The Flying Dinosaurs: The Illustrated Guide to the Evolution of Flight

Ian Wylie Toal is a Martindale-based freelance science writer.

The combination of Currie (a well-known dinosaur paleontologist) and
Sovak (a “modern” dinosaur illustrator) should have made The Flying
Dinosaurs a great book. However, due to a number of problems, the book
fails to meet its promise.

The book “focuses on . . . two closely related groups of flying
animals—pterosaurs and their cousins, those dinosaurs we call
birds.” The coverage devoted to both groups is roughly equal. A
general discussion of each group, including such issues as their origin,
evolution, and lifestyles, is followed by a section in which a number of
individual species are presented. Each species is illustrated with a
full-page, color painting that depicts the animal in a lifelike manner
and setting.

This volume contains a lot of information, from the purely factual
(such as how bones and joints have been modified for flight) to the
speculative (the “warm-bloodedness” of pterosaurs). However, it is
presented in such a manner that accessing this information is often
difficult and frustrating. By way of example, the introduction starts
with Currie’s personal reminiscences about dinosaurs, moves into a
brief history of the name “dinosaur,” then jumps to a sketchy
discussion of taxonomy and cladistics—before mentioning the focus of
the book. Inexplicably, this is followed by a section entitled “The
Excitement of Discovery” and a chapter on the evolution of flight.
When the pterosaur section is finally reached, we have to read through
the history of pterosaur discovery before finding out what a pterosaur
is.

The writing is similarly inconsistent, as if the author is unclear
about what age group he is writing for. Speculation is advanced as fact,
and “facts” often contradict each other: Currie says the presence of
hair on Sordes pilosus is a “confirmation” of warm-bloodedness, yet
later states that “no reliable undisputed method currently exists for
determining whether fossils are from warm-blooded . . . species.” I
also have great difficulty with the social-Darwinian tone (life is a
battle in which the best win and the worst die) found in the book’s
discussions of evolution.

The Flying Dinosaurs is a colorful book, ideal for browsing and for
stimulating the imagination. Those looking for clearly presented
information about flying dinosaurs may be disappointed.