'The Complete Dinosaur'

By Marilyn Breiter

The science in the blockbuster film Jurassic Park may be suspect-we are in no way close to creating dinosaurs out of fossilized DNA and probably never will be-but the memorable scene in which a Tyrannosaurus rex gobbles down a lawyer has given two leading paleontologists the opportunity to speculate on the actual eating requirements of the prehistoric animal. They came up with precise calculations based on their knowledge of the food requirements of a "T. rex" and an analysis of the food value of a 150-pound Homo sapiens. A warm-blooded animal requires more calories, they say, so if the dino in question had warm-blooded metabolism, he would consume 292 lawyers a year. A cold-blooded creature, however, would ingest only 73 attorneys per annum.

Chock full of serious science conveyed in a highly readable and entertaining format; brimming with the most up-to-date information on dinosaurs now available; lavishly illustrated with spectacular color paintings and detailed black-and-white drawings created by many of today's top paleontological artists; The Complete Dinosaur, published in November by the Indiana University Press and co-edited by IU geologist James Farlow, IPFW, is must reading for dinosaur fanciers from 12 to 112 years of age. In next week's issue of Library Journal, the volume gets a heavy thumbs-up in its comparison to The Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, a competing volume now on the market. It has also gotten rave reviews from newspapers around the country.

Editors Farlow and M.K. Brett-Surman, a lecturer and George Washington University and museum specialist at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution, gathered together 47 of the world's leading experts on dinosaur science to present a thorough survey of dinosaurs from the earliest discoveries through the contemporary controversies over their extinction.

For a truly exciting cyberjourney to the land of the dinosaurs, travel to this IU Press Web site:

http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress/specials/dinosaurs/



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