Excellent and thorough discussion on dinosaurs, ecology and evolution. Comprehensive, readable, assumes nothing but the ability to read and understand. Would work as a PBL style course for an intro to Biology. ( )

Dinosaurs are totally rad, by which I mean sweet. This book would have been more awesome if it had featured more gnarly pictures of dinosaurs, which are totally badass. ( )

Another fine 'geology' book. Sampson is probably most famous as being Dr. Scott on the pretty good PBS Kids show 'Dinosaur Train'. He shows that he is a preeminent scholar of the dinosaur world with this book. It examines in detail not only the dinosaurs of the Mesozoic, but what we can piece together of the ecosystems in which they lived.

Successive chapters on the world of the Mesozoic begin with the Permian extinction of the assembly of Pangaea through the breakup and separation of the continents, each with their own compliment of species now branching off into separate rafts of evolution. After that are detailed chapters on ecosystems, both on the big dinosaur level and the theoretical plant life and microbes of the era, and examinations of how the dinosaurs interacted and changed over time and space.

Sampson does a great job of showing dinosaurs as a part of a system, using analogies of today's wilderness to extrapolate ideas of herd sizes and feeding ranges, as well as how a somewhat alien world changed vastly over that time. Probably not for everyone, but if you think you are ready to tackle it, then you are. The clarity of explanation will be all the guide you need. Also full of data for a fine research paper on the evolution of Pangaea. Thanks Dr. Scott! ( )

One of the better affordable recent dino books. ( )