Tattersdill weaves a series of outrageously engaging case-studies from the byways of science, fiction and media into a persuasive, intellectually generous account of the symbiosis between knowledge and fantasy in modern culture. A virtuoso performance: breathe deep and dive in.

Ralph O'Connor, University of Aberdeen, UK

This is the thinking person's dinosaur book. Tattersdill shows us what the tools of the literary-critic can do to a subject too often trivialised and overlooked, but actually crucial to our understanding of science, history, and society. He explores these beasts as both fact and fantasy, arguing that they cannot be fully understood without the whimsical, contradictory, social and even political interplay of the two. This book doesn't merely cross disciplines, it works within 'actual total group' of human thought on the subject of what is dinosaur.

Elsa Panciroli, Research Fellow at National Museums of Scotland, UK