Canadian Dinosaurs

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

There appears to be a growing phenomenon of self-centredness among
paleontologists that one does not find among other scientists. While
this book is titled Canadian Dinosaurs, it contains more profiles of
people than it does of dinosaurs. One gets the feeling that some
paleontologists would like to be recognized as the Gretzkys of the
discipline. While it is true that many children aspire to being
“dinosaur hunters,” paleontology is not a performance activity like
hockey, acting, or music. Children will always be more interested in the
fossils than in the people who clean them.

Having said that, this book is a thorough review of the history,
development, and current issues in Canadian paleontology. There is
discussion not only of the well-known Alberta resources but also of
resources on the two coasts, as well as of recent Alberta-China
research. The text is up-to-date with new discoveries, dense with facts,
and at the high end of the elementary reading level.

There are high-quality and well-chosen photos or drawings on every
page; these, combined with the use of coloured backgrounds, borders,
fact boxes, and headers, make this a very attractive volume.

The book includes a list of which dinosaurs are found in each province,
a list of “dinosaur institutions,” a geologic time chart, a
glossary, and an index.

Libraries looking for a book about Canadian dinosaurs will want to
choose a different volume. This work is highly recommended to public and
school libraries that want a work on Canadian paleontology.