Hot Blooded Dinosaurs

by Adrian J. Desmond

Small stain on exterior page. Spine has creasing. Cover is clean and bright with light edge wear. Pages are perfect. Many illustrations and photos. Same day shipping.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Dinosaurs, History, Palaeontology, Natural History

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Adrian John Desmond (born 1947) is an English writer on the history of science.

He studied physiology at University College, London, and went on to study history of science and vertebrate palaeontology at University College London before researching the history of vertebrate palaeontology at Harvard University, under Stephen Jay Gould. He was awarded a PhD in the area of the Victorian-period context of Darwinian evolution.

Desmond is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Biology Department at University College London.

Reviews

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

There'll be a hot time on the old veldt tonight

Our understanding of history and technology is constantly changing. At one time the Maya Indians were thought to be peaceful people and we ignored all their bloody pictures.

This information is a tad dated but the book "the hot-blooded dinosaurs" by Adrian J. Desmond was one of those books that changed our understanding and were a revolution in paleontology.

The premise of this book is the theory that dinosaurs were warm-blooded creatures. It sets out methodically to show why this was so.

Contents:
1 - the crown of creation
2 - the tyrant finds its feet
3 - the race is to the swift, the battle to the strong
4 - the dark ages
5 - stranding of the Titans
6 - a Griffin rescues evolution
7 - phantoms from hell
8 - the coming of Armageddon: a cosmic cataclysm?

The book contains drawings of what the dinosaurs would look like and actual pictures of their skeletons.

[Canavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

✭✭✭½

[Steven Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that I found fascinating in its time. It was a rather early volume arguing that dinosaurs were not, in fact, cold-blooded animals. The contention is that they were warm-blooded, meaning that a lot of arguments about the nature of dinosaurs were wrong-headed. The book also addresses the question of birds. Are they living dinosaurs? nOt descendants of reptiles? Lots of questions to think about in this book. . . .

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The giant creatures who dominated the earth for 130 million years were no lethargic lizards. They were The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs. They carried a lot of weight and had a lot of body to feed. How then could they bask in the prehistoric sun for the long days it would take to raise their temperatures to the point of movement? They would starve to death before they could get up enough energy to find something to eat. It wasn't possible, says Adrian Desmond, that the dinosaurs were the cold-blooded, pea-brained reptiles that Victorian scientists said they were. The dinosaurs were in a class by themselves!"
~~back cover

A very interesting read, even though a fairly difficult one. The print was small and the language and 'plot' very academic, which made the going fairly slow. The author did make his points based on scientific principles and paleontolgical history, and his conclusions seemed solid to me. But I'm not trained in paleontology so I might not be able to spot dicotomies or fallacies in his reasoning. Of course the book is terribly out of date -- I could see that just from watching the BBC Walking With Dinosaurs DVD series. It will be interesting to read an up-to-date synopsis on the hot blooded/cold blooded debate to contrast.

[Trent Marv · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book despite initial appearances is a very different beast than you might expect. As indeed it is more about the study of dinosaurs than dinosaurs themselves. This might be disappointing to some but it was engaging to learn about the initial discoveries of dinosaurs, who were thought of as mere giant lizards, but the picture shifted as more fossils were found. There were so many rivalries and competing factors. Boss Theede makes an appearance.
Sadly, due to the age of this book it has its own set of inaccuracies that it perpetuates. Like how apparently synapsids and basal archosaurs just gave up when dinosaurs arrived. When in reality it was the end Permian Mass extinction and the End Triassic Mass extinction that allowed dinosaurs to rise. They also say that Sauropods may have given live birth which is not true and instead they did indeed lay eggs. It also supposes that Pterosaurs were protective of their young which seems not true. Plus their extinction is a bit muddled in terms of description. Overall a great book but keep in mind it is a bit dated

[GORDON · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ground breaking book on dinosaur physiology, opening the flood gates for readers interested in the biggest of all birds and land dwelling animals. While the picture is now known to be more complicated, the basic materials that Desmond presents, largely based on the work of Riqueles and Ostrom shows us hot blooded, fast moving and moderately intelligent, agile dinosaurs.

[Allison Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent for when I couldn't sleep... It was interesting overall, but I just could not stay awake while reading it. 😬

[José Antonio · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 40 años vista, este libro sigue siendo apasionante. En él se resumen las raíces del Renacimiento Dinosaurio, antes incluso de que los Álvarez descubrieran la pista del iridio y plantearan la hipótesis de la colisión cretácica.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting theory, although I think research today shows that some may have been and some may not.

[Fila Trece (Liantener) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro muy bien escrito e interesante, que en su momento mostraba las últimas teorias sobre los dinosaurios. Lo leí muy joven y lo re-leí no hace mucho y me siguió gustando.