Table of Contents

Preface • 1. Origin of the Dinosaurs • 2. Making the Tree • 3. Digging Up Dinosaurs • 4. Breathing – Brains – Behaviour • 5. Jurassic Park • 6. From Baby to Giant • 7. How Did They Eat? • 8. How Did They Move and Run? • 9. Mass Extinction • 10. Afterword

Promotional Information

An expert palaeontologist reveals how our understanding of the dinosaurs has been transformed by huge strides in technology in the 21st century.

About the Author

Michael Benton is a palaeontologist who has made fundamental contributions to understanding the history of life, particularly concerning how biodiversity changes through time. He has led in integrating data from living and fossil organisms to generate phylogenies — solutions to the question of how major groups originated and diversified through time.
This approach has revolutionised our understanding of major questions, including the relative roles of internal and external drivers on the history of life, whether diversity reaches saturation, the significance of mass extinctions, and how major clades radiate. A key theme is the Permo–Triassic mass extinction, the largest mass extinction of all time, which took place over 250 million years ago, where he investigates how life was able to recover from such a devastating event.
Michael has written engaging books for children on the theme of dinosaurs, as well as a significant number of palaeontology textbooks for university students. He founded the MSc in Palaeobiology at Bristol in 1996, from which more than 450 students have graduated. He has supervised more than 70 PhD students.

Reviews

'New science has transformed the way we understand the lives and evolution of the dinosaurs … Mike Benton has brought together all the latest information in this succinct and well illustrated book to challenge previously accepted ideas, and succeeds in bringing these fascinating creatures back to life for another generation' - Richard Fortey

'The Dinosaurs Rediscovered is easy to recommend. Benton’s enthusiasm is infectious, and his skill at packing so many exciting developments into this book speaks of his deep involvement in this field … now is a very exciting time, indeed, to be a palaeontologist' - Leon Vlieger, Natural History Book Service

'I defy anyone who is, like me, a non-scientist to read it and not feel a sense of wonder' - Tom Holland, Guardian

'Fascinating … a bold reiteration of the scientific method itself' - Scotland on Sunday

'Fascinating' - Dinosaur Society