Dire Dragons

Title: Dire Dragons
Author: Vance Nelson
Series: Untold Secrets of Planet Earth
Major Themes: Dinosaurs, Dragons, Paleontology, Archaeology, Fossils, Apologetics, Art
Synopsis: Many examples of pictures of dragons from ancient and medieval artwork are shown beside modern reconstructions of dinosaurs from fossils.

We just finished reading Dire Dragons, a beautiful coffee-table-style book in the Untold Secrets of Planet Earth series. I read one short section each morning as part of our homeschool day, and my school children were captivated all the way through. They soon learned the theme of this book, and loved seeing the pictures.

There are stories and pictures of “dragons” from all around the world. What are these creatures? Are they mythical beings? Did people make up the depictions of them from their imaginations? Or are they real? If they are real, what does that tell us about dinosaur extinction? All these questions are explored at length by Vance Nelson.

This book begins with a lengthy explanation of what one would expect to find, both in the fossil record and in artwork and literature, if the Bible is true. There is also a discussion of how dinosaurs are reconstructed, and what it would have taken for people in ancient and medieval times to come up with accurate reconstructions. 

The most interesting part of the book is the center. After the introductory material, described above, are short chapters. Each chapter shows a piece of art from a particular country, mostly in Europe but some from other, widely varying, parts of the world as well. This piece of art, portraying a creature that looks for all the world like some sort of giant reptile, is discussed, and the creature is shown next to a reconstruction of a dinosaur which it closely resembles. Great care has been taken to choose authentic art from hundreds of years ago, and dinosaur reconstructions from experts in the field. A common refrain throughout the book stresses that, if the artwork is genuine, there is no way that dinosaurs could have gone extinct millions of years before man appeared.

Dire Dragons is both beautiful and fascinating. It is the kind of book that my children will spend hours studying. The photographs are amazing. This book would be great for anyone who is interested in dinosaurs and paleontology.

No warnings!

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