Flying Dinosaurs: How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds

This is a really great book about the link between birds and dinosaurs. The basic premise is that birds ARE dinosaurs, and that it is a fool's errand to try to distinguish between them. From this, there are a lot of insights that dinosaur fossils can offer for understanding ornithology, and for how modern birds can inform our understanding of ancient dinosaurs.These are my summaries of the content of each chapter:Introduction about how birds are dinosaurs, and the fossil boom in China.1. Connection between birds and dinosaurs in paleontological history.2. Sinosauropteryx and feathered dinos from China.3. Xu Xing (Chinese paleotologist) and the dinosaur boom; comparison to Marsh and Cope in the 19th century.4. Dinosaur origins of bird genetics, disease, metabolism, and behavior.5. Fossil poaching and forgery in China.6. Evolution of feathers.7. Theories for how flight evolved - ground-up vs tree-down, gliding vs flying, temporal paradox, wing-assisted movement that is not actual flying.8. Dinosaur origins for bird nesting, brooding, courtship, and sex (T. Rex penises are discussed here).9. Color and sound in dinosaurs compared to birds.10. Bird DNA contains the potential for previous dinosaurian traits (ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny).11. Why did avian dinosaurs survive K-T and no others? We're not sure, but here are some ideas.Appendix with a simple cladogram and a listing of every feathered dinosaur species.This was an engaging and interesting book that looks at modern research and international and interdisciplinary work. My only critique is that I wish there were more diagrams and illustrations. The example that stands out to my mind is the chapter on feather development, where the author verbally describes how feathers develop - how much better if a page had been devoted to illustrating the stages! But I did enjoy this book, and I would recommend it.

Engaging with meat! Great job explaining how dinosaurs are the ancestors of birds and that modern fossil discoveries and well known scientists have SHOWN HOW this is possible. In fact, paleo-artists can now paint accurately with vivid colors because of new scientific technology that have allowed the true colors of the dinosaurs to be revealed, instead of just coloring them all brown. It's also about animal behavior and HOW the behavior of some birds today easily copies what we know of some dinosaur behavior, such as resting palms face up when not in flight, and of course feathers. Feathers not just for flight, but feathers for gliding or display or even protection and how they've ADAPTED for the niche or needs of the dinosaur in a particular environment. It's just plain common sense that the author points out the flightless birds today, which no longer or evolved to no longer need feathers for flight, such as the kiwi bird. Why not explore all the possibilities of feathers? Learning what we think feathers were initially used for while keeping in mind how complicated the dinosaur family tree has become in an ever-growing fossil database, is the cornerstone in understanding how birds evolved from the dinosaur family tree. Beaks, teeth, feathers, claws, and more can describe a dinosaur and fossils can tell us what is left of the dinosaurs today that we call BIRDS! Thanks for such an insightful book into the world of the modern versatile dinosaur!

While none of the info contained in the book was new for me, it was still a great summary of current theories and findings surrounding dinosaurs. Evolutionists, read to your heart's content. Mr. Pickrell does a fine job detailing the theory of birds with feathers as it grew from a theory with niche support in the 80s/90s to a fully support from the paleontologist community. He also provides history into the finds and what it now means for so-called bone poachers who steal into sites and sell the finds for high prices. His highlights of certain scientists and what they brought to the field add some weight and provide background to his narrative.The full-color photos in the middle are also amazing and allowed me to place dinosaurs within his narrative when he mentions them.

Interesting book about some of the most important new ideas in paleontology and the overwhelming fossil evidence supporting these ideas. Virtually all paleontologist now believe that birds evolved from smaller, quick, carnivorous dinosaurs with feathers. These new understandings and the supporting evidence are extensively discussed here, including key fossil discoveries of the recent past.The author himself is a science writer rather than a scientist but he conducts extensive interviews with a number of key scientists in this field. This approach means that the book is both informed and highly readable. Also, the author notes the extensive and exciting feathered dinosaur discoveries in China.

This was an enlightening summary of what has been going on in the past two decades with regards to paleontological research in the dinosaur to bird transition. I pride myself in keeping up with vertebrate paleontology, but Pickrell's well-researched review, especially of many of the new Chinese discoveries, held nuggets of information I had not completely mined. His writing style flows well and is designed for an audience familiar with science, but not equipped with all the jargon various specialists sometime like to flaunt. Nice picture section in the back as well of species of birds and bird-dinosaurs rendered by some of the newer talent in paleo illustration.It's a shame that there is so much economic incentive for Chinese farmers to hastily excavate fossils that some valuable scientific information is lost and paleontologists have to be extra aware of possible fraud in doctoring some fossils.

Like many, I was fascinated by dinosaurs when I was a child, and that interest has continued to a lesser degree into my adulthood.But what I "know" from my childhood has changed radically with the advances in palaeontology over the past few decades, and the discovery of many fascinating fossils that have dramatically developed what we initially assumed about dinosaurs.This book - as the title suggests - takes as its theme the modern view that dinosaurs were the ancient predecessors of birds, and that many dinosaurs were feathered to some degree or another. Examples are drawn from the many fossils that have been found in recent years, and the new theories that have resulted from those discoveries.The author writes with evident authority - his passion for the subject and mastery of the complexity of species spanning tens of millions of years are clear - and with a light touch that makes for a highly readable, enjoyable and immensely informative insight into a subject once close to my heart.Having read this book, I will never watch Jurassic Park in the same way again. And I can see that I will continue to be - in the author's words - a "dino buff" for many more years.

I loved this book from start to finish. I have always loved birds and been fascinated by them. Now I have a new fascination, dinosaur-birds. I keep chickens and I'm looking at them in a whole new light now!Well-written and accessible, the stories of the recent finds in Liaoning province in China read like a combined detective-thriller, and made me realise how lucky we are to have any fossil records at all, let alone the incredible specimens which have been found there in the last 20 or so years.Well worth a read, whatever your interests.

Interesting book. Definitely not an academic book. It is a bringing together of knowledge on feathers on dinosaurs. JP repeats information in a number of places. Worth a read if you have an interest in this.

A good introduction into flying reptiles

Really fascinating information in this book. I have barely put it down. Really good for those adults that are still geeky about dinosaurs!