There have been a lot of misconceptions about dinosaurs. No velociraptors are not the size of a human, many of the Dino's we think of as scaly actually had feathers and there were TWO big mass extinctions of the dinosaurs.
Our personal fascination for these great beasts all stemmed from our childhood –which we imagine would be the same for most. Late nights (by that we mean staying up past 8pm) reading our encyclopaedias of dinosaurs, watching the Jurassic Park films, cartoon dinosaurs in shows like ‘The Land Before Time’; we started early – and we’ve had a healthy obsession since!
What have we leant… how long do we have to talk? There really is a lot of falsities about the dinosaurs, we had no idea the big extinction of the Dino’s at the end of the Triassic period was mostly due to natural climate changes, land and plate shifts and other environmental factors, the meteor really was the tip of the iceberg, it did ultimately finish a majority of them off, but to put it simply – they were doomed anyway.
We were a little sceptic when receiving the book as it seemed like it was going to be a deeply intellectual and scientific based book on dinosaurs – which is was. Our worry was that a simpleton like ourselves wouldn’t have the intellectual capacity to take in the information provided. But, that is why Steve is such a great author. What may seem daunting by the blurb is incredibly well laid out and easy to follow. It reminded us of the Dinosaur ride at Disney Land’s: Animal Kingdom– what seemed terrifying to begin with was really a fun ride with many thrills along the way.
There's no patronising tone. It really is the tale of the dinosaurs with a direct focus on how they began, which is rarely spoken about. It's insane to believe how Steve works really, from dust and bones to a full length chapter and a detailed analysis on the Dino’s habitat, habits and hair.
Perfect timing with the release of the new Jurassic World film don’t you think? – if you are planning on seeing it, we highly advise reading this first; not that the Jurassic Park series is factually correct – when almost all of it is stereotypes and myth, but it’s some harmless fun, and you can tell all the punters on the way out just why it’s so factually incorrect – they’ll hate you for it, but you’re spreading the truth!
A must-read for those who don’t know the facts from the false: which is almost everyone. We can’t wait for our next visit to the Natural History Museum already – and we’ll know if the exhibits are outdated armed with new knowledge from Steve Brusatte.
