The " Scientific American" Book of the Cosmos

by David H. Levy

Discover how dinosaurs evolved, how they looked, where they lived, how they behaved, and why they the current state of knowledge about the Monsters of the Mesozoic, complete in one volume. Acclaimed dinosaur paleontologist and paleo-artist Gregory S. Paul conducts this definitive tour through the 140-million-year existence of the most exotic and interesting group of animals ever to walk the earth, assisted by the world's leading dinosaur experts. Here you'll find remarkable stories about the first discoveries of dinosaur fossils, the beginnings of dinosaur paleontology, how the field has changed with modern technology, the most sensational finds, and the latest theories. You'll also explore the answers to such questions Did dinosaurs have feathers? Did dinosaurs fly? Were the dinosaurs sluggish, cold-blooded reptilians, or something radically different? What are the different dinosaur families, how were they named, and how are they related? What was the dinosaurs' world like, and how did it change during their reign? Are the birds of today the living descendants of predatory dinosaurs? How and why did the major dinosaur famihes become extinct? Filled with spectacular full-color illustrations of dinosaurs in action, plus black-and-white art and graphics. The Scientific American Book of Dinosaurs features the latest information from the field of dinosaur paleontology, presented in a fascinating and accessible format. You'll never think about dinosaurs the same way again! Gregory S. Paul is one of America's leading dinosaur paleontologists and also a gifted artist. For his anatomical accuracy, he is considered among his peers to be the "definitive" paleo-artist. Paul has worked on Disney's animated movie Dinosaur and was a consultant on the motion picture Jurassic Park. His published work includes dozens of scientific papers in magazines and journals, and the books Beyond Humanity, The Complete Illustrated Guide to Dinosaur Skeletons, Predetory Dinosaurs of the World, Dinosaurs of the The Evolution and Loss of Flight in the Mesozoic, and Dinosaurs and Birds. Paul's illustrations have graced dozens of books, periodicals, and televised specials on the fabulous beasts. His art has also been exhibited in the Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibit and has been displayed in ten natural history museums around the world.

Genres: Science, Astronomy, Space, Essays, Physics

Hardcover

First published August 13, 1957

About the author

David Levy is a prominent astronomer and author, most famous for his co-discovery in 1993 of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which collided with the planet Jupiter in 1994.

Levy was born in Canada, but now lives in Arizona. He has been involved with astronomy, as an observer, promoter, and author, for his entire adult life. Levy has discovered twenty two comets, given innumerable lectures, television appearances, and published articles in the major science and astronomy magazines.

He gained a Phd in English literature in 2010. There is an asteroid named in his honour, Levy 3673. He is married to Wendee Levy.

Reviews

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of 44 articles, most originally published in Scientific American magazine and a few specially commissioned for the book, on various topics of astronomy. I assumed that it would be mostly on cosmology, but actually the emphasis is more on the planets and other bodies of the solar system, including Earth and the evolution of life. The "chapters", ranging from three to eight articles each, are on the birth of the universe, galaxy formation, the Milky Way, the genesis of the solar system, the planetary tour, life on Earth . . . and elsewhere, the microverse, and speculations on beginnings and endings; but the articles do not always fit into the categories.

The articles, being written by different authors from different perspectives about questions which are still open, are frequently contradictory. Unfortunately, the dates the articles were originally published aren't given so it's not possible to trace any development in the arguments. Presumably, with the exception of a few obviously historical articles by figures such as Einstein, Schrodinger and Crick, most of the articles are from the five or six years prior to the publication of the book in 2000. Another problem with it is that it was not supplied with an index, so it is difficult to compare the discussions in separate articles of the same questions.

The book was better than I had hoped for; I stopped reading Scientific American (which I had read faithfully every month for about twenty years) when it was bought from Freeman Publishers by some Murdoch subsidiary and dumbed down, but perhaps it was not dumbed down as much as I remember or the process began after 2000 because these are almost all interesting articles without too much of the "gosh-wow" that infects most popular science writing.

[Dewayne Stark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too bad it didn't have an index to the articles