Flying Dinosaurs: How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds - Softcover

Pickrell, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 174223366X ISBN 13: 9781742233666

Publisher: NewSouth, 2014

Synopsis

Dinosaurs didn't die out when an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago. Get ready to unthink what you thought you knew and journey into the deep, dark depths of the Jurassic. The discovery of the first feathered dinosaur in China in 1996 sent shockwaves through the palaeontological world. Were the feathers part of a complex mating ritual, or a stepping stone in the evolution of flight? And just how closely related is T. rex to a chicken? Award-winning journalist John Pickrell reveals how dinosaurs developed flight and became the birds in our backyards. He delves into the latest discoveries in China, the US, Europe and uncovers a thriving black market in fossils and infighting between dinosaur hunters, plus the controversial plan to use a chicken to bring dinosaurs back from the dead

About this title

About the Author:

John Pickrell is an award-winning journalist and the editor of Australian Geographic. He has also worked for Cosmos, New Scientist, Science, National Geographic, and Science News.

Review:

In Flying Dinosaurs John Pickrell challenges everything you were told about dinosaurs as a child.... Through extensive research and interviews with leading paleontologists, Flying Dinosaurs charts how each new discovery confirmed the link between dinosaurs and birds.... The author's fascination with dinosaurs is evident throughout the book. But his passion aside, it takes a skilled science writer to transform the incremental progress of a field such as paleontology into a narrative that sustains a book. (Nicky Phillips The Sydney Morning Herald)

After digesting all that Pickrell has to offer, it will be difficult for any reader to think about dinosaurs -- or birds -- in the same ways they had before. (Publishers Weekly)

[An] engaging book. (GrrlScientist - a Guardian Blog)

A remarkable book, with a wealth of interviews with palaeontologists and a comprehensive catalogue of virtually all the findings of feathered dinosaurs since 1996. It's a useful catch-up if you have lost track of this rapidly developing area of palaentology, and full of fascinating, unusual facts―did you know that birds are the closest living relatives to the crocodile? (Bill Condie Cosmos Magazine)

[Flying Dinosaurs] deftly covers the history behind the decades-old debate over just when and how birds first arose. (Bruce Dorminey Forbes)

Pickrell covers the history of changing thought on dinosaurs and the bird-dinosaur link.... Pickrell's book is well written and accessible, and thus is an excellent companion. (Greg Laden Greg Laden's Blog)

A detailed and timely overview of our rapidly-improving scientific understanding of how massive, lumbering dinosaurs evolved into agile, flying birds. (Mike Lee The Conversation)

A readable introduction to the subject. (Ian Paulsen The Bridbooker Report)

[A] fast-paced.... Fascinating read. (BirdWatching)

A well-structured overview of the various lines of evidence connecting the evolution of birds with that of theropod dinosaurs.... Any general reader or student interested in dinosaurs should find it a pleasure to read.... Highly recommended. (Choice)

About this edition

• Publisher: NewSouth
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 174223366X
• ISBN 13: 9781742233666
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256