Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds

by John A. Long, Peter Schouten (Illustrator)

Scientists have recovered more than a billion fossils, but no discovery has been more breath-taking than the fossils recently found in northern China, findings which prove that several families of dinosaurs had feathers, or feathery hair-like coverings, adorning their bodies. Now in the beautifully designed Feathered Dinosaurs, paleontologist John Long and illustrator Peter Schouten provide a stunning visual record of these extraordinary prehistoric creatures, illuminating the evolutionary march from primitive, feathered dinosaurs through to the first true flying birds. Schouten, an acclaimed natural history artist, has created 80 full-color paintings that capture the striking physical traits of these feathered dinosaurs. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the lifestyles of modern birds and mammals, plus the extant scientific data regarding how these dinosaurs might have looked and behaved, Schouten has produced not only the most beautiful but also the most accurate visual representations of these animals in print. Equally important, John Long, a noted paleontologist and widely published science author (with some 24 books to his credit), provides an engaging companion text that places these feathered dinosaurs within the larger family of dinosaurs--for instance, outlining their relationship to T. Rex and Velociraptor, species well known to Jurassic Park fans--and discusses the factual information that can be deduced from their fossil remains, in effect providing an insightful natural history of this remarkable group. A true marriage of art and science, Feathered Dinosaurs presents an unprecedented visual record of one of the most significant breakthroughs in the history of vertebrate paleontology--the discovery that many predatory dinosaurs were cloaked with feathers, perhaps just as colorful and fanciful as those of their living relatives.

Genres: Science, Dinosaurs, Nonfiction, Palaeontology, Nature, Birds, Evolution

193 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

John Albert Long (born 1957) is an Australian paleontologist. He currently serves as Strategic Professor in Palaeontology at Flinders University, Adelaide.

Reviews

[J. D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated speculation about the evolution,
now widely accepted, of birds from the same stock as coelurosaurs
and tyrannosaurids. I recommend it to anyone interested in natural
history, more particularly paleontology and evolutionary studies; it is not an overly technical work.

[Brandy Cross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully done, well written, well researched, I really like getting the artists input about their choices. However the layout is terrible as every single image spreads across the book fold.

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book showing the lineage of birds within Coelusaurian theropods. The first 27 pages are broken into 9 "chapters", each of which highlights some aspect of bird evolution from other theropod dinosaurs. The bulk of the book is devoted to describing roughly 80 species of theropod - coelusaurs, tyrannosaurs, ornithomimosaurs, ornitholestes, compsognathids, and then the Maniraptorans (Therinzosaurs, Oviraptorosaurids, Alvarezsaurids, Roodontids, Dromaeosaurids, and Avians). Every 2 pages is taken up by a large photo with 2 paragraphs: 1 on the history of the fossil and species, and 1 as an artist's note about why they made the choices they did. I learned a lot from this small bit of text - the role of color in actively helping an animal survive, how the shape of jaws/teeth/beaks can lead to inferences about diet, family behavior, etc.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning has a short description of each major clade of feathered dinosaur. Though this book is already out of date. The field of feathered dinosaur is getting updated rapidly. Don't buy the book for the descriptions of dinosaur groups, better places to get that info. Read it for the wonderful pieces or art that portray feathered dinosaurs. Each picture looks wonderful. After the scientific description the artist gives a separate paragraph explaining and defending what he did. I think that is unique and helpful with scientific art.

[Crazyharp81602]

This is the ultimate in dinosaur books. A book about feathered dinosaurs with the most breathtaking artwork ever! Definitely the book to buy.

[Abi Ghifari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired by displays of bird evolution from surviving dinosaurs at the Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip, I picked up this book from Barry J Marshall Library, UWA. This book is where science meets art. Really love this bold artistic direction that imagined colourful feathers of these bird-like therapods like we see on today's birds. Carefully curated from actual fossil evidence and nicely presented as paragraphs accompanied by wonderful paintings, I was surprised that we've discovered so many species of these magnificent creatures that link the giant dinosaurs and modern day birds.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

hecking nice pictures :)

[Count DeBussy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purdy birdy have fingy on da wingy

[Roger Morgan-Grenville · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true labour of scientific love and artistic endeavour.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that looks into the history of feathers and feathered dinosaurs by breaking down the various families of dinosaurs while providing what evidence has been found in the excavations. At the same time brightly colored illustrations for each representative species has been provided for the reader.

This as such makes for a great informative read if you are interested in learning more about feathered dinosaurs, how they live and how they relate in the record or just as a picture book if you don't feel up for the text.

[Ralph Hermansen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was a tad disappointed with this book. I hoped to learn more about the evolutionary transition from dinosaur to bird, but there was far less on this topic than I expected. The majority of the pages were actually full-page pictures. They were drawings of the feathered dinosaurs and others. If you want to buy a book, which is predominately artwork, this is your book. However, if you want to understand dinosaur-to-bird evolution, this book is mediocre.

Ralph Hermansen 4/8/09

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a HUGE fan of Peter Schouten's paintings...so beautiful. And I love dinosaurs. So, how is it possible that this John Long character could make those two loves of mine so damn boring?

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish there was a more structured presentation of facts for each dinosaur. This, combined with some grammatical errors and just general typos, warrants its rating.

[Tampines House]

B20905240K

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

One just have to remember, it is a book with pictures... and a bit of text