Dinosaur Publications
Dinosaurs Alive! (An Augmented Reality Book)
By Robert Mash
When I was first introduced to dinosaurs over 50 years ago there were only one or two books available and they were in
black and white with limited illustration. Dinosaur films were startling but the animation was hardly lifelike and dinosaurs eating humans
was geologically unsound – as man and beast were separated by almost 60 million years.
Now we have a new type of book on the market using a new technology that enables the webcam on your computer
to recognise pages of the book and trigger the appearance of 3D animations that come to life! The new technology is called Augmented Reality
and you are able to control the 3D images that appear on your computer screen.
The book itself will be noted for it’s beautiful cover, which is soft to the touch and brightly coloured with your focus brought
quickly to a reptilian eye that stares at you from centrepage!
There are no page numbers but the inside cover and the first two pages tell you how to install the software, give tips on how
to use it and advise you to contact carltonbooks.co.uk if you experience any problems. When you see a black square with a symbol looking like
a dinosaur eye you are on an AR page. Look out for monsters!
After the title pages there are twenty double page spreads listed as: Meet the Dinosaurs; Old Timers; Super Heavy Weights;
Diplodocus (AR); Killing Machines; Micro Monsters; Tough Guys; Stegosaurus (AR);
Sprinters and Plodders; Scary Oddballs; Quetzalcoatlus (AR); Ferocious Beasts; Power Packs; Big Heads;
Pentaceratops AR; Longest and Tallest; Master-Minds; Extreme Eaters; Tyrannosaurus AR;
Death and Extinction followed by a Glossary and answers to the quiz questions posed on the Masterminds pages.
Each spread is beautifully illustrated with a mix of full colour reconstructions, excellent line drawings and photographic images. Facts
and descriptive notelets fill each spread. They are succinctly written and provide abundant details on your favourite animals.
The book would be very good value without Augmented Reality but it is the sight of dinosaurs acting fierclesly, hunting for food or
fighting each other that will earn Dinosaurs Alive a special place in your book collection.
Remember however, that to view these amazing acts you will need a computer fitted with a webcam and a copy of the "Dinosaurs Alive"
software (present inside the front cover of book or downloaded from Carlton Books Website). Before you buy you can experience the thrill of
using this reality package on the web at Amazon Books. Once hooked you will need to check for the following minimum system requirements:
PC Hardware: a webcam, CPU: Intel Pentium 4.2GHZ or above or AMD equivalent, RAM: 1GB memory, Graphics card: most graphic cards
and onboard chipsets are suitable (e.g. Nvidia, ATI and Intel). Software: Windows XP SP2 or above, Windows Vista.
Mac Hardware: a webcam, CPU: Intel Core Duo 2.4GHZ or above, RAM 1GB memory, Graphics card: Nvidia, ATI or Intel. Software:
Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5.
ISBN: 1847325785
ISBN-13: 9781847325785
Publisher: Carlton Books
Publication Date: 07 Jun 2010
Pages: 48pp (228 x 262mm)
Dinosaurs on the Move
By Cathy Diez-Luckie
I am always worried when I see a child or group of children sizing up a book with a pair of safety scissors! Firstly
because we live in a world dominated by health and safety rules and regulations and secondly because I have always kept my books
in pristine condition. However, 'Dinosaurs on the Move' begs to be cut up! It is super book to look at, from cover to cover, with cleanly
drawn and beautifully coloured illustrations of nine dinosaurs and one of Pteranodon.
Only nine dinosaurs I hear you say. Yes but the end product is nine dinosaurs that come to life in your hands.
The first four pages of the books are dedicated to descriptions of the various animals you will later cut and paste.
The descriptions are short but carefully written and present the majority of key facts on Allosaurus,
Ankylosaurus, Baryonyx, Brachiosaurus, Ouranosaurus,
Parasaurolophus, Pteranodon, Stegosaurus, Triceratops
and Tyrannosaurus rex. After that there are two pages for each animal one in colour the
other with line drawings. Both sets of pages can be removed easily as the lightweight card is perforated along the length
of the bound margin. For those of you good at colouring you need only to extract the pages with line drawings for younger
children (and parents) you can take out the colour pages and enhance the quality and impact of the final product.
Once you have decided on colour or black and white and extracted the pages you can turn to the inside
back cover and follow the simple instructions. Taking Allosaurus as an example, simply cut round each of the 16 body shapes,
colour in if necessary and then use a small punch (1/8th) to cut the holes clearly marked on the head, jaw, limbs and body parts.
On the back of each part capital letters tell you which parts can be fitted to each other with brass fasteners. The result is
an articulated model of Allosaurus and hours of fun and learning.
In the United States Dinosaurs on the Move can be purchased from Borders and other main bookstores. Dinosaur
fans living elsewhere can order from Borders on-line. The price is $14.95. Postage and packaging or shipping will be around $4.00.
The Great Dinosaur Discoveries
By Darren Naish
In 1824, bones discovered in England were identified as coming from the first dinosaur to be given a name - megalosaurus. Thousands
more discoveries since then have led us on a fascinating journey. Every new discovery has brought a deeper understanding
and changed the way we visualise each species and its lifestyle.
This major new book looks at the earliest scrappy finds and best guesses of the early 1800s through to the spectacular
key discoveries that changed people's minds and brought dinosaurs alive in the public consciousness.
Key finds for each century are examined in chronological order, with information about the dinosaurs themselves interwoven with
accounts of their actual discovery and the extraordinary scientist and explorers who found them. On this fascinating journey, we come back to the same
sorts of dinosaurs more than once as new discoveries changed ideas on their appearance, biology or behaviour. The
amazing new discoveries in China and South America in the last few years are fully documented, as are the major new
finds of the 21st century.
Darren Naish is one the most informed vertebrate palaeontogists of his era. He is totally dedicated to getting things right and his
new book on The Great Dinosaur Discoveries is an example of his detailed approach to his work. He is a real enthusiast and spends as much time as
he can, with limited resources, trying to find new dinosaurs in different parts of the World. The Dinosaur Society thoroughly recommends his new
book to readers of all ages.
ISBN: 978140819068
Dinoboy Rules in Dinomite Mag!
Read The Amazing Adventures of DINOBOY, the coolest hero of the last 65
million years, every month only in DINOMITE magazine! Mix the power of a
T. Rex, the brains of a Velociraptor and the speed of a Gallimimus and you
get DINOBOY. One moment he's Jack Bolan, a dino-mad kid, living in the 21st
century - the next he's transformed into DINOBOY, a dinosaur mutation,
battling ferocious dinosaurs in prehistoric times. No wonder he's every dino
fan's favourite superhero, and this month they can get their hands on
exclusive DINOBOY T.shirts, only from DINOMITE magazine.
DINOMITE is the number one magazine that's mad about dinosaurs. Every issue
is packed full of incredible features, awesome posters, loads of facts,
puzzles, drawings, plus lots and lots of brilliant things to win! And this
month's fab free gift is a dinosaur skeleton to assemble!
Published by Signature Publishing Ltd, the latest issue of DINOMITE is on
sale now at all good retailers and newsagents.
For further information contact DINOMITE on 01428 601020 or email
julie.patten@signaturepl.co.uk
Uzasny Svet Dinosauru (Translates as Amazing World of Dinosaurs)
Vladimír Socha
This recently published Czech book has 320
pages and contains numerous illustrations, photos and new information
regarding the field of dinosaurs paleontology
More details can be viewed
here.
Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds
John Long and Peter Schouten. 2008, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-537266-3. pp. 193.
Review by Dr Darren Naish, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth (longer version here)
The idea that feathers decorated and insulated the bodies of the small bird-like predatory dinosaurs of the Jurassic and
Cretaceous – the coelurosaurs – is no longer a speculation limited to controversial artwork, but the mainstream view.
Spectacular fossils from the Lower Cretaceous rocks of Liaoning Province in north-east China have shown that feathers,
and simpler, filament-like 'proto-feathers', were widespread among coelurosaurs, being present in compsognathids and
basal tyrannosaurs as well as in the maniraptorans (the oviraptorosaurs, troodontids, dromaeosaurs and kin). In this new
book, author John Long and artist Peter Schouten have worked together to show-case a diversity of coelurosaurs
(many of which are only recently discovered) in modern, state-of-the-art life restorations.
Schouten is well known for the several volumes he has illustrated for author Tim Flannery, most recently A Gap
in Nature (William Hieneman, 2001) and Astonishing Animals: Extraordinary Creatures and the Fantastic Worlds They Inhabit
(Atlantic Monthly Press, 2004). Like A Gap in Nature and Astonishing Animals, Schouten's artwork is the main focus of
Feathered Dinosaurs (rather than Long's text), so it would be wrong for a reviewer to comment on the text and to merely state
in passing that there were lots of pretty pictures.
I love Schouten's art and think that his renditions are novel, insightful, exciting and often just beautiful. The giant
compsognathid Sinocalliopteryx is depicting attacking a dromaeosaur (an interaction inspired by the fact that the Sinocalliopteryx type
specimen has a dromaeosaur leg preserved in its stomach) and Saurornitholestes pulls flesh from the immense carcass of a fallen
Quetzalcoatlus, the sheer size of the pterosaur being wonderfully conveyed by the fact that, even on this double-page spread, all we
get to see of it is its eye and the back of its head. An adult Epidendrosaurus feeds its young and the alvarezsaurid Shuvuuia –
shown as having a head resembling that of a pangolin – licks termites from an opened gallery in rotten wood. Buitreraptor gapes
wide in a silent scream, and both Ornitholestes and Huaxiagnathus (referred to throughout the book as Huaxignathus [sic]) are
shown clambering around in trees (homages to Paul's 1988 Predatory Dinosaurs of the World?).
Schouten's attention to detail is so good that we see the ticks nestled in the folds of skin around the
eye of Alioramus. Scavenging insects are visiting the eyes and decomposing flesh of that dead Quetzalcoatlus,
tyrannosaurs have eyelashes and fine hairs in their ear and nasal orifices, and frayed feather-tips betray the fact that
maniraptoran hand feathers must have been subject to a reasonable amount of erosion. These animals are vibrantly
alive, and they fit into their environments in the way that real animals should. Schouten's theropods are undeniably avian
in appearance, and among the most avian of non-avian theropods depicted so far. But I actually think that the birdiness often
goes too far, especially when the modern-day inspiration that Schouten drew from is all too obvious.
The bad news is that Schouten's lack of experience with non-avian dinosaurs sometimes shows. The most obvious
problem with his dinosaurs is that many of them are far too chunky, with stout hindlimbs and bodies way broader than they should be.
Some details are also portrayed incorrectly.
But these are trivial gripes. This book is a joy to look at and will be enjoyed by anyone interested in dinosaurs.
A Time Traveller's Field Notes and Observations
of Dinosaurs
by Henrietta Gray
Illustrated by Robert Nichols and Neil Reid
Geologists work with time but their clock started ticking 4.5 billion years ago! Imagine therefore how
much a geologist would value the invention of a time machine. A machine that would allow him or her to move through
time and study at first hand an ever changing planet.
Our perception of the world at any time during its long history is based on the sophisticated study
of rocks and minerals undertaken by geologists. They can interpret the environments and geography of our planet
from the rocks they study and provide an insight into the complex relationships that developed between the evolving
planet and the animals and plants that existed on its surface. Geologists are trained to observe, measure and record
and they keep detailed field notebooks with notes and annotated drawings.
Any geologist travelling through time would adopt a disciplined approach in order to write up his or
her finds and experiences at a later date. The same discipline was adopted by the natural scientists of the 17th to 19th
centuries, long before radio and television.
A Time Travellers Field Notes and Observations of Dinosaurs relates the tale of a bright young
naturalist who discovers a time machine in her father' workshop (the family summerhouse and garden shed). She learns
how to use the machine and is soon visiting ancient time zones.
The story is set in the year 1915 and her voyages through time involve the use of a book written by
her father who was away in France serving King and Country. The book indicates that her father had travelled both back
and forward in time hence her detailed knowledge of a host of scientific facts such as the geological timescale and of
animals and plants described for each of her voyages. From the beginning of her adventures she adopts a mature scientific
approach and her journal records in detail her experiences, observations and sketches.
The journal is beautifully reproduced as A Time Travellers Field Notes and Observations of Dinosaurs.
It is essentially a field notebook with interesting asides about her family and friends and her dog named Bruno.
The book is faithfully written in the style of a mature and educated young lady of the early 1900's. It provides
an enjoyable and informed insight in an ancient world populated by the most fascinating creatures to have lived on Earth. It
stretches beyond the normal everyday description of a host dinosaurs by size, weight and types of teeth. It involves
the reader in the joy of escapism yet clearly illustrates the need to record and observe diligently and to write and
express oneself clearly if your want to be part of history yourself.
A Time Travellers Field Notes and Observations of Dinosaurs is written by Henrietta Gray and
beautifully illustrated (in real life by Robert Nichols and Neil Reid). The book is different in approach and is charming and
innovative in terms of the storyline.
Dinofile by Professor Richard Moody
Review by Dino Aulakh
Dino-File written by Professor Richard Moody and published by Hamlyns is a
handy encyclopaedia which covers a bounty of knowledge of the most famous 120
Mesozoic beasts. The majority of are dinosaurs but there are also descriptions
of pterosaurs, icthyosaurs, pleiosaurs, turtles and crocodiles. Each animal
is introduced by a classificaton from infraorder to scientific name and
the meaning of name in English. A simple strip of information that adds to greater
understanding both of the individual and its close relatives.
Colourful drawings of each dinosaur add to the beauty of this guide with every
detail of the body from nostrils to brow-horns, from spiked tail club to scythe
like claws.
Small silhouettes are employed to draw comparison between the dimensions of
each beast to those of a man two metres tall. The illustrations reflect the
animal in motion and together with a short, but detailed description of the
animal provide a great insight in the history and evolution of the dinosaurs.
Dinofile is an authentic collection of facts for amateurs and professionals
alike and is perfect gift for a DINONERD!
"If Dinosaurs Were Alive Today"
A unique book written by Dougal Dixon, due to be published October 22nd 2007
by Ticktock Media. You can download the press release
or find further details here: "If
Dinosaurs "Were Alive Today".
"Cassell's Atlas of Evolution"
The first complete look at the evolution of the earth, from the beginning of
the solar system to the present day. Further details: Cassell's
Atlas of Evolution
"Evolution & Biogeography of Australian Vertebrates"
A large reference volume providing a comprehensive overview of the knowledge of vertebrate diversity
within Australia, together with a discussion of the factors that influenced the evolution & distribution
of the faunas we see today. You can download the book brochure and
order form or you can visit the website at
www.auscipub.com
"Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight" click here
Dinosaurs of the Asian North-East click here
The Original Dinosaur club publication click here
Back
to Top
site by cyberpage
|
