The Horned Dinosaurs

Rating:
Summary: A good book, but needs some work.
Review: Ceratopsians, or horned dinosaurs, have always been of particular interest to me. This book is a wealth of info about the group. It breaks the group into two distinct sub-groups: centrosaurs and chasmosaurs. These groups were informally called short-frilled and long-frilled ceratopsians. Centrosaurs are characterized by large nasal horns and small or nonexistant brow horns while chasmosaurs are characterized by short nasal horns and longer brow horns. This means that Triceratops, which I can remember being classified in the short-frilled group correctly belongs in the chasmosaur group. The book also explains work being done on statistical analysis of the known finds with an eye to determining which species are valid and which are just individual variation. However, in many instances I was left uncertain about which species were kept and which were incorporated into the remaining species.
In addition to the physiological and evolutionary material, the author includes a good deal of information on how and when the species were discovered. He uses this to set the stage for the analysis work which is the meat of his book.
There was one major problem I had with the book. That is the conclusion he draws that ceratopsians had front legs that were splayed out to the side, much like an alligator's. This is a debate that has gone on for some time. In my opinion, an animal that has splayed out front legs and fully erect rear legs could not exist. One only has to look at living animals to see that there is no animal with legs like that and no other animal in the fossil record has legs like this either. The only animals I know of that have limbs that are set up for different methods of locomotion are birds. And no one is suggesting that ceratopsians flew.
All in all a solid book, but his conclusions could have been more clearly stated.

Rating:
Summary: A good book, but needs some work.
Review: Ceratopsians, or horned dinosaurs, have always been of particular interest to me. This book is a wealth of info about the group. It breaks the group into two distinct sub-groups: centrosaurs and chasmosaurs. These groups were informally called short-frilled and long-frilled ceratopsians. Centrosaurs are characterized by large nasal horns and small or nonexistant brow horns while chasmosaurs are characterized by short nasal horns and longer brow horns. This means that Triceratops, which I can remember being classified in the short-frilled group correctly belongs in the chasmosaur group. The book also explains work being done on statistical analysis of the known finds with an eye to determining which species are valid and which are just individual variation. However, in many instances I was left uncertain about which species were kept and which were incorporated into the remaining species.
In addition to the physiological and evolutionary material, the author includes a good deal of information on how and when the species were discovered. He uses this to set the stage for the analysis work which is the meat of his book.
There was one major problem I had with the book. That is the conclusion he draws that ceratopsians had front legs that were splayed out to the side, much like an alligator's. This is a debate that has gone on for some time. In my opinion, an animal that has splayed out front legs and fully erect rear legs could not exist. One only has to look at living animals to see that there is no animal with legs like that and no other animal in the fossil record has legs like this either. The only animals I know of that have limbs that are set up for different methods of locomotion are birds. And no one is suggesting that ceratopsians flew.
All in all a solid book, but his conclusions could have been more clearly stated.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful things with horns!
Review: Dodson's prose is a delight. One rarely finds a scientist who is also a good writer, capable of conveying the complex ideas of geology and biology (as well as history) in a manner that is both informative and exquisitely entertaining. No dry text here. THE HORNED DINOSAURS provides an up-to-date survey of the known ceratopsians, from familiar taxa like Triceratops and Chasmosaurus, to newer, less well-known forms such as Udanoceratops and Einiosaurus. Wayne D. Barlowe provides a series of beautiful color plates. It's a shame similar volumes are not available for other groups of dinosaurs, such as hadrosaurs and ankylosaurs, books useful to both laymen and paleontologists.

Rating:
Summary: both authoritative science and passionate personal interest!
Review: Never before has a single group of dinosaurs received this kind of authoritative but popular treatment. The history of the horned dinosaurs is the history of paleontology in America (and Canada!) -- with all of the colorful characters of the 19th century with their rivalries and intrigues, blending into the more institutional and professional (stuffy?) science of the 20th century. This book traces the growth in our knowledge of this fascinating group of rhinoceros-like plant-eaters from the first discoveries of the 1850s and 1870s through the Mongolian expeditions of the 1920s to the contemporary scene. It situates horned dinosaurs in the biological communities of their times, and develops ideas about sexual display, posture and fighting. The book is profusely illustrated with original art by Wayne Barlowe and Bob Walters, and with a rich collection of drawings both contemporary and historical. The writing style is light but the information content is high. The horned dinosaurs live! The author has studied horned dinosaurs for more than 25 years, and described a new kind, Avaceratops lammersi, in 1986.

Rating:
Summary: Peter Dodson Soars Again
Review: Peter Dodson has always been known as an influential paleontologist. In paleontology circles, not many are more respected than Dodson. In his many books Dodson has shown his knowledge and expertise, and this one soars above the rest. Five stars to the All American Paleontologist Peter Dodson. And, the cover of this work has even been transformed to be my wallpaper on my PC. Bravo!!

Rating:
Summary: The Horned Dinosaurs
Review: The Horned Dinosaurs written by Peter Dodsonis a book that concerns itself strictly to a group of dinosauria known as the Ceratopsia of which Triceatops is but one of many.

The book is comprehensive in nature and has many illustrations scattered throughout to help the reader, as the author pieces together the fossil evidence. As a child many of us dreamed of dinosaurs and even had toys fashioned after dinosaurs, but the author has actually found and is studing the dinosaurs for real.

Triceratops was one of my favorites as a child. It could take on a T.rex and win with its three long horns, one on the nose and two horns on the brow and a crown of bone like a halo arond the head. Well, after reading this book, there are many different horn combinations and number of horns in the group of dinosaurs names Ceratopsia. Five horns, long and short horns, different crown arrangements, all were dangerous. Following the book you'll find out that the environment was dangerous and the Ceratopsia evolved with the level of dangers so did the bone structure.

Puzzles present themselves as fossil remains of a once very proud group of dinosaurs. The author explains some of them as posture, gait and compares them with the fossil record, footprints, but I'm not convinced that the author is correct. This book takes us all over the world where dinosaur digs are found, Mongolia, Alberta, Canada. The adventure in this book is trying to figure out after the discovery what these animals were like.

Clues range from not only the impressive armor in the skulls, but the actual deconstruction of the skeletal remains to nests/eggs and diet and tooth structure. All in all, this book is presented for general readers and specialists, but with the easy going narrative its not hard to be engrossed in this book.

Rating:
Summary: The most comprehensive book on the horned dinosaurs so far.
Review: This wonderfully illustrated and detailed book has to be in every dinosaur expert's and every dinosaur enthusiast's library. It is not just an encyclopedic summary of every ceratopsian dinosaur genus and species discovered and described so far, but also a discussion on every aspect of their natural history. Dr. Peter Dodson, who is an expert on horned dinosaurs, writes on the discovery, biology and analysis of Triceratops and its kin, the Mesozoic strange beasts

Rating:
Summary: Triceratops and family, with wonderful color plates.
Review: Triceratops and family, as related by Penn paleontologist Peter Dodson, who is a clear and engaging writer. Have a look at the cover-scan at Amazon -- a preview of Wayne Barlowe's wonderful color plates. I bogged down in the anatomy lessons -- the occipital condyle dimensions seem important, but MEGO. The interior art is very nice. And I really like such tidbits as learning that William Buckland, who wrote the first formal dinosaur fossil-description in 1824, kept a pet bear in his house at Oxford. So there may be more here about old horned-face than you want to know, but you owe it to yourself, at least, to look at the wonderful Barlowe plates and read about the fieldwork. For a dino-dilettante like myself, the highlights of dino-books are the color plates, and I would certainly buy a nice, big "best-of" color dino-book. My nominations for artists would include Wayne Barlowe, Carel van Kampen (Dinosaurs of Utah), Doug Henderson (Dawn of the Dinosaurs), and others. If such a book exists, I haven't seen it. Have you? Publishers, take note....