Despite the fact that these include some of the earliest recognized of all dinosaurs, the basal (= early) sauropodomorph dinosaurs have proved rather reluctant to reveal an agreed pattern of relationships in a strictly cladistic sense: do they constitute the monophyletic Prosauropoda (by implication the sister group to the Sauropoda); or are they in fact paraphyletic: representing rather a series of basal sauropodans that form the equivalent of a stem-lineage at the base of the Sauropoda?

This volume is devoted to elucidating not only aspects of the anatomy of these basal forms, but extracting some degree of consensus about their overall relationships. The papers herein are well-organized, well-refereed and consistent in their standard. As such they represent (as the editors hoped for) a benchmark in the study of these enigmatic animals. The consensus is shifting away from the recognition of a clade Prosauropoda at present (although views are not entirely consistent), and the anatomy and biology of these animals is summarized nicely in the articles that contribute to this volume.

This is a timely and well-produced volume and a valuable addition to dinosaur research focused on the origin and early diversification of the sauropodomorph dinosaurs that culminated in those giants (Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, etc.) that dominated the latter half of the Jurassic Period.