Book review of “The Flight of Dragons” by Peter Dickinson: How dragons could have evolved and existed

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By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 1111

Dragons existed. Real ones. They breathed fire. They flew through the air. They dripped poisonous blood and horded tons of gold. At least, that’s what the book The Flight of Dragons says is possible. It’s not telling us dragons definitely existed. But given certain evolutionary adaptations, they could have.

The book The Flight of Dragons by Peter Dickinson is an entertaining and intelligent experiment in critical thinking. It entertains children while respecting an adult intelligence. It exposes the reader to a believable “fantasy” world built on a foundation of reality.

I’ll quote Peter Dickinson in his introduction:

“This book is called The Flight of Dragons because my theory is that the particular specialisation of dragons was that they evolved a unique mode of flight. They grew to their enormous size because size was necessary if they were to fly successfully. They breathed fire because they had to. Their “blood” had seemingly magical properties because a particular chemical reaction was necessary for their mode of flight.”

The book is 132 pages of showing just how dragons could have lived and flew and, yes, breathed fire.

Why is The Flight of Dragons a book for critical thinkers and skeptics? Because it presents a very interesting theme: it doesn’t say “dragons never existed”. It doesn’t say “dragons did exist”. It says, in essence, “Dragons are most likely mythological creatures. However, there are so many myths about them, so many shared dragon characteristics between cultures, that if they did exist, here is one possible explanation how dragons evolved the way they did.”

The book is an evolutionary analysis of the dragon, and the result is brilliant: well-researched and entertaining, fun for dragon buffs, fantasy buffs, or critical thinkers and skeptics.

In addition to massive amounts of scientific analysis and critical thought, the book also provides a great amount of history of dragons and dragon myths. Here’s a chapter by chapter breakdown for The Flight of Dragons:

Introduction: A concise introduction by the author, Peter Dickinson: it is his view that dragons really existed, and that he can “put together a coherent theory which is at least as probable as the theory that dragons are completely legendary.”

Flight: In a book titled “The Flight of Dragons”, it makes sense that the first chapter after the introduction be a discussion of the mechanics of flight. It introduces the concept of a wing-size-to-weight ratio, and emphasizes that the heavier an animal is, the larger the wingspan needed to fly. In addition, dragon legends speak of dragons having abilities that would add to their body weight: they are fast fliers. They can hover. But these attributes require a sturdy and strong body, contrary to a light body weight. Dickinson realizes there is something wrong with the usual assumption about how dragons were thought to fly, and that weight was the critical factor: If dragons flew, it was because they were weightless.

The Flying Brick: This two-page spread is a visual explanation of what was described in the previous chapter: as the weight of an animal increases, the wing size required for flight increases significantly. This is why the animals and insects that do fly are generally very small and very light.

Fiery Breath: Why does a dragon breathe fire? How does a dragon breathe fire? This chapter answers these questions, while also describing Dickinson’s revelation about the mechanics of dragon flight:

1) Dragons could fly because their bodies were lighter-than-air. Think of a blimp.

2) Also like a blimp, dragons were large because their bodies needed to be large in order to fly.

3) Dragons would therefore not need huge wings, since they were more for maneuvering than actual flight and lift.

4) “Dragons breathed fire because they had to.” The gas that gave dragons their lift was hydrogen. To prevent possible explosions (think of the Hindenburg), excess gas had to be burned off in a controlled fashion.

Legs and Wings: Another two-page spread describing the difference between evolved wings (like those on a bat) and evolved fins (like what Dickinson proposes a dragon would have had, as these “wings” would be light and require little muscle to operate).

Dragon Blood: Dragon blood is said to have magical properties. It was said to be anything from beneficial to corrosive and poisonous. Dickinson addresses this by defining a chemical reaction. This reaction produces the hydrogen which gave dragons their power of flight, but as a side-product also produces acid. As a side note, this also explains why dragon fossils have never been found: when a dragon dies, the acidic reaction went out of control, and ate the dragon corpse from the inside, bones and all.

Flight Cavities: Another two-page spread, this one introducing how the dragon must have had a honeycomb-like body, one that was fairly sizable and bloated, perfect for storing the massive amounts of hydrogen that gave a dragon its lift.

Evolution: This chapter describes a proposed evolution of the dragon. It covers not only a flying dragon discussed above, but what could’ve happened over the eons after that, and why some dragons remained earthbound, unable to fly, but still had evolved dragon characteristics like breathing fire.

Life Cycle: This is a fictional account by Peter Dickinson to describe the gestation, birth and growth of a dragon, from a “pup” to adolescence, to an adult and mating, to laying and hatching young dragons who will start the cycle again.

Dragon Sightings in Berlin: A two-page spread of a list of forty dragon sightings throughout Britain. Dickinson provides little detail beyond a location and summary of the sighting. Rarely are there dates or sources, so it’s difficult to know if these reports are authentic or fictional.

The Hero with the Sword: This chapter discuss the social, economic, religious and practical aspects of living with dragons. Could humans cooperate with dragons, and have a god / worshipper arrangement? Or one more secular, where the dragon, sated and fed by human caretakers, in turn stops pillaging and killing for food? Inevitably, however, man must dominate: enter the dragon-slayer. Dickinson brings up great legends, like Saint George and the Dragon, pretty maidens, magical swords, and ties them together in a plausible reality involving dragons.

Techniques of Dragon-slaying: Peter Dickinson has, by this point, literally and figuratively fleshed out the design and evolution of a real, flying, fire-breathing dragon. This two-page spread details the most effective way to kill such a beast.

The Dragon Hoard: As Dickinson says at the beginning of this chapter, he’s covered a lot of dragon lore, but until this point has not explained two very popular dragon myths. One, they could speak. Two, they had a hoard. This chapter covers the dragon hoard. The hoard as Dickinson describes it (a nest of gold, and a cache of diamonds, rubies and other gemstones) is a practical matter, required by the dragon’s unique metabolism.

Cave-paintings: This two-page spread is a brief explanation of why there are no cave paintings featuring dragons.

Dragon Speech: Dickinson posits that dragons were not actually intelligent enough to be able to speak, and are actually slow-witted. Instead of actual speech, the dragon used a form of hypnosis (similar to the hypnosis employed by a snake or a tiger), and this effect on a stone-age man must have been staggering. The supernatural knowledge and speech must have come during this hypnotic state: a man, held frozen in a terrified mystical gaze, suddenly knows things and hears his own frozen thoughts, and later attributes these to the dragon.

Beowulf: Beowulf, as Dickinson describes it, is “a magnificent strange poem about a professional dragon-killer and his fights with three separate dragons“. So for obvious reasons, an analysis of Beowulf is included in The Flight of Dragons.

Chinese Dragons: This two-page spread discusses Chinese dragon legends, and similarities and differences from Western dragon myths.

Evidence for Dragons: The concluding chapter in The Flight of Dragons begins with an introduction to “fossil memory” and a quote from Carl Sagan in his book, “The Dragons of Eden“. Fossil memory proposes that humans have a general mammalian memory inherited from early ancestors, our ancestors who had to live in fear of the dinosaurs. It is this ancestral memory that gives us our modern-day sense of dragons. It’s interesting that in supporting “fossil memory”, Dickinson introduces the concept of sleep paralysis, though he does not identify it as such.

Critical thought comes into play because the dragon is treated as a “real” creature – not myth. While breathing fire and flying, Dickinson’s dragons still obey the laws of nature.

Skepticism comes into play because the book asserts that dragons don’t have to be supernatural to exist. There is no “behold the dragon with its magical abilities”. The dragons presented have all the traditional “magical” attributes, but there is no reason to believe in that magic when a scientific explanation is available.

Any review for The Flight of Dragons book should also mention the artwork. The book is sprinkled with full-color art by Wayne Anderson. Anderson and Dickinson obviously collaborated closely during the writing process, as the design of several of Anderson’s dragons match Dickinson’s descriptions. The result is an engaging experience, pulling the reader into the “feel” of the book with some excellent visuals.

The Flight of Dragons book was written for young adults and adults. The scientific processes described are not particularly difficult to understand, but some basic scientific knowledge is required to understand what’s going on. In addition, the artwork is kid-friendly with the possible exception of two pictures: one with a naked female form (non-sexual), the other a picture of a man being violently attacked by a dragon (there is little blood, but the image may be scary to younger readers). I remember reading this book as a child, and viewed the possibly inappropriate artwork with the same interest as all the other art. I personally wouldn’t have a problem showing the entire book to a child of any age, but other parents should review it before doing so.

The Flight of Dragons is a book of imagination, science and, ultimately, wonder. It shows us that the world we live in can indeed be more fascinating than the world of the wildly credulous. And in the end, a fascinating and logical reality should be a goal for all critical thinkers and skeptics.

This book review of The Flight of Dragons is, unfortunately, decades too late: The Flight of Dragons was first published in the United States in 1979. As of this writing, it’s no longer in print. However, many used copies do exist. You may have luck trying to buy it from one of these online stores (I bought my copy from a seller on ABE):

Flight of Dragons from AbeBooks (this is where I found and purchased an affordable copy)
Flight of Dragons from Amazon (you may get lucky, though most of the copies here at the time of this writing were very expensive)
Flight of Dragons from eBay

For the movie adaptation of the book, see the DBSkeptic article: “The Flight of Dragons movie: Magic versus science“

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