Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep

Lovely book but saddly missing the 3D glasses so cannot see the book with full effect :(

Prehistoric sea reptiles of the Mesozoic are as interesting as their terrestrial cousins and contemporaries, the Dinosaurs. The problem is there are not many books available for them, at least not for non-scientists. So when one such book comes along, you grab it. And get a mixed reaction.Let's have the positive aspect first. It is a well written book, easy to follow even if you have no previous idea about paleontology. There is a clear methodology in its presentation of Mesozoic sea reptiles, their families and evolution. Also the supplements about famous fossil hunters and methods of fossil excavation and preparation are useful and give one an accurate idea of the immense task of bringing slowly, painfully, to life the fragments of Earth's life history glimpsed through fragmentary fossils scattered all over the globe. And of course the illustrations are of the quality and scientific accuracy which are the hallmark of a "National Geographic" edition.But the book focuses on just one period of Mesozoic sea life development, namely middle to late Cretaceous, around 82 million years ago. I understand that the film which inspired the book had the same narrow focus, and I fully sympathize with the time and costs constraints imposing that narrowness. But the book could have moved beyond these limits and present a full account of prehistoric sea reptiles. Also, I think that at least some data were repeated many times throughout the book, in different forms, without offering any new perspectives. Finally the 3-D images were sensational but they were more of an interesting trick than an informational tool.Overall it was a good book and it gave a scientifically accurate picture of Cretaceous Sea Life, accessible to all interested audiences. But it could have been much more if it had used the 3-D movie as a starting point instead of an exclusive inspiration.

Beautiful illustration and the 3-D really does work with the glasses. I bought this for my 7-year old son and the text is definately too dense for him to read himself but we pick out the most interesting stuff. Reading level is 15+ years I would say.

The book didn't come with the 3D glasses and as much of the book has been printed to only be viewed with 3D glasses, most of it is rubbish

I really wish there was no 3D. It really ruins the book. Also, Most of the images are too dark; you don't see any details of the creatures.

My young son picked this out at the local aquarium. We purchased from Amazon, though. The pictures are very vivid and interesting. The 3D isn't really my thing, but I suppose most would think it is cool. I am glad it is only a very small portion of the book. Most of it is normal. The stories are fascinating.

This book references all the sea monsters based on fossil evidences and so it makes it worth reading because you know it's not all non-fictional garbage.Some of the pictures are in 3D and you can view them using the provided 3-D glass.I strongly recommend you to buy the DVD to go along w/ reading this. If you have Netflix, the movie is free to watch online.

One of the critics of TV is that it distracts people from reading. This might be true in some cases, but for the genre of prehistoric life (outside of dinosaurs), the CGI documentaries on cable and satellite TV have driven the sale of related books. This big, coffe-table book is one such example. Not quite as lavish as the books by Tim Haines, or the Walking with Dinosaurs series, this is still an impressive work by National Geographic, and features 3-D 2-page spreads with a pair of 3-D glasses. There is an accompanying movie of course, but the book is quite good by itself. It provides a mix of fossil-hunting documentary, to color illustrations of ancient sea monsters, along with descriptions of possible lifestyles and such. All told, a great book.

Just OK book, didn't care for the 3D images honestly, also does not include the Megladon, the biggest, monster of them all!