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

By: Brigitte

Brigitte — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:27:55 +0000

“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”.

That mammalian memory would have lasted 65 million years? That seems incredibly long. I’d rather think that, during prehistory, humans discovered a dinosaur fossil, and from there extrapolated what a fearful beast it was and how some hero had certainly killed the monster.

By: Qazinix

Qazinix — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:03:46 +0000

I believe in dragons but only in the context of larger lizards as the term Dinosaur was only coined in the 1800′s somewhere.
So in that sense i believe they exist and had so since the beginning.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:10:50 +0000

I read this book years ago and loved it! While it doesn’t definitively prove the existence of dragons – it certainly moves them squarely from “impossible” to “plausible”.

A great read!

By: ty

ty — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:34:37 +0000

hi db i was just messing around but i just read what i wrote and it does come across as though i’m serious actually. i like your site.

By: DB Skeptic

DB Skeptic — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 02:41:49 +0000

Hi Ty,

start thinking dimensionally

I’m not sure what you mean by this. Can you elaborate?

This book isn’t an “exercise in reason” or some such drivel, he wants you to read between the lines.

I think if you’re familiar with Dickinson’s background as a science fiction and fantasy writer and have actually read “The Flight of Dragons”, you may realize that Dickinson’s keeping the dragons alive is by forcing us to reconsider their place in legend, myth and dreams. At most, his “dragons actually existed” premise is stated factually, but sounds to be very tongue-in-cheek. That’s how I interpreted it.

By: ty

ty — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:11:26 +0000

Whatever dude, dragon’s did and do exist. get off your “science” high horse and start thinking dimensionally. Why do you think dragons are a theme in diverse culture histories all over the world? because they didn’t exist? it’s in all their old stories and there are current sitings from time to time so I guess it’s not true just because it’s not or something? Wow. This book isn’t an “exercise in reason” or some such drivel, he wants you to read between the lines.

By: Oni

Oni — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:11:23 +0000

The book is very well written from an evolutionary biology and anthropology point of view, but it suffers from the limited knowledge of biochemistry at the time.

The perceptual evolution of a mesmeric reptile with an armoured head to the flying dragon of legend is quite logical as presented.
However the author’s proposed method of generating hydrogen for both flight and fire breathing simply isn’t chemically possible in the presence of water (which will be in great supply inside a living organism).

Aside from this critical flaw (especially for a science based book), it is well written, well illustrated and recommended for any dragon buff.

By: Jayna

Jayna — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:06:10 +0000

nonsense? could be. But if it is proven that an animal like a birds grinds seed with grit exists…
the mechanics of zeppelin exists
a zeppelin could surely attain the size of a “dragon”
if all his thoughts are possible, and exist in another form..
what could prove that it couldn’t exist in another form mixed together-like the the platypus.
and after all great science of today teaches has proven that dinosaurs existed…who would ever believe such a ridiculous thing before there was proof?

By: Nick of CriticalCritique.Com

Nick of CriticalCritique.Com — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:43:07 +0000

This is a good way to show how people are capable of making or creating sense out of non-sense so creatively… ;-)