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The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible
This classic book explains how dinosaurs fit into the biblical story of creation. Newly revised to reflect recent scientific findings.
63 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
January 29, 2022
Here's how the logic of this book works:
Major premise: People who make mistakes are stupid.
Minor premise: Scientists made a mistake when they mistook an apatosaurus skull for a new dinosaur they called a brontosaurus.
Conclusion: Scientists are stupid which means that there is a god who created dinosaurs about 6,000 years ago when they lived in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve eating plants just like all the animals until they were all kicked out because Eve and then Adam ate an apple or maybe a pomegranate until about four of five thousand years ago when god made a flood that killed every living thing on earth including every single man, woman, and child, even pregnant women and old people, because they were all sinners and that made god angry and only Noah and his family lived on a boat with two of every animal including some dinosaurs except for the big ones of course because that would be plain ridiculous, and we know this is true because of all the stories about dragons throughout the world.
Sounds pretty logical to me.
This is what some homeschoolers and some private school students are being taught. Thanks to fanatical libertarianism, my tax dollars are going to private schools and home schoolers to promote this nonsense.
Major premise: People who make mistakes are stupid.
Minor premise: Scientists made a mistake when they mistook an apatosaurus skull for a new dinosaur they called a brontosaurus.
Conclusion: Scientists are stupid which means that there is a god who created dinosaurs about 6,000 years ago when they lived in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve eating plants just like all the animals until they were all kicked out because Eve and then Adam ate an apple or maybe a pomegranate until about four of five thousand years ago when god made a flood that killed every living thing on earth including every single man, woman, and child, even pregnant women and old people, because they were all sinners and that made god angry and only Noah and his family lived on a boat with two of every animal including some dinosaurs except for the big ones of course because that would be plain ridiculous, and we know this is true because of all the stories about dragons throughout the world.
Sounds pretty logical to me.
This is what some homeschoolers and some private school students are being taught. Thanks to fanatical libertarianism, my tax dollars are going to private schools and home schoolers to promote this nonsense.
March 26, 2011
Seriously, seriously? People are really taking this book seriously? I was going to write a silly review about how this book opened my eyes, but then I read the all too many reviews that seem to be taking this book at face value. The answer is just no. A big no no no to the delusions outlined in this book. There are ways to resolve competing ideas with one's faith and scientific fact, but what's in this book just isn't it. The interpretations of the Bible are weak, the conclusions are based on ridiculous claims, and zero scientific research.
This is not a book for anyone. I only recommend for those looking for a good laugh and a disturbing look into a delusional interpretation of history.
This is not a book for anyone. I only recommend for those looking for a good laugh and a disturbing look into a delusional interpretation of history.
November 20, 2008
People around the world have talked about dragons and other beasts for thousands of years. The term 'dinosaur' was coined only a little over a century ago, following the finding of huge bones in the fossil records and piecing them together. How did people describe, even draw pictures of, beasts that appear to be dinosaurs BEFORE we began piecing them together?
Are dinosaurs all gone?
This little book raises some questions that really must be dealt with before you make conclusions about dinosaurs and whether or not man coexisted with such beasts.
Are dinosaurs all gone?
This little book raises some questions that really must be dealt with before you make conclusions about dinosaurs and whether or not man coexisted with such beasts.
January 30, 2024
Explains the facts of dinosaurs in light of the Biblical account of creation and the great flood. It also gives evidence to support the idea that dinosaurs (at least some) lived at the same time as man: the use of the names "behemoth" and "tannin" in the book of Job to refer to giant creatures, and the existence of ancient legends from around the world that tell of unusual, reptile-like creatures that used to exist, such as the tale of St. George and the Dragon, the Epic of Gilgamesh in which Gilgamesh kills a huge reptile-like animal, as well as many others.
October 10, 2012
The kids and I really enjoyed this. I liked that it drew out that dinosaur "facts" are not really facts, but scientific guesses, that are subject to change. It also talked about how dinosaurs and man lived together, and what happened with dinosaurs and the flood. I appreciated the Bible view on these frequent questions, and came away some good possibilities of what might of happened.
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November 3, 2012Wow. Just wow. The pictures of the dinosaurs getting on the ark makes this book entirely worth the purchase. I keep this book on my desk to remind myself of the dangers of mixing fiction and nonfiction.
January 11, 2010
This book is excellent! It is more of a kids book, but there is so much that even adults will find useful and informational.
July 1, 2021
Very good basic book on dinosaurs, especially like the section on the connection between dinosaurs and dragons. A few parts might need revising. For example, the book includes a photo of a carcass a Japanese trawler caught in the 1970s, which many creationists say is a plesiosaur. It was later determined that the carcass was actually a rotting basking whale (Refuting Evolution 2 by Jonathan Sarfati).
March 19, 2013
Great book, wonderful illustrations, a lot of information. My daughter and I enjoyed it.
August 13, 2023
Good book for children that answers questions about dinosaurs with a biblical worldview.
November 26, 2019
I found this in a box of old childhood books in my basement and decided to flip it open. I'm not sure what my parents were thinking giving this to me.
"The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible" is a crash course in Creationist apologetics and is aggressively anti-science, starting with a description of paleontology and ending with a call to accept Jesus into your heart.
It starts looking like a science book about dinosaurs and fossils, but takes a left turn pretty quickly. First, the author points out the brontosaurus to lay the groundwork for undermining science. If the brontosaurus was two skeletons mixed together, how can we trust anything a scientist claims? The next few pages discuss the difficulties of extrapolating an entire body from a skeleton. The message thus far is:
1. Dinosaurs are pretty cool
2. Science gets things wrong
Flip the page (we're at page 16 now, for those keeping track), and the header asks "Where did dinosaurs come from?"
The answer: God did it. Now we're in Bible territory. The book goes on to discuss how dinosaurs fit into the Biblical mythos, and things start getting preachy with Bible verses quoted and sentences like "Dinosaurs showed the great power of the Creator." The author discusses how some creatures referenced in the Bible may have been dinosaurs, and how the Garden of Eden was an herbivorous paradise where Adam and Eve hung out with gentle dinosaurs.
No dinosaur book would be complete without a hypothesis of how the dinosaurs went extinct, and so we move on to Noah's flood (and NOT a meteorite, don't be daft). What killed them? Flood. How were fossils made? Flood. Which has more evidence: meteorite or flood? Flood. Doesn't it take millions of years to form a fossil? Shut up. Why did God send a flood? Because humans are ungrateful, sinful wretches unworthy of life except for God's grace.
Here's where I got a little intrigued. I glossed over it as a child, but it stands out now that I'm more versed in Creationist talking points. The next section asks the question of whether dinosaurs were on Noah's arc. The answer is yes, and that leads into the cryptozoology portion of the book, but let's linger for a moment. The book says, "This probably included a young pair of each main type of dinosaur. Perhaps God just included the basic types of dinosaurs He first created; not every variety that had developed since Creation."
Did...did a Young Earth Creationist book on dinosaurs just slip in a reference to evolution that wasn't a rebuttal? This is something I've become aware of, but Creationists do actually believe in a very limited form of evolution. They've replaced traditional taxonomy with the concept of "kinds." Domestic dogs, foxes, wolves, etc. are all "kinds" of dogs. Basically, you take an order and say, "They all developed from a single pair from that "kind" that Noah saved." They don't agree with evolution all the way up from self-propagating proteins to sentient life, but they do believe in rapid diversification in however many years they allot between Noah's flood and the present day--which is an inconsistent and broken worldview that often contradicts other claims. That's its own essay, but for now I'll just say it stood out now as an adult.
Ok, so here comes the good part: dragons. The author claims that dragon myths are cultural memories of humans interacting with dinosaurs, giving examples from culture, fables, and folklore. This section was particularly frustrating because the author came so, so close. There are credible reasons to believe that some mythological creatures were derived from dinosaur bones. See "The First Fossil Hunters" by Adrienne Mayor for a thorough discussion of this hypothesis.
So now that we've established the dinosaurs lived among humans at the time of Creation, after the Flood, and all the way through the middle ages, it's time to bring it home. It's time for the biggest question of them all.
Are dinosaurs alive today?
Oh hell yes they are, you thirsty 8-year-olds. The book talks about some alleged dinosaur sightings in the modern era, from folklore in Africa to the basking shark corpse that looks kind of like a plesiosaur if you get the photo just right.
And then it's a sharp turn back to the Garden of Eden for some reason, and how science is wrong about dinosaurs again. This time, we're focused on the claim that some dinosaurs were carnivorous. The book takes it as axiomatic that human sin caused world-wide, cross-species suffering, and that animals switched from herbivores to carnivores without a single physiological change. Special attention is given to undermining the claim that Tyrannosaurus Rex was a carnivore and oddly, the author points out that a dilophosaurus' frills wouldn't stand up to the rigors of eating carrion because they are so delicate (apparently, the author has never taken a close look at a wolf's ears).
The book ends a summary that very quickly loses sight of the topic of dinosaurs and ends with the aforementioned evangelical call to action.
So that's all 63 pages. Obviously I don't have a lot of respect for this book. The first few pages look kind of like science if you squint while actually undermining the credibility of science, and that's an especially dangerous approach. It then goes on to feed a child's desire to go to a real-life Jurassic Park to sell a specific brand of Christianity. It's a manipulative, deceitful book...
but the art is pretty cool. Pages 42 and 43 have a spread where dinosaurs are pulling a Chinese emperor's chariot.
"The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible" is a crash course in Creationist apologetics and is aggressively anti-science, starting with a description of paleontology and ending with a call to accept Jesus into your heart.
It starts looking like a science book about dinosaurs and fossils, but takes a left turn pretty quickly. First, the author points out the brontosaurus to lay the groundwork for undermining science. If the brontosaurus was two skeletons mixed together, how can we trust anything a scientist claims? The next few pages discuss the difficulties of extrapolating an entire body from a skeleton. The message thus far is:
1. Dinosaurs are pretty cool
2. Science gets things wrong
Flip the page (we're at page 16 now, for those keeping track), and the header asks "Where did dinosaurs come from?"
The answer: God did it. Now we're in Bible territory. The book goes on to discuss how dinosaurs fit into the Biblical mythos, and things start getting preachy with Bible verses quoted and sentences like "Dinosaurs showed the great power of the Creator." The author discusses how some creatures referenced in the Bible may have been dinosaurs, and how the Garden of Eden was an herbivorous paradise where Adam and Eve hung out with gentle dinosaurs.
No dinosaur book would be complete without a hypothesis of how the dinosaurs went extinct, and so we move on to Noah's flood (and NOT a meteorite, don't be daft). What killed them? Flood. How were fossils made? Flood. Which has more evidence: meteorite or flood? Flood. Doesn't it take millions of years to form a fossil? Shut up. Why did God send a flood? Because humans are ungrateful, sinful wretches unworthy of life except for God's grace.
Here's where I got a little intrigued. I glossed over it as a child, but it stands out now that I'm more versed in Creationist talking points. The next section asks the question of whether dinosaurs were on Noah's arc. The answer is yes, and that leads into the cryptozoology portion of the book, but let's linger for a moment. The book says, "This probably included a young pair of each main type of dinosaur. Perhaps God just included the basic types of dinosaurs He first created; not every variety that had developed since Creation."
Did...did a Young Earth Creationist book on dinosaurs just slip in a reference to evolution that wasn't a rebuttal? This is something I've become aware of, but Creationists do actually believe in a very limited form of evolution. They've replaced traditional taxonomy with the concept of "kinds." Domestic dogs, foxes, wolves, etc. are all "kinds" of dogs. Basically, you take an order and say, "They all developed from a single pair from that "kind" that Noah saved." They don't agree with evolution all the way up from self-propagating proteins to sentient life, but they do believe in rapid diversification in however many years they allot between Noah's flood and the present day--which is an inconsistent and broken worldview that often contradicts other claims. That's its own essay, but for now I'll just say it stood out now as an adult.
Ok, so here comes the good part: dragons. The author claims that dragon myths are cultural memories of humans interacting with dinosaurs, giving examples from culture, fables, and folklore. This section was particularly frustrating because the author came so, so close. There are credible reasons to believe that some mythological creatures were derived from dinosaur bones. See "The First Fossil Hunters" by Adrienne Mayor for a thorough discussion of this hypothesis.
So now that we've established the dinosaurs lived among humans at the time of Creation, after the Flood, and all the way through the middle ages, it's time to bring it home. It's time for the biggest question of them all.
Are dinosaurs alive today?
Oh hell yes they are, you thirsty 8-year-olds. The book talks about some alleged dinosaur sightings in the modern era, from folklore in Africa to the basking shark corpse that looks kind of like a plesiosaur if you get the photo just right.
And then it's a sharp turn back to the Garden of Eden for some reason, and how science is wrong about dinosaurs again. This time, we're focused on the claim that some dinosaurs were carnivorous. The book takes it as axiomatic that human sin caused world-wide, cross-species suffering, and that animals switched from herbivores to carnivores without a single physiological change. Special attention is given to undermining the claim that Tyrannosaurus Rex was a carnivore and oddly, the author points out that a dilophosaurus' frills wouldn't stand up to the rigors of eating carrion because they are so delicate (apparently, the author has never taken a close look at a wolf's ears).
The book ends a summary that very quickly loses sight of the topic of dinosaurs and ends with the aforementioned evangelical call to action.
So that's all 63 pages. Obviously I don't have a lot of respect for this book. The first few pages look kind of like science if you squint while actually undermining the credibility of science, and that's an especially dangerous approach. It then goes on to feed a child's desire to go to a real-life Jurassic Park to sell a specific brand of Christianity. It's a manipulative, deceitful book...
but the art is pretty cool. Pages 42 and 43 have a spread where dinosaurs are pulling a Chinese emperor's chariot.
March 8, 2011
I knew what I would think before I read it....but I couldn't resist. A truly ridiculous book.
January 25, 2018
Loved it 😁😁
June 12, 2018
I won't forget this book, it was my favorite of my childhood. It is fantastic.
October 17, 2018
A great book about dinosaurs according to the creation narrative and biblical view. If you hate this book it's because you don't believe the creation narrative. The WORLD wants us to believe we came from nothing, wants us to teach our children we came from nothing, and berates every other view as "ridiculous", "stupid", etc. Why so afraid of the biblical narrative? Why so afraid of the creation narrative? I'll tell you why. These people are afraid of the idea of God, a creator. They don't want to believe. This book makes perfect sense in light of the biblical narrative. I love it. Don't be afraid of a different viewpoint.
Romans 1:20
20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Romans 1:20
20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
August 30, 2019
I bought this book for my children in the 90s and just pulled it off my shelf since my 3 yr old grandson brought a book home from the library about dinosaurs. This book is not designed for children that young; perhaps late grade school or read with a parent to a school age child. But I found it a good refresher for me on the basic assumptions of the Creationist view. In reading some of the reviews, it appears that it could be updated based on newer discoveries. But I recommend it as an alternative to the old earth/evolutionist point of view.
December 31, 2019
Going through some children books at my parents house today so I can catalogue them in my relatively new goodreads account. Some nice nostalgic finds for the most part, but then..there is this. Hurts to say that I liked this book as a child, I mean fair enough, it was mainly just for the dinosaurs themselves and not so much the anti-science stuff. Still though, a complete embarrasement, and yet another reminder that I wish I grew up in a non-christian family.
(I'm not anti-christian or anti-god either either, but I am against naive christianity exemplified by this truly laughable book)
(I'm not anti-christian or anti-god either either, but I am against naive christianity exemplified by this truly laughable book)
June 4, 2019
The bible solving mysteries of what or things began and where it finishes. A great book about dinosaurs and what bible says about it.
June 4, 2019
I love this book , it’s super nice about dinosaurs and it also teaches and compares the time period of bible which is great.
January 21, 2020
This book is about dinosaurs but the best part is, it compares with bible. Where it all started from. Nice information book!!
August 1, 2025
This is a great family-read aloud book, though there are a few points in the book that require text corrections. We just use those as a discussion point in discerning what we read.
December 1, 2020
this book was my childhood, along with many other dinosaur books ranging from the most "strictly scientific" view to all-out Creationist. I was a six-day Creationist when I was very little. My parents did not push it on me or my siblings. We learned about both Old-Earth and Young-Earth theories and eventually just figured out for ourselves what we believed about the age of the earth. When my older brother took on a strictly Old-Earth view, I figured he was right - I'm not sure if it was because Young-Earth Creationism wasn't quite logical to me, or what. Still, for a while I desperately wanted to believe in a young earth. Ah, the romance of the possibility of dinosaurs still being around, somewhere deep in the Amazon jungle! But, alas - the logic of the Old-Earth view won out.
Still, this book - I love it. The images of dinosaurs walking with humans is a strange and beautiful thing that still stirs longing in my heart. It makes me want to believe it - and though I don't, I can't, not now, someday, in heaven, maybe we will get to walk with dinosaurs. And in that way this book captures something eternal and beautiful, even if not entirely scientifically accurate. Fight me.
Still, this book - I love it. The images of dinosaurs walking with humans is a strange and beautiful thing that still stirs longing in my heart. It makes me want to believe it - and though I don't, I can't, not now, someday, in heaven, maybe we will get to walk with dinosaurs. And in that way this book captures something eternal and beautiful, even if not entirely scientifically accurate. Fight me.
June 13, 2024
Parent review- I love the Bible and believe in a creator God but.... also Science has proven that people did not live at the same time as dinosaurs. This book was clearly written by someone who has a 7 day creation narrative and can't fathom the possibility of anything existing prior to humans. Books like this make non Christians (and this Christian) shake their heads as you try to cram our linear reading of scripture into opposing views to Science. Yes Scientists have and continue to draw the wrong conclusions ("the wrong headed dinosaur") but that doesn't mean that we discount all their findings now. To market this as the the great Dino mystery and the bible is just rough.. To read into passages and say Job 40 is unequivocally a dinosaur is proof texting. The myths and legends section was brutal as it's straight up reductionist. This was painful to read and just not based in any scientific facts- just speculation. The myths and legends section was brutal as it's straight up reductionist. I do not understand how anyone can give this anything but a one star.
February 3, 2019
To be clear, I don't have a problem with children's books that compare creationist theories with evolutionist theories. Even so, this is a poor book. Perhaps it was cutting-edge creationism when it was published in the 1980's, but it is very outdated for 2013. The author postulates many of his own theories concerning the dinosaurs, but gives little evidence to back them up, nor does he mention other creationist (or evolutionist) theories concerning dinosaurs. The illustrations are bland and simplistic. The writing and organization was hard for my children to follow. The book does contain some basic information on dinosaurs & gives appropriate biblical references.
May 31, 2024
This is a dangerous book that is full of misinformation. Even the parts they claim are science are completely incorrect, even at the time it was written. The book is about proving science wrong, but they don't actually compare anything to science. They just make stuff up in a way that makes it sound believable. Please just accept that evolution does not disprove your religion. In fact, there are a million reasons why evolution and religion can exist at the same time. Misinformation directed at children is evil at best.
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February 26, 2025This book set me on a confusing course and relationship with science as a child. I was reminded of it while reading another book and had to reassure myself that I didn't just hallucinate the things I remember from this book. My dad was so happy when he brought this book home, and it contains all of the flood interpretations that are so important to the YEC worldview. I wonder if it was one of the first Christian alternative facts books written for kids back then?
September 12, 2021
These are the books that should be burned. Teaching kids this fake sh** is child abuse. Anyone who takes this seriously should not have children and should seek mental help. Real mental help from actually scientist not Christians. America gave Christains too much religious freedom. It's fake and pathetic that some people out there would brainwash their children into believing lies. Child abusers!
March 3, 2019
Came across this when I was going through boxen of books. My well-meaning mother gave this to me when I was little. It's patently horrible.
I'd laugh if people didn't take this shit seriously.
I'd laugh if people didn't take this shit seriously.
December 1, 2020
Young-earth Creationism is such a mood. +5 stars for good myth, -2 for bad science.
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March 17, 2025This book is ridiculous and I love it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews