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A review by wynter
The Tyrannosaur Chronicles: The Biology of the Tyrant Dinosaurs by David Hone
3.0
There is a definite need for more popular science paleobiology works that aim a bit higher than just being a picture-book-type encyclopedia for children. There really isn't much to choose from, and because of that I was super excited to get to The Tyrannosaur Chronicles. While this book is 100% better than your regular reference guide, I still found it a bit lacking in the engagement factor. I kept asking myself, who is this thing written for? It's far too generic in the depth of material covered to be aimed at academics, yet the excessive jargon makes it kind of difficult for a layman. Part two is dedicated solely to the morphology of the species, and has literally a grocery list of anatomical terms. There are paragraphs one after another that sound something along these lines:
"The shoulder begins with the scapula: long, thin bone that lies across numerous dorsal ribs (it is partly anchored to them, thus ultimately holding the arm in place) and runs down to the chest. Here a smaller bone, the coracoid, links to the scapula, and between these bones lies the joint for the humerus, with the scapula and coracoid also providing attachment sites for the arm muscles."
Wait... What? I'm lost in this labyrinthine description.
There is really nothing wrong with going through dino anatomy a bone at a time (though I question the benefit of such endeavour), but a large accompanying diagram might have made this journey slightly easier to follow. I found that this book was not something I could just quickly read through, but would rather need to thoughtfully study. Again, there is nothing wrong with that, but I was not prepared to deal with semantics of every paragraph while reading a popular science book. Ultimately, it did not come alive for me. The tyrant lizards remained dead fossils in this book, despite dealing with all aspects of the species' lives.
Having said that, I think this is a great book, full of valuable information for anyone seriously interested in dinosaurs. It covers everything from anatomy to behaviour, to feeding, to specifics of evolution in nice, succinct chunks. It has wonderfully summarized material sourced from highbrow paleobiological research, that would certainly prove useful to freshmen university students pursuing the career. But as a casual read for dinophiles like me, it might not be the most engaging book.
"The shoulder begins with the scapula: long, thin bone that lies across numerous dorsal ribs (it is partly anchored to them, thus ultimately holding the arm in place) and runs down to the chest. Here a smaller bone, the coracoid, links to the scapula, and between these bones lies the joint for the humerus, with the scapula and coracoid also providing attachment sites for the arm muscles."
Wait... What? I'm lost in this labyrinthine description.
There is really nothing wrong with going through dino anatomy a bone at a time (though I question the benefit of such endeavour), but a large accompanying diagram might have made this journey slightly easier to follow. I found that this book was not something I could just quickly read through, but would rather need to thoughtfully study. Again, there is nothing wrong with that, but I was not prepared to deal with semantics of every paragraph while reading a popular science book. Ultimately, it did not come alive for me. The tyrant lizards remained dead fossils in this book, despite dealing with all aspects of the species' lives.
Having said that, I think this is a great book, full of valuable information for anyone seriously interested in dinosaurs. It covers everything from anatomy to behaviour, to feeding, to specifics of evolution in nice, succinct chunks. It has wonderfully summarized material sourced from highbrow paleobiological research, that would certainly prove useful to freshmen university students pursuing the career. But as a casual read for dinophiles like me, it might not be the most engaging book.