This is the ultimate reference to 355 dinosaurs from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, including more than 900 illustrations, maps, timelines and photographs. It features all the key groups: sauropods, theropods, ornithopods, ankylosaurs, stegosaurs, carnosaurs, polacanthids, diplodocids, iguanodonts, boneheads, and many more. It includes non-dinosaurs such as placodonts, mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, nothasaurs, plesiosaurs and ptersoaurs. Expert identification text provides a description of each creature and technically accurate artworks show how each looked according to the latest scientific understanding. It features an overview of the evolution of the earth's geology, the development of life and the arrival of the dinosaurs, the process of fossilization, and development of dinosaur discovery and excavation techniques.
Dougal Dixon graduated from the University of St Andrews with a Master of Science degree in 1972. He began his career as a geological consultant, nurturing a special interest in fossils and evolution. As a practical geologist, he was involved in excavating a dinosaur-rich site in Jurassic rocks at Durlston on the Dorset coast in 1987. He is now a full-time writer specializing in earth sciences and has written many children's books and encyclopedias with a special interest in dinosaurs.