(That's one of those little Audubon stuffed birds that sings, and there is a hilarious story behind him that I may tell later. For now, he's just providing scale.) I chanced to find Gregory S. Paul's Predatory Dinosaurs of the World at my beloved local library. They have two copies, which is impressive as the book is, tragically, out of print. Tragically because this is probably the one animal anatomy book I use the most often.
My copy (used book stores are wonderful) is dog-eared, highlighted, bookmarked; in short, much loved. The illustrations are Phenominal (a small sampling can be found in this fansite), and there are loads and loads of skeletal diagrams, musculature studies, and other anatomical diagrams. If you find a copy, even if you for whatever reason never want to draw a single theropod in your life (I do not understand you), buy it.
Really, if more animators/illustrators/ect. would put away their "Jurassic Park" DVDs and thumb through this book once in a while, I'd be a much happier person. (Not coincidentally, I hit the "Koal" episode of "Teen Titans" last night. You'll know the Wall-Banger scene when you see it. Ugh.)
Anyway, you'll understand why I was excited when I found out about Dinosaurs of the Air. Naturally, I assumed that this was either an update or a follow-up to Predatory Dinosaurs. The asking price on Amazon should have deterred me, but it didn't, and I snapped it up without having any idea what I was in for...
It's a textbook.😱
Nonetheless, I'm going to read it. Because I'm stupid like that.
Edit: Well, it didn't take long for that plan to get derailed:
Yay for interlibrary loans!
