Library Journal
What an idea! To combine essays by distinguished scientists (e.g., David Gillette and Philip Currie), stories by noted science fiction writers (e.g., Ray Bradbury and Poul Anderson), and artworks by first-rate illustrators in a single book on dinosaurs. Despite the disparate nature of these genres, it all fits together pretty well, as in similarly organized works like The Planets , also edited by Preiss (Bantam, 1985). Chapters, each including fictional and nonfictional contributions, span the time from the dawn of the age of dinosaurs to its end. The book also includes some helpful charts and diagrams. Highly recommended for older dinosaur aficionados (a few stories are slightly ribald). For public library collections.-- Joseph Hannibal, Cleveland Museum of Natural History

BookList - Jon Kartman
For the hardcore dinophile as well as those just curious about the subject, this book furnishes information and entertainment via essays relaying basic scientific information and "speculations"--i.e., science fiction stories by the likes of coeditor Silverberg, Ray Bradbury, and Poul Anderson--respectively. Fact and fiction are often provocatively paired, e.g., an essay by noted dino-digger Sankar Chatterjee on "The Dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs" with a story by L. Sprague de Camp imagining that DNA be cloned from fossils to create stock for a dinosaur theme park in which the critters actually roam around, much to the delight of the kid in all of us. Quite incidentally, the sheer information the book provides confirms that we are now living in a great era of dinosaur discoveries that quite eclipses the end of the nineteenth century, when field paleontologists Marsh and Cope battled each other and the elements in a race to find out more about these strange creatures. Furthermore, the wonderful full-page, full-color paintings that decorate the book make it a natural for coffee tables as well as library shelves.