If there’s one thing children love, it’s asking questions. And if there’s one topic that inspires more questions than any other, it’s probably dinosaurs! Needless to say, publishers have long since learned that the Question and Answer format makes for a quick, easy way to stock store shelves with titles that seek to provide those curious kids with the answers they so desperately seek. Does this one accomplish that lofty goal? Or at least provide us with some pretty pictures…
Dinosaurs have encouraged a great many kids to improve their reading skills – best way to find out all about ’em, after all – so it’s only natural that books of a saurian bent have appeared in a number of reading schemes through the years. (I’ve certainly covered a few before – just don’t ask me to find them in the haystack.) Speaking of Dinosaurs was first published in 1979 (with this edition arriving in 1983) as part of the…
We’re back! After a few months’ break, the podcast resumes with a Prehistoric Planet 2 special and welcomes the return of palaeoartist, Gabriel Ugueto, who can finally tell us more about his role as concept artist on the series. We can wax lyrical forever about the show, and nary a soul can stop us. In the News The coming of ‘Philosoraptor’ was foretold. ‘Skull of a dromaeosaurid dinosaur Shri devi from the Upper Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert suggests convergence…
As previously observed, our 20-year rule for what does and does not count as Vintage Dinosaur Art means that we are now tentatively beginning to review 21st-century palaeoart. Nevertheless, I had to resist using the “vintage-ish” stamp for this one. As the 2000’s pool for VDA widens, and as our own aging brains start entering a stasis when we can’t meaningfully distinguish between 10, 5 and 2 years ago, we begin to come across books that feel nearly contemporary. Written…
Brian Franczak was one of the best palaeoartists around in the early ’90s, and I still feel (as I did a couple of years ago) that we don’t feature his work here quite enough. Happily, then, an opportunity presents itself in the 30th anniversary of That Movie. You know the one: Unix systems, expensive ice cream, disappointingly flimsy road signs. All that stuff. I didn’t fancy writing yet another article praising that movie to the skies for how groundbreaking and…
Time for another round of How to Keep Dinosaurs, a book written by Robert Mash in 1983 that would prove very handy for anyone who might find themselves stuck in a James Gurney-esque fantasy world. For those who missed the first post, the 1983 edition features a series of really quite charming colour illustrations by Diz Wallis and Philip Hood, with monochrome cartoons provided by William Rushton. This is in contrast with the more common 2003 version, which just featured…
Whereas the first two episodes of Prehistoric Planet 2 took us to the Islands and Badlands, the final three transport the viewer to Swamps, Oceans and, er, North America. Why the sudden change of theme, to a continental locale rather than a type of habitat, in the final episode? It hardly matters, I suppose, if it means we get to see more of Prehistoric Planet‘s utterly fantastic T. rex. What’s more, in this series, I finally got what I really wanted… …That is, a…
It’s back! Already! This year, I don’t quite have the time to squeeze out a blog post after the release of every episode, but I’m still determined to mark the occasion in suitable fashion. So, I’ll post once today, having seen the first two episodes, and again on Friday. Can you believe that another season is already upon us? I guess that’s what Apple’s endless pit of money will buy you. That, and Darren Naish’s increasingly snazzy shirts. I’ll admit…
Ever since the first (non-avian) dinosaur fossils were identified as such, humans have pondered on what it would be like to live alongside such awe-inspiring creatures. Could we keep them captive? Would we want to? Might they even make good beasts of burden, or pets? This year, we’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of a film that brought dinosaurs crashing into the modern world, placing them in an incredible zoo that inevitably failed to contain them. But ten years before that,…
Douglas Henderson! Roughly half of you just let out a wistful sigh. Few palaeoartists are more universally praised and beloved. At the same time, his work might not be as well known and widely seen as that of, say, Greg Paul, John Gurche or John Sibbick. For whatever reason, his work wasn’t featured in too many of the books we read in our nineties childhoods (I’m assuming you’re about my age). Apart from Dinosaurs: A Global View and this very…
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Chasmosaurus belli silhouette in custom bulleted list by Scott D. Sampson, Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Eric M. Roberts, Catherine A. Forster, Joshua A. Smith, and Alan L. Titus, CC BY-SA 3.0. Sourced from PhyloPic.