I have one of the best jobs in the world: I’m a paleontologist and I make my living digging up dinosaur bones. I am also a paleontology consultant for the Jurassic world film series, and I teach courses at the University of Edinburgh on the history and evolution of the Earth. I have written scientific books such as The rise and fall of the dinosaurs And The rise and reign of mammals. My latest book, The history of birds: a new story from their dinosaur origins to the present day, focuses on the origin and evolution of birds over time. This month I have an article in Scientific AmericanThe May issue explains why birds were the only dinosaurs to survive the terrible extinction triggered by an asteroid 66 million years ago. People who see the Jurassic World Movies or reading my work often ask how to learn about dinosaurs, so here are 10 books about dinosaurs that I often recommend.
Dinosaur Heresies: New Theories Revealing the Mystery of Dinosaurs and Their Extinction
by Robert Bakker
Zebra Books, 1986
It is one of the most important books ever written about dinosaurs, in terms of its impact on paleontology and public consciousness. It’s also one of the most fun. In his 1986 pop science book, Bob Bakker – the hippie-haired, cowboy-hatted paleontologist who was a mainstay of TV documentaries for decades – presented his revolutionary ideas that dinosaurs were more active, more energetic and bird-like than people thought at the time. The slow, tail-dragging, stupid behemoths were out, and the warm-blooded dinosaurs were in. This book also provided some of the inspiration for the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park.
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Men and dinosaurs: research in the field and in the laboratory
by Edwin H. Colbert
EP Dutton, 1968
If you want to learn more about the history of dinosaur paleontology as a discipline, this is the best place to start. For decades, Ned Colbert served at the American Museum of Natural History as curator of dinosaurs and other fossil reptiles. His research set the agenda for dinosaur paleontology in the years before Bakker and his contemporaries launched their revolution. In this book, Colbert recounts how people came to understand dinosaurs, the major discoveries that advanced the field, and the colorful characters behind the research.
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World
by Riley Black
Saint-Martin Press, 2022
When a six-mile-wide asteroid crashed into what is now the Gulf of Mexico, it unleashed fire and brimstone and ended the reign of the dinosaurs. The story of how scientists realized that an asteroid had caused the extinction of the dinosaurs was told with warmth and wit by geologist Walter Alvarez, who made the discovery, in his book. T. rex and the crater of doom. Twenty-five years later, science writer Riley Black has presented the latest and most gripping glimpse of what the carnage experience might have been like. In doing so, Black pioneered a new genre of prehistoric narrative nonfiction.
Dinosaurs rediscovered: the scientific revolution in paleontology
by Michael J. Benton
Thames and Hudson, 2019
Few paleontologists have seen as many fossils, written as many books, and conducted as many research projects as Mike Benton of the University of Bristol in England. This is what inspired me to study with him as a master’s student. In this book, he presents the facts we actually know about dinosaurs, as well as the evidence and methods behind the theories. Throughout, he argues that although paleontology was once the domain of “stamp collectors” obsessed with collecting fossils, it is now a modern science awash in data and hypothesis testing.
Dinosaurs without bones: the life of dinosaurs revealed by their fossil traces
by Anthony Martin
Pegasus Books, 2014
When I think of dinosaur fossils, my mind immediately goes back to when I was a child seeing giant dinosaur skeletons. T. Rex And Brachiosaurus at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. And indeed, the most famous dinosaur fossils are bones, claws and teeth. But in this subversively funny book, paleontologist Tony Martin delights in an underappreciated but important type of dinosaur fossils: the footprints, handprints, and other traces they left behind. Having discovered and studied many dinosaur tracks on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, I loved how this book shed light on a type of fossil that is often overlooked.
Dinosaurs: a concise natural history
by David E. Fastovsky and David B. Weishampel
Fourth edition, Cambridge University Press, 2021
In my opinion, this is the first dinosaur textbook on the market. Co-written by two leading experts who have both spent significant time in the field digging for fossils and teaching in the classroom, it tells the story of dinosaur evolution, anatomy, and behavior with authority and without getting bogged down in detail. If you’re looking for something a little more academic but aren’t yet ready to take the plunge into a Ph.D. on Triceratops cranial osteology, this book is for you.
The Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Science and the Global Quest for Fossils
by Paige Williams
Paperback, Grand Central Publishing, 2019
Ned Colbert told the grand story of how university scientists – primarily in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and continental Europe – founded the discipline of dinosaur paleontology. First published in 2018, this book by longtime New Yorker writer Paige Williams explores the darker underbelly of the dinosaur world: the black market peddlers who illegally collect and sell fossils at auction. It’s a human drama of adventure and adrenaline, but you’ll learn a lot about dinosaurs along the way.
Dinosaurs: how they lived and evolved
by Darren Naish and Paul Barrett
Smithsonian Books, 2016
This is a book about dinosaurs for the general public: a current, fun, fast-paced and richly illustrated overview of what dinosaurs actually looked like, as real, living, evolving animals. Naish and Barrett are leading dinosaur experts based in England, and their decades of experience in the field shines through. When people ask me for an accessible dinosaur book for adults who also want to see lots of awesome pictures, this is the one I recommend.
Discovering Dinosaur Behavior: What They Did and How We Know It
by David Hone
Princeton University Press, 2024
People often ask me, especially after seeing one of the Jurassic world movies – what we really know about how dinosaurs lived and behaved. Did any of them live in groups or hunt in packs? How smart were they? How did they see, hear and feel their world? The best summary of what and how we know about dinosaurs is this introduction by English paleontologist Dave Hone, an expert in the behavior and biology of extinct species who also has a deep understanding of modern animal behavior.
Why dinosaurs are important
by Kenneth Lacovara
Simon and Schuster/TED, 2017
This delightful book is unlike any other about dinosaurs. It’s written by a famous veteran of the TED talk series: New Jersey-based paleontologist Ken Lacovara, whose team discovered the colossal long-necked dinosaur. Battleship in Argentina. Ken writes like a poet, extolling his love of dinosaurs and explaining why the study of dinosaurs means something. He argues that knowledge of dinosaurs and how they evolved over time can provide insight into how our world is evolving today. If you like this book and its expansive style, also check out Other lands by paleobiologist Thomas Halliday: This isn’t a book about dinosaurs per se, but it covers the entire history of life on Earth in a glorious, lyrical tone.
