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Title: The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution by Dougal Dixon ISBN: 0-88162-301-6 Publisher: Salem House Publishing Pub. Date: October, 1988 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: What if dinosaurs had not died out?
Comment: This book by Dougal Dixon asks, 'What would the Earth be like if dinosaurs had not kicked the bucket?' The first chapters deal with evolution in general and with real dinosaurs, where they came from, how they changed and why they might have died out. This is followed by chapters that deal with the different regions of Earth, how they have changed over the millions of years and what the animals are like. Not just dinosaurs either, but also creatures evolved from birds, pterosaurs, sea-reptiles and other animals. As in 'After Man' the whole book has been designed like a non-fiction text book, or a nature guide, but doesn't seem as detailed or as fun. While Dixon's 'The New Dinosaurs' seems slightly more realistic than 'After Man' which had such weird creatures as parashrews, it also seems to have less imagination.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating
Comment: I have found this book to be fascinating since I first got hold of it as a child. I have always had a fascination with dinosaurs (I'm in college now and majoring in paleontology), so of course I was always plague by the question "What if they hadn't died out?" Dixon answers this question very creatively and to my complete satisfaction. Some of the other reviews on this book claim that many of Dixon's creations are implausible. Well, look around. I see a lot of equally implausible animals roaming the earth today. Have you ever taken a good look at a camel? An anteater? A duckbilled platypus? A porcupine? Think about it. If we hadn't seen them with our own eyes, wouldn't they seem pretty "out there," too? Or some extinct creatures. Anyone with any real knowledge about this subject can tell you that there are some pretty strange creatures represented in the fossil record. To those people who complain about implausibility, all I have to say is this: Go find yourself a nice illustrated book about the Burgess Shale fossils. I recommend "Wonderful Life" by Steven Jay Gould. Spend some time reading up on weird and wonderful critters like Opabinia, Marella, Sidneyia, Aysheaia, Anomalocaris, and Hallucigenia. Then let's hear your views on implausibility.
Dixon has a wonderful imagination, his descriptions are good, he is obviously knowledgeable about the workings of evolution. I find each and every one of his unique critters to be entirely plausible. In fact, every time I read his book, I have this urge to go on some sort of safari to see all those amazing creatures. I will spend the rest of my life regretting that I will never be able to see any of Dixon's wonderful animals except on the pages of his book.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not as good as After Man
Comment: After Man was probably the most fun text on evolution I have read. New Dinosaurs was not. The book is based on a fairly simple theme: what would happen if the dinosaurs had not gone extinct and this is a wonderfull concept for a Dougal Dixon book. However, New Dinosaurs did reach it's potential. It is badly illustraited (it seems that dinosaurs, if left to themsleves would evolve into something like how we saw them in the fifties), not particularly informative, and some of the new dinosaurs are completely implausable. It is obvious that Mr. Dixon did not spend the time and effort on New Dinosaurs that he did on After Man.
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Title: Future Evolution by Peter Ward ISBN: 0716734966 Publisher: W H Freeman & Co. Pub. Date: November, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: After Man : A Zoology of the Future by Dougal Dixon ISBN: 0312194331 Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback Pub. Date: 15 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future by Dougal Dixon, Philip Hood ISBN: 0312035608 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: September, 1990 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Future is Wild by Dougal Dixon, John Adams ISBN: 1552977234 Publisher: Firefly Books Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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