The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs

This new edition of The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs is a unique, comprehensive treatment of this fascinating group of organisms. It is a detailed survey of dinosaur origins, their diversity, and their eventual extinction. The book can easily be used as a teaching textbook for a class, but it is also written as a series of readable, entertaining essays covering important and timely topics appealing to non-specialists and all dinosaur enthusiasts: birds as 'living dinosaurs', the new feathered dinosaurs from China, 'warm-bloodedness'. Along the way, the reader learns about dinosaur functional morphology, physiology, and systematics using cladistic methodology - in short, how professional paleontologists and dinosaur experts go about their work, and why they find it so rewarding. The book is spectacularly illustrated by John Sibbick, a world-famous illustrator of dinosaurs, commissioned exclusively for this book.

ISBN 0521811724   Pages 500 ISBN13 9780521811729 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Cambridge University Press   Weight (grammes) 1376 Imprint Cambridge University Press   Reprint date 30-Nov-2011 12:00:00 am Format Hardback   Published in Cambridge Publication date 07 Feb 2005   Previous ISBN 9780521444965 Illustrator John Sibbick   Height (mm) 246 Library of Congress 2004049261   Width (mm) 189 DEWEY 567.9   Spine width (mm) 31 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Tertiary education, General, Professional / Scholarly

Ch. 1		Introduction		3
Ch. 2		Back to the past : the Mesozoic era		21
Ch. 3		Discovering order in the natural world		45
Ch. 4		Interrelationships of vertebrates		63
Ch. 5		The origin of the dinosauria		87
Ch. 6		Stegosauria : hot plates		107
Ch. 7		Ankylosauria : mass and gas		132
Ch. 8		Pachycephalosauria : ramrods of the Cretaceous		147
Ch. 9		Ceratopsia : horns and all the frills		164
Ch. 10		Ornithopoda : the tuskers, antelopes, and "mighty ducks" of the Mesozoic		186
Ch. 11		Sauropodomorpha : the big, the bizarre, and the majestic		229
Ch. 12		Theropoda I : nature red in tooth and claw		265
Ch. 13		Theropoda II : the origin of birds		300
Ch. 14		Theropoda III : the early evolution of birds		333
Ch. 15		Dinosaur thermoregulation : some like it hot		347
Ch. 16		Patterns in dinosaur evolution		383
Ch. 17		Reconstructing extinctions : the art of science		412
Ch. 18		The Cretaceous - tertiary extinction : the frill is gone		423

From reviews of the previous edition: 'The book amply fulfils its objective of providing an authoritative, stimulating and lively introduction to dinosaurs. There are not many textbooks to which the epithets 'lively' and 'entertaining' apply, and that are friendly enough for a general reader ... I can also warmly recommend it to interested general readers as the best available and thoroughly accessible account of dinosaurs and how they fit in with current scientific thinking - with the bonus that it presents the facts in an exciting manner, while dispelling the hype.' Angela Milner, New Scientist From reviews of the previous edition: '... reflects the rigour of modern palaeontological research, and it will transmit the idea of method and testing to students, especially in terms of cladistic analysis of relationships, studies of macroevolution and of functional morphology. The book also conveys enthusiasm and excitement, two further principles of science that new generations of palaeontologists display in abundance ... The presentation of the book is superb. The writing style is lively, and there are many amusing anecdotes and sidelines on popular attitudes to dinosaurs ... There are even 14 colour plates, which is astounding in a textbook at this price.' Michael J. Benton, Trends in Ecology and Evolution '... superb ... It's engagingly written, authoritative, up-to-date, well illustrated, and bursting with enthusiasm. ... The book is written as a university level text, but could easily be used to develop modular material for teaching at any level. I hope it will be. Highly recommended.' Biologist '... it serves as an excellent primer on and about dinosaurs. ... For the uninitiated this should prove to be a thoroughly good read ...' Geological Magazine 'There is much in The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs to appeal to the non-specialist and dinosaur enthusiast as well as to the student market. The book covers exactly what it says on the jacket, including important sections on systematics using cladistic methodology that shows how dinosaurs relate to each other and to other animals. It offers more in-depth coverage of dinosaurs than broader vertebrate palaeontology textbooks ... very good value.' Times Higher Education Supplement '... a fascinating and interesting book. Very well illustrated, it is of an easy understanding. Concise and clear ...' Geobios 'One of the real strong features of The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs are its line drawings by John Sibbick, one of the foremost dinosaur illustrators who excels here as a textbook illustrator as well. ... a great achievement by the authors and a substantial improvement over the first edition. It must have been a real challenge to write an update of this rapidly moving field, but the book very well manages to convey the excitement of the ongoing research on dinosaurs.' Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research

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