Tag Dougal Dixon

Tyrannosaurus Rex

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Tyrannosaurus Rex
Dougal Dixon and Rachel Caldwell
Templar Books

Subtitled ‘ A Pop-Up Guide to Anatomy’, this totally splendid book from Dougal Dixon and Rachel Caldwell, zooms readers right up close to and within what is possibly THE most fearsome of the dinosaurs.

Dougal so he would have readers believe, is in attendance at the dissection of one of these incredible creatures – ‘a world first’ so he says as we’re treated to the stripping away of its layers.

First there’s the integumentary system (outer covering), then a look at the musculature system

beneath which is the skeletal support system. All of these reveal just how amazing an anatomy these super-strong, speedy predators had. It is after all called by many, the lizard king of all the dinosaurs and Rachel’s stunning illustrations certainly make that evident throughout – oh my goodness those daggers of teeth and colossal jaws – bone crushers they surely were.

The book is designed to give the impression of a Victorian science tome with medical notes, masses of facts, sketches of the instruments used in the dissection and of parts of the creatures and much more. There are flaps aplenty, many revealing additional facts as well as visual information

and the back endpapers have a glossary and a superb view of a Victorian laboratory cupboard filled with scientific paraphernalia.

Awesome through and through – the book as well as the dinosaur; what superb innovation; what brilliant pop-up paper-engineering. A wonderful interactive offering that makes my zoological dissections back in the day look totally pathetic; and yes I still have the set of instruments tucked away so I might have to dig them out for my next reading of this stunner of a book.

When the Whales Walked / Rivers

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When the Whales Walked
Dougal Dixon and Hannah Bailey
Words & Pictures

By means of thirteen case studies, readers can discover how for example, dinosaurs evolved into birds and how whales were once four-legged creatures that walked on the land. These are just two of the fascinating evolutionary journeys told through a mix of annotated illustrations by Hanna Bailey, superbly illustrated scenes and family trees.

Did you know that way back in time snakes too had legs and crocodiles were warm blooded?

Written by evolution and earth sciences specialist, Dougal Dixon, this is a book that will broaden the horizons of dinosaur mad readers and, with evolution now a topic in the KS2 science curriculum, it’s one to add to primary school collections.

Rivers
Peter Goes
Gecko Press

In his follow up to Timeline, Belgian illustrator Peter Goes takes readers by means of a series of large size maps, on a continent-by-continent tour of all the world’s great rivers.

Those featured flow across  predominantly monochromic double spreads that are illustrated with images of iconic structures – bridges and buildings, vehicles, people, deities, monsters, wildlife and physical features.

Factual information – historical, geographical, biological, mythical, cultural – is provided in snippets (the book is translated from the original text by Bill Nagelkerke) through and around which each river meanders from source to sea.

I’ve visited relatively few of the rivers featured (though various parts the River Thames have always been part and parcel of my life and I’ve visited locations along the Ganges). Some including the River Onxy in Antarctica that flows only in summer, I’d never heard of.

This super-sized book has made me want to do some more river exploring; perhaps, like its creator I’ll start closest to home, in Europe.

A fascinating book for young would-be travellers and school libraries in particular.