Review by Choice Review
This compact, attractively illustrated little book attempts to document the cultural enthusiasm for dinosaurs through history. The steps it takes are uneven. Sax (literature, Mercy College) is on fairly firm but already well-trod ground when it comes to the actual history of dinosaur paleontology and dinosaurs in popular culture. When he speculates on the possibility of dinosaur-inspired depictions of monsters in Renaissance art, he is on shakier turf. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that humans found dinosaur bones prior to their scientific description in the 19th century and tried to interpret them within their framework of understanding. But interpreting a Byzantine icon depicting Saint Christopher as a giant with a dog's head as inspired by prehistoric bones is a howler. This is just one example of many cases of wild speculation. A horse skull in a Bosch painting is mistaken for a cow's. Based on its disproportionately large size, it is offered as another example of potential dinosaur inspiration. Despite these shortcomings, reading through the book is nevertheless rewarding for its unique and provocative take on more recent dinosaur enthusiasm. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers. --Walter L. Cressler, West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
The last dinosaurs died 65 million years before the evolution of the first humans. Despite this long separation, and no humans ever seeing a living Tyrannosaurus rex or Iguanodon, we hold dinosaurs in high regard. Our fascination with these Mesozoic creatures has influenced thousands of years of culture, art, literature, religion, and science. How can this be, when dinosaurs weren't identified by humans until the mid-nineteenth century? According to Sax, stories of Aboriginal Australians' Rainbow Serpent, Leviathan in the New Testament's book of Revelation, and dragons of many eras all sprang from the finding of what we would now call dinosaur fossils. These discoveries also shaped our concepts of evolution and extinction. In this wide-reaching social history of the dinosaur-human relationship, Sax brings the story up to the present by highlighting contemporary museum exhibits, amusement parks, genre fiction, movies, and toys. With many historical illustrations, Dinomania is an entertaining addition to literature on popular science, pop culture, and public opinions.--Rick Roche Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
