This book was amazing! I discovered one of my new favorite people in it--a queer paleontologist! I loved this book so much I bought my own copy.

Fascinating, of course!! Who knew? And it's such a wonder not only that these animals existed but that each type had a legit gene pool that had developed over thousands of years. Amazing and I really believe that someday we will figure out how to bring them back. Really enjoyed the book. Not just for little kids!

This wasn't the book for me. As I was reading on public transport, I kept losing my place and being completely confused as to what was happening every time.
It definitely would appeal to people who have more of a background of dinosaurs and science to begin with - but as a non-specialist with minimal involvement in this particular field, I found myself getting pretty lost pretty quick.

This might have been the best book I have read in a while! I love dinosaurs, Paleontology has been a long time love of mine, every time I think I am caught up on current discoveries I realize I have only scratched the surface. This book was a potent reminder on how the field is constantly changing, I learned so many new things, and that is the best thing I can ask for when reading non-fiction.

I ended up reading this in small chunks, because it required a lot of cross-referencing, so go in warned, this is not a book for people who are new to Paleontology or who have not brushed up in a while. I found it was best read with Wikipedia opened, not so much for fact checking (again, the field is constantly evolving, so fact-checking is not an insult, more an update) but to reference some of the really obscure dinosaurs and Paleontologists discussed in the book.

It is very well written, truly the author is very passionate about Paleontology and it shows, I cannot recommend this book enough to hard-core fans of dinosaurs!

I don’t know if I’d call the creatures detailed in John Pickrell’s Weird Dinosaurs all that “weird,” to be honest. One gets the sense that the main title is more marketing than description. But the subtitle — The Strange New Fossils Challenging Everything We Thought We Knew — is nearer to the mark with regard to the book’s contents, even allowing for perhaps a bit of hyperbole.

Really what we have here is a mostly excellent up-to-date rundown of new discoveries in the field and how those new discoveries confirm current theories or, just as often, either overturn them or at the least, force some careful reconsideration/modification. This should come as no surprise, given how rare fossilization is and thus how few specimens we have of any particular creature (especially entire or near-entire skeletons). It’s not like we’re working with a wealth of concrete evidence here. Another way in which Pickrell’s creatures are “weird,” is that beyond falling outside the bounds of some current theory on dinosaurs, they also “display some traits that are utterly unfamiliar to us in living animals today.” Which should give some caution in presupposing analogous physical or behavioral traits between today’s reptiles and those from the Mesozoic Era.

Anyone who is fascinated by dinosaurs (which c’mon, should be everyone) will be pleased with Pickrell’s coverage of the topic. One of the best aspects of the book is how geographically wide-ranging it is, carrying its readers to digs in North America, China, Siberia, Romania, Egypt, Australia, and the two polar regions. Pickrell does a nice job of knocking down the usual view of dinosaurs as bound to a relatively small segment of the world or narrow habitat range (usually a steamy, jungle-like setting, showing how dinosaurs didn’t just live but thrived in all areas of the globe, including the far north and far south, something even scientists thought unlikely, if not impossible, not that long ago. He also wisely clarifies those settings for the reader, explaining for instance how certain places (Antarctica, Madagascar for example) were not in their current position at that time and detailing as well how their climates/ecosystems differed from what they are nowadays.

And while most lay readers will perhaps already be familiar with the wealth of fossils (not just in quantity but also quality) coming out of China and South America (known particularly for feathered dinosaurs and titanosaurs respectively), even those who frequently read on the topic may be surprised at the finds in Romania and Australia, settings rarely discussed in other books on the topic.

Pickrell does an excellent job placing these finds in their scientific context without resorting to hyperbole or over-much speculation. For instance, clearly explaining the history of thought with regard to feathered dinosaurs (itself a stunning and relatively recent discovery) — when such theories first originated, the first fossils, etc. — and then showing how what these new finds have challenged is the idea that feathers were relatively rare or limited only to certain groups of dinosaurs; instead, it may be the case that many if not most avian and non-avian dinosaurs were feathered. Certainly it appears that it is far more common than once believed.

When he turns to Spinosaurus, well known from his role in the Jurassic Park film, Pickrell again does a great job of contextualizing the story, tracing the discovery back to its original fossil specimen, which was tragically lost in the bombing of Berlin in WWII. From there we get an explanation of what makes Spinosaurus so unique—its semi-aquatic nature, as far as we so far know the only dinosaur to be so equipped in terms of its physical traits.

Just as fascinating, however, as the paleontology, are the people behind the science. Pickrell excels at the human elements of the story, such as his recounting of the almost-too-good-to-be-true “character”, Franz Baron Nosca von Felso, a Transylvanian aristocrat who made major contributions to paleontology and the science of plate tectonics in between his time serving as an Ottoman spy and trying to get himself named king of Albania. No, really. Pickrell so whetted my curiosity on this figure that I’m looking for a biography of him.

Even the most well-read lay fan of dinosaurs will find something new here I’d guess, even if some of it will sound familiar to those who keep up with the field via popular science magazines or websites/blogs devoted to the topic. For me it was the above Transylvanian nobleman/spy/paleontologist/king-wanna-be/murder-suicide guy, but also Australia’s opal fossils, which I’ve somehow entirely missed coming across in my reading. Even if some of this won’t be new, however, Pickrell’s clear-voiced prose, obvious enthusiasm, and ability to present it all in a unified, contextualized manner makes Weird Dinosaurs more than worth picking up. The only complaint I had in my advance copy was a lack of illustrations, but I assume those will appear in the published version. Strongly recommended.

Surprising new discoveries for dinosaur lovers!
Recent discoveries of dinosaurs around the world break our conception of their appearance and capabilities. It is now being discovered that mostly they were feathery, they were very fast and there were even hot-blooded specimens living in polar forests. The same author mentions that the border between dinosaurs and birds is blurry. For example, theropod carnivores had feathers to fly and evolved to reduce their size to resemble primitive birds. Another great discovery that has surprised experts, is changyuraptor and Microraptor species that had both feathers and leathery gliding membranes like those of a bat.
Globally, many new discoveries of new species with surprising features and adaptations have been recorded, such as impressive ornaments that look nothing like our days in nature. Within the large sauropods information is being found on the evolutionary trend for gigantism, which explains how they managed to grow from a brood of less than one kilogram to 70 tons and 38 meters in length in a few years. In addition, these investigations give clues about the ancient climatic conditions of the planet and the movement of the continents.
My gratitude to the Publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review the book

Feathers on a reptile?! Yes. Weird dinosaurs gives new insight to an array of unpopular dinosaurs not always listed in other texts. If you have a dino-loving child or are simply interested in learning more facts about these extinct creatures, this is a must read.

We’re in a golden age of discovery – and the fossils coming to light show dinosaurs were stranger, bigger, scarier and more diverse than we ever imagined.

From outback Australia to the Gobi Desert and the savanna of Madagascar, award-winning science writer John Pickrell sets out on a world tour of new discoveries and meets the fossil hunters leading the charge. Discover the dwarf dinosaurs unearthed by an eccentric Transylvanian baron, an aquatic, crocodile-snouted carnivore bigger than T. rex, the Chinese dinosaur with wings like a bat, and a Patagonian sauropod so enormous it was heavier than two commercial jet airliners.

Why did dinosaurs grow so huge? Did they all have feathers? And what do sauropods have in common with 1950s vacuum cleaners? Weird Dinosaurs examines the latest breakthroughs and new technologies radically transforming our understanding of the distant past.

My rating:4.5
What did I think
First off I want to say that this would have been a five star read for me if it had 2 things and they are:
1: how to say the dinosaur's name
2: the mean of said name.
Other than that I loved it ,but then again I love reading anything that talks about dinosaurs ,so if you love to read about them and learn about them then you need to pick this one up and add it to your collection, I know I will be , there was so much information about some.of the old ones and about new findings that made this book amazing to read. With that said I would love to say thinks to Netgalley for giving me a chance at reading this and for finding another amazing dinosaur book to add to my collection, in a change for my honest opinion which this is.can't wait for it to come.out to buy.

Weird Dinosaurs: The Strange New Fossils Challenging Everything We Thought We Knew by John Pickrell is a new non fiction book that is currently scheduled for release on March 7 2017. From the outback of Australia to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and the savanna of Madagascar, award-winning science writer and dinosaur enthusiast John Pickrell embarks on a world tour of new finds, meeting the fossil hunters working at the frontier of discovery. He reveals the dwarf dinosaurs unearthed by an eccentric Transylvanian baron; an aquatic, crocodile-snouted carnivore bigger than T. Rex, which once lurked in North African waterways; a Chinese dinosaur with wings like a bat; and a Patagonian sauropod so enormous it weighed more than two commercial jet airliners. Other surprising discoveries hail from Alaska, Siberia, Canada, Burma, and South Africa. Why did dinosaurs grow so huge? How did they spread across the world? Did they all have feathers? What do sauropods have in common with 1950s vacuum cleaners? The stuff of adventure movies and scientific revolutions, Weird Dinosaurs examines the latest breakthroughs and new technologies radically transforming our understanding of the distant past. Pickrell opens a vivid portal to a brand new age of fossil discovery, in which fossil hunters are routinely redefining what we know and how we think about prehistory’s most iconic and fascinating creatures.

Weird Dinosaurs is a well researched and written book for readers that have always loved dinosaurs, or have had their interest revived by other dinosaur lovers in their lives, or the news of new information and discoveries in the field. The. book is written with a nice blend of information and narrative text, giving life to the discoveries and the people involved in uncovering them. I was fascinated by the information, but am a reader that likes my non fiction more simply stated than narrative, I found myself wandering a bit. However, this was an issue with my personal preference and reading style rather than anything the author did wrong. I really enjoyed discovering about the changing and growing knowledge and concepts that surrounds dinosaurs and our planet's history. The new techniques that the scientists are using, and the discoveries they have made possible are simply amazing.

Weird Dinosaurs is an informative and entertaining text with a nice blend of narrative and scientific fact. Readers that do not like a little narrative to entertain and dramatize the facts a bit might not enjoy this as much as others. However, the facts and information included are simply fascinating.

Dinosaurs are just a fun topic by themselves and thanks to the Jurassic movies they’ve become even more popular so I was very grateful to have found this book written with a very fluid writing style as that made it easier to share information with my kids.

We all loved this book especially as I also used it as an educational tool to open new doors for them. Geography lessons were created by looking up the various locations mentioned through Google Earth and Google Images. Science lessons lent themselves easily because this book opened up new avenues as we were able to talk about various climates, weather patterns, landscape conditions, and animal information. History was done by learning about paleontologists, what they do, who were some of the more well known, and about cultures in the various places dino bones were found.

It would’ve been nice if more pictures of the dinosaurs had been included but I just used Google Images to supplement what wasn’t in the book. This book overall is so incredibly full of interesting information in a very easy form it just made it a lot of fun to read. I would recommend anyone with a passing interest in dinosaurs check this out.

Weird dinosaurs and so much more

I loved this book. To me, the important thing isn’t weird dinosaurs although this is a prominent theme. It is more about how the bones were found, how paleontologists work and who they were, and the process of discovery and reporting. John Pickrell writes in a very conversational manner and is a great story-teller. This is reflected in the structure of the book where the information is divided by location as opposed to the types of fossils. One would think that the stories about the different locations would overlap after a while, but this didn’t happen as each area, from desiccated deserts to frozen fossils, had it’s unique challenges. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in dinosaurs or in the history of science.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley for review purposes.

Unfortunately, i couldn't able to read the book because of personal reasons and tine schedule.
I'm extremely sorry for ruining the opportunity and your resources.