National Geographic Prehistoric Mammals

by Alan Turner

Book Overview

Written by one of the world's foremost paleontologists, Prehistoric Mammals gives children a rare glimpse at a world gone by in a stunningly illustrated, incredibly comprehensive reference book. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0792271343
• ISBN13: 9780792271345
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: National Geographic Society
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 2.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.0" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 7 to 9 years
• Grade Range: Grades 2 to 4

Customer Reviews

Great Book!

National Geographic has produced another beautiful book, packed with information and detailed, gorgeous illustrations. I bought this book for my 5 yr old grandson who wanted to know what animals came after the dinosaurs. There are too many and some difficult words to read it all directly to him, but I found it easy to paraphrase. He always asks how big animals are, so the comparisons of animals to the size of a man (his daddy) are just what was needed. This will be a book he can return to for many years to come. I'm so impressed with this book I may have to buy one just for me.

Very good overview.

This is an excellent overview of mammalian evolution for the general reader. In no way would I consider this a "children's" book. The book covers representative species of the major mammalian orders, which include range maps, a colored species time mark on a geological time line, a species size graphic, and a basic narrative. This is all the information that is necessary to get an overview of mammalian evolution. Each species is covered on a two page spread using the same format making it easy to locate items of specific interest. If I have one issue, it is that the geological is often not linear, such as the 2 million year long Pleistocene era being shown as 3 inches long, and the 3 million year long Pliocene being shown below the Pleistocene as 1 inch long. However, I don't know if a linear scale would be practical. In the normal National Geographic fashion, the graphics are excellent.

companion guide for the DVD

I own "walking with prehistoric beasts" and this book goes further in depth on some of the animal shown in the dvd.

excellent for young readers (and others)

Though it is definitely a book for young readers the illustrations are a pleasure to peruse even for those who are no longer so young.

National Geographic Prehistoric Mammals

A high-quality resource of ancient megafauna has been lacking for decades - that situation comes to an end with the publication of National Geographic Prehistoric Mammals. If you're a paleoartist or fan thereof, with interests extending beyond the age of dinosaurs, this is the book for you. The information is not painstakingly in-depth and there are some mistakes -- the smilodon did not go extinct 100,000 years ago; it was only 9,000, and humans certainly DID encounter them. The artwork, however, would be tough to improve on.