Flying Dinosaurs How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds

John Pickrell; Foreword by Philip J Currie.

The discovery of the first feathered dinosaur in China in 1996 sent shockwaves through the world of palaeontology. Were the feathers part of a complex mating ritual? A stepping-stone in the evolution of flight? And just how closely related is T. Rex to a chicken? In Flying Dinosaurs award-winning journalist John Pickrell reveals how dinosaurs developed flight and became the birds in our backyards. He delves into the latest discoveries in China, the US, Europe and Australia and goes beyond the science to uncover a thriving black market in fossils, infighting between ego-driven dinosaur hunters, and the controversial plan to use a chicken to bring dinosaurs back from the dead.

"John Pickrell challenges everything you were told about dinosaurs as a child [...] Through extensive research and interviews with leading paleontologists, Flying Dinosaurs charts how each new discovery confirmed the link between dinosaurs and birds [...] The author's fascination with dinosaurs is evident throughout the book. But his passion aside, it takes a skilled science writer to transform the incremental progress of a field such as paleontology into a narrative that sustains a book."

 - Nicky Phillips, The Sydney Morning Herald.

215 pages.

Hardback £30.00 £27.50