TITLE: Dinosaurs Rediscovered: The Scientific Revolution in Paleontology
AUTHOR: Michael J. Benton
DATE PUBLISHED: 2020
"Over the past twenty years, the study of dinosaurs has transformed into a true scientific discipline. New technologies have revealed secrets locked in prehistoric bones that no one could have previously predicted. We can now work out the color of dinosaurs, the force of their bite, their top speeds, and even how they cared for their young.
Remarkable new fossil discoveries—giant sauropod dinosaur skeletons in Patagonia, dinosaurs with feathers in China, and a tiny dinosaur tail in Burmese amber—remain the lifeblood of modern paleobiology. Thanks to advances in technologies and methods, however, there has been a recent revolution in the scope of new information gleaned from such fossil finds.
In Dinosaurs Rediscovered, leading paleontologist Michael J. Benton gathers together all of the latest paleontological evidence, tracing the transformation of dinosaur study from its roots in antiquated natural history to an indisputably scientific field. Among other things, this book explores how dinosaur remains are found and excavated, and how paleontologists read the details of dinosaurs’ lives from their fossils—their colors, their growth, and even whether we will ever be able to bring them back to life. Benton’s account shows that, though extinct, dinosaurs are still very much a part of our world. "
This isn't just a book filled with dinosaur facts, this is a book that explains how scientists know what they know (or hypothesis) about dinosaurs. Each fascinating chapter covers a particular theme rather than following a chronological progression as most dinosaur books do. So we have chapters on how scientists figured out the origin of dinosaurs and their evolutionary tree, a chapter on fossil excavations, chapters on anatomy and physiology, movement, feeding habits and growth, feathers, probability of a Jurassic Park scenario and the extinction event. Michael J. Benton has a delightful writing style that is clear and easy to understand, with interesting (and short) anecdotes and numerous illustrations, colour plates and diagrams. This is a lovely, up-to-date book about the science of dinosaurs.