Dinosaurs Rediscovered (Michael J. Benton)

Dinosaurs Rediscovered: The Scientific Revolution in Paleontology
Michael J. Benton
Thames and Hudson
Nonfiction, Dinosaurs/Science
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Since their discovery, dinosaur fossils have puzzled and fascinated people, spawning all manner of speculation. What kind of animals were they? How did they live? What did they look like? When did they first arise, and what made them die out? In recent decades, new discoveries and technologies have led to a veritable revolution in our understanding of the "terrible lizards", answering all manner of questions and leading to countless fascinating new ones.

REVIEW: I've had an armchair interest in dinosaurs since childhood (nothing remotely scientific or intelligent, naturally, more of a generalized awe and fascination). Lately, it seems like every other day I see a new article about an amazing find or reinterpretation, brought about by new methods of examining fossils and breakthroughs in other fields. Since most of my meager dinosaur library is rather dusty by now, I thought it high time to pick up something newer to see what's changed, and this looked like just the thing.
The author, a working paleontologist, has seen firsthand how the field has been radically transformed since the 1980's, and offers both personal and professional observations of the shifts and breakthroughs and debates. Using terminology friendly to the average reader, he explains such things as how the dinosaur family tree has been reinterpreted, how it was determined that dinosaurs were most likely warm-blooded, how new technology and tools borrowed from architecture programs helped answer questions about locomotion and bite strength and probable feeding strategies, even how similarities with bird feathers led to the first-ever determination of dinosaur colorations and patterns. All of this has transformed the field from something more speculative to somewhat harder science, though of course there remain innumerable questions to be answered, and some that will likely never be answered (barring time travel, of course). Several illustration plates and photographs are included, as well as graphs, though the latter are sometimes a bit over the head of the lay reader (at least, this lay reader). It culminates, of course, with a chapter on the dinosaurs' extinction and the wider acceptance of the massive meteor impact theory, though there is some indication the dinosaurs were already in some decline globally before then.
While the terminology and science and names could get a little thick now and again, on the whole Dinosaurs Rediscovered is a fascinating look at how far paleontology and dinosaur studies have come in a few decades, a revolution that is still ongoing. I might be stretching a slight bit with the extra half-star, but the subject is just so awesome (in both the technical "awe-inspiring" and colloquial "totally cool" senses of the word) I consider it earned.

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