Re: 3 New Books for Kids

["Jonathan R. Wagner" <znc14@ttacs1.ttu.edu>]

At 11:56 AM 9/15/96 -0500, Amado Narvaez wrote:

>Lessem, Don, and Peters, David (illustrator). _Raptors! The Nastiest 
>Dinosaurs_. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.

        Does this book have any new dope on Utahraptor, or the new Mongolian
and Japanese Dromaeosarus?

        Will it be followed up by _Ankylosaurs!  The Silliest-Lookin'
Dinosaurs_ and _Titanosaurs!  The Stinkiest Dinosaurs_?  (Personally, I
always thought that scutellosaurs were the nastiest dinosaurs.  I just don't
like 'em.)

>Dingus, Lowell, and Norell, Mark. A. _Searching for Velociraptor_. New 
>York: Harper Collins, 1996.
>    Whereas the Lessem/Peters book deals with the Dromaeosauridae in 
>general, this book deals specifically with Velociraptor, detailing the 
>expedition to the Gobi desert retracing the footsteps of Roy Chapman 
>Andrews. Excellent color photographs document the entire process of 
>finding, excavating, preparing, and displaying a fossil find.
>Unfortunately, for the section on mounting the fossil remains, it was 
>necessary to substitute photos of a Tyrannosaurus skeleton being mounted. 

        Are there any v-raptor m. (sorry Amado N. :) mounts anywhere?

>Worth adding to a library because of the attention to detail on what 
>paleontologists and fossil preparators do.

        I do hope that this book does not feature the pudgy purple Pillsbury
Doughboy masquerading as a Velociraptor life reconstruction that is featured
in the AMNH dinosaur halls.
        I should say that I have the utmost respect for everyone who played
a part in the new dinosaur halls at AMNH.  They all did a fantastic job, and
normally I would think twice about poking fun at someone's work in such an
abrupt manner, but I can be silent no longer...
        The sculpture does serve one useful purpose, it gives people an idea
of the size of Velociraptor mongoliensis.  It also gives a very nice idea of
what it would look like if you overfed a duck, stuck a tail on it, then
plucked it and spray-painted it purple.)
        Wagner
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