DINOSAUR DISCOVERIES

A lightly revised survey of current dino-knowledge, updating the original 2005 edition.

“Lightly” is the key word here, as aside from one partially redrawn illustration and a few minor emendations, the changes are limited to editorial tweaks. Gibbons opens with the great extinction event, shows crews of paleontologists—including several women but all save one white, as before—at work, goes on to profile seven “groups” of dinosaurs from prosauropods to ornithopods, then closes with a link to modern birds. Considering the almost frenetic pace of new fossil discoveries, this is all something of a missed opportunity: There is no mention of Patagotitan mayorum, for instance, the largest land animal ever, nor, aside from the carried-over Archaeopteryx, are feathered dinosaurs represented beyond a specimen of Oviraptor in one illustration that has been recast as Anzu with the addition of a few inconspicuous feathery squiggles on the forelimbs. Still, the toothy T. rex on the cover is as riveting as ever, and despite being so loosely drawn that some Maiasaura are simply relabeled here as Edmontosaurus, another genus entirely, enough dinosaurs crowd the sparely detailed prehistoric scenes within to please even the most demanding fans.

Almost entirely old news but nevertheless a must for libraries in need of replacement copies.