Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands

Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands was written by Canadian paleontologist Dr. W. Scott Persons IV, an instructor at the University of Alberta, and the book is illustrated by paleoartist Dr. Julius T. Csotonyi. This team has created a vibrant book about the paleoecology of the Late Cretaceous period in Alberta and the dinosaurs that lived there, along with a brief look at the science of paleontology.

The book is well laid out, starting with an overview of the geologic forces that preserved and exposed dinosaur fossils before providing some basic information about fossils and how fossils are excavated, moved and cleaned. This section includes information about Dinosaur Provincial Park. The book then moves on to geologic time and when the dinosaurs lived. Persons discusses the paleoecology of the Cretaceous period in Alberta and the types of animals that would have lived at that time, including the pterosaurs of the air and marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs and mosasaurs. The different families of dinosaurs are discussed with a focus on the individual species that would have lived in Alberta. Persons looks at how different dinosaurs would have moved, including their stance and speed. The book concludes with the extinction of the dinosaurs, the evolution of birds and feathers on dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands presents a lot of information but keeps everything interesting and readable. Besides the illustrations by Dr. Csotonyi, photographs, maps, and sidebars are used to help present the information and are spread throughout the book. The maps are very general, but they do not need to be more specific about the locations of the different bone beds and other important sites in Alberta.

While there is a lot of information presented in Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands, the writing style is very accessible for all readers. The chapters have been broken into small sections that keep the amount of information manageable and allow for lots of illustrations. Every major dinosaur discussed is given a box of information including how to pronounce the name of the dinosaur, the meaning of the name, the size (with an illustration comparing the size of a dinosaur to the size of a school bus), when the dinosaur lived and in what type of habitat, and what the dinosaur ate. This is a great way to give an overview of each dinosaur without overwhelming readers.

The book contains a good glossary for terms with which readers might be unfamiliar. Each term in the glossary is in bold text the first time that it appears in the book. The index is comprehensive without being overwhelming. There is a section on “where to learn more” that presents the types of places to learn more about dinosaur without giving too many specific resources.

Informative, fun to read, and wonderfully illustrated, Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands is a book to be enjoyed by anyone interested in dinosaurs and related animals, paleontology or paleoart, and it will be an excellent addition to a personal or a school library.