Dinofile: Profiles of 120 Amazing, Terrifying and Bizarre Beasts

by Richard T.J. Moody

The fascination with dinosaurs never seems to   Jurassic Park  is the 10th highest grossing film of all time, and books such as  Walking with Dinosaurs  have sold well over a million copies.  Dinofile will delight dinophiles with a wealth of fearsome facts and figures about these monsters that once strode the land, terrorized the seas, and patrolled the air. It features fascinating profiles of each animal, complemented by 120 awesome computer artworks of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and ichthyosaurs. At-a-glance information-all from the latest research-reveals where and when they lived, what they ate, and what their names mean; silhouettes illustrate their size compared with humans. An introductory section provides insight into fossils, the prehistoric age, and what may have caused the dinosaurs to die out.

Genres: Reference

64 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

Richard Thomas Jones Moody, professor

Reviews

[Herman Diaz · Rating 1 out of 5]

The REAL worst dino field guide ( www.amazon.com/review/R11QFC0SN4L2PA/... ): 1/5

If you want the best dino field guide for casual readers, get Holtz/Brett-Surman's "Jurassic World Dinosaur Field Guide". As you may remember, I referred to Brusatte's "Field Guide to Dinosaurs" as "the worst dino field guide" ( www.goodreads.com/review/show/3488486276 ). However, that was before I read Moody's "Dinofile: Profiles of 120 Amazing, Terrifying and Bizarre Beasts" (henceforth Dinofile). Brusatte's book is at least well-organized & authoritative. Dinofile isn't even that. In this review, I list the other, more major problems (which, ironically, are listed as highlights on the back cover) while using the Microraptor profile as the main example ( https://archive.ph/GKcFD ).

1) To say that Dinofile is annoying in terms of writing would be a major understatement. This is especially apparent in the so-called "in-depth profiles".* Even if you only read the "at-a-glance information", you'll see that the animal names are annoyingly misspelled (E.g. Maniraptora is misspelled as Manuraptora) & inconsistent (E.g. Some of the dromaeosaurs are grouped as maniraptorans, while others are grouped as eumaniraptorans).

2) To say that Dinofile is hit-&-miss in terms getting the facts straight would be a major understatement. Again, this is especially apparent in the so-called "in-depth profiles". Even if you only read the "at-a-glance information", you'll see that there's an average of at least 3 factual errors per page in Dinofile, a 64 page book (E.g. Microraptor =/= 50 cm & 128-126 MYA).

3) Pixel-shack's "stunning and accurate computer artworks" are actually anything but. The scaly-skinned, bunny-handed Microraptor is bad, but not as bad as it gets in Dinofile (E.g. The Thecodontosaurus has a green iguana's feet, the Falcarius has a Velociraptor's head, & the Pachyrhinosaurus is a cyclops). It's also worth mentioning that many of the dinos drool a lot.

4) Many of the "silhouettes showing size comparison to humans" are ridiculously oversized. This is especially apparent in the dromaeosaur profiles: For 1, the Microraptor silhouette is Velociraptor-sized compared to humans; For another, the Velociraptor silhouette is Deinonychus-sized compared to humans. See FredtheDinosaurman's "Dromaeosauridae size chart for Wikipedia" for how said dromaeosaurs actually compare in size: https://fredthedinosaurman.deviantart...

*So-called because they're annoyingly vague (E.g. See the Microraptor profile; Notice that it doesn't explain what it means by "bird-like dinosaurs" nor why Microraptor & Troodon don't count).

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samuel, Joey, and Jonathan loved this, of course. I love that it goes beyond the standard dinosaurs. And it was cool reading what the names mean.

[Mas5thgrade2012 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tought me a lot about dinosaurs. It was a really good book -SGW

[Muhammad Bilal]

i read it this book