amazing Journey Through a Lost World (Spiral-bound)

I have been hooked on dinosaurs every since my great aunt took me to the Great Hall of Dinosaurs at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University.This was so long ago the apatosaurus was known as a brontosaurus because they had the head of a camposaurus sitting on top of the giant skeleton that dominates the hall, along with Rudolph Zallinger's "The Age of Reptiles" mural.One of the neat things there is a triceratops on which a faux skin has been placed on one side.I mention that because in this "Dinosaur Atlas" authors John Malam and John Woodward, along with consultant Professor Michael Benton, go so far beyond that display that it makes me want to laugh with delight.Finding out about dinosaurs in the 21st century is proving to be a lot of fun.

This "Dinosaur Atlas" has main maps that show major fossil locations and list some of the prehistoric animals found there, followed by pages that provide additional information about both the locations and the animals.The section opener pages consist of six main sections corresponding to the continents (Antarctica is included with Australia).Color-coded silhouettes on the maps locate where prehistoric animals have been found, with the numbers corresponding with the silhouettes in the profile list.Each main section also has an artwork scene that shows not only dinosaurs but other animals of interest, as well as what the environment was like at that time.Today's Landscape information boxes compare the present-day world with that of the dinosaurs, and Fact Boxes throughout the book provide additional information on the topic, while Biography Boxes reveal the people behind the finds.There are also Did You Know? boxes that reveal interesting facts about a dinosaur or a fossil site.You will also find a transparent overlay page in each section, with a prehistoric animal of special interest.The overlay provides further information, enabling readers to see the skeletal structure.

For example, the section on North America identifies the Morrison Formation, a vast area of sandstone formed during the Jurassic Period that left Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Diplodocus, and Stegosaurus skeletons in the area of what is now Dinosaur National Monument. That is one of six locations highlighted in the section, and hopefully every young would-be palentologist who reads this book will have the opportunity to visit at least one of the places described.The section also focuses on Corythosaurus, the most common hadrosaur (duck-bill) in these areas.The overlay is of a skeleton of an Allosaurus, accompanied by a comparison of its skull, with the muscles and then the skin added to it.The introductory section of the atlas provides an overview on how to use it, a look at life on earth and the rise of the reptiles, and then at the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous worlds.Malam and Woodward also address the question of What is a Dinosaur? and explain the basics of the fossil record.They also have a pair of two-page spreads on both flying dinosaurs and swimming dinosaurs.The death of the dinosaurs and what came after them are covered at the end of the book.After answering over a dozen questions about dinosaurs (e.g., Who discovered the first dinosaur?What color were dinosaurs?), they look at the process of excavation and display.A Glossary of key terms will also be of help to young readers.

The "Dinosaur Atlas" also covers with a CD-Rom in the front cover that includes looks at an Allosaurus, Saltasaurus, Pterodactylus, Spinosaurus, Protoceratops, and Richmond Pliosaur.For each you have four options: (1) 360-degree rotating skeleton, (2) 360-degree rotating figures of the dinosaurs with muscles and skin, (3) loops of the skeletons shown walking, flying and swimming, as appropriate, and (4) views respectively of a biting skull, rising up on hind legs to eat from a tree, diving to catch and eat a fish, eating a small dinosaur that scurries by, braying up on hind legs, and eating while swimming along.You can enlarge the photos to approximately half-screen size.What you have here is pretty basic in terms of animation, but you will get a sense of how they looked and how they moved.All things considered the CD-Rom is not as impressive as the book, but that is because the book is pretty impressive.You know from the fact it is a DK publication that you are going to find multiple illustrations on virtually every page (I especially like the ones where they put dinosaurs into photographs of an environment).But the whole point here is to show how and where dinosaurs lived, and by that standard DK's "Dinosaur Atlas" is a big success.

Product Description
Follow the most remarkable episode in prehistory in this all-in-one compendium of everything dinosaur. This volume marries the very latest in paleontology with an easily accessible atlas format to illuminate the mysteries of dinosaur origins, clues to what they looked like and where they lived, and, most intriguingly, what happened to them. In vivid recreations of the prehistoric world and fascinating see-through overlays featuring 3-D computer graphics of skeletal structures, DK's Dinosaur Atlas brings dinosaurs to life!AUTHOR BIO: Dougal Dixon has written many children's books and encyclopedias. He has participated in a number of worldwide dinosaur excavations, and in 1993 was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Educational Journalism by the Educational Press Association of America.

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