Dinosaurs have been used extensively to promote science teaching in US universities, in particular, and have spawned a range and variety of course textbooks. These are intentionally self-contained, and aimed specifically at first year ‘non-science majors’; that is to say those undergraduates who are intending to pursue liberal-arts courses in the main, but want to experience a bit of non-threatening science along the way.

This revised and significantly updated version replaces a first edition of decidedly modest composition. The main rivals in this general market appear to be Fastovsky & Weishampel's The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs and Dinosaurs the Textbook by Lucas. In structure the present book is divided quite neatly into ‘principles’ and ‘examples’: the first half being devoted to the major concepts associated with the study of dinosaurs and some of the key scientific concepts; the second half runs through the classificatory hierarchy of the dinosaurs, discussing range and variety in some depth. Each chapter is supplemented by a relevant bibliography and from a pedagogic perspective there is a set of sample questions that the reader should be equipped to answer after having read each section.

The intention behind the book is to develop critical faculties and a healthy, inquisitive approach to the subject that can be transferred to many other areas of interest. In most respects the book is successful. It is indeed full of valuable and useful information that his generally well packaged and accessible, and certainly considerably improved over its earlier incarnation. It is clear that the undergraduate will emerge with a comprehensive appreciation of the range and variety of dinosaurs, and many of the scientific questions that surround their interpretation in a modern sense.

In general the text is perhaps slightly let down by the quality of the illustrative material. However, on the whole this is a much improved package and now far more realistically competitive with Fastovsky & Weishampel (which was intellectually the market leader in this genre). At 560 pages this represents quite a reasonable investment for a student wishing to dabble in the field – and perhaps at the dollar price is an even more reasonable purchase.