In this episode of 4th Favorite Hat, Andy, Bret, and Bryce crack open the dinosaur books that shaped them, from childhood picture books to heavyweight nonfiction and playful fiction. The conversation starts with the “gateway” reads: a natural history book Bret’s dad read to him night after night, DK-style dinosaur encyclopedias, and beloved kid titles like Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp, 10 Little Dinosaurs, and the Field Museum–adjacent favorite The Field Mouse and the Dinosaur Named Sue. Along the way they laugh about outdated illustrations and pronunciation quirks, but land on the same point: even the imperfect books mattered, because they taught curiosity and built the mental picture of deep time.From there, they pivot into dinosaur fiction and what it gets right (and wrong). Jurassic Park becomes the anchor, not just as a classic thriller, but as an example of research-driven storytelling, plus a comparison of how the book and film diverge in character arcs and outcomes. That threads naturally into broader “adaptation logic” and why accuracy is negotiable when the story is genuinely fun. The episode also ventures into comics and manga with Devil Dinosaur and Dinosaur Sanctuary, then swings into the overlap between paleontology and tabletop gaming with Dr. Drilman’s Dictionary of Dinosaurs and a museum D&D campaign story involving an Allosaurus “friend,” a 24-hour spell, and a quick sale for 100 gold.They close by recommending accessible nonfiction and “how science changes” reads, including The Dinosaur Heresies (for the public-facing push toward warm-blooded, feathered dinosaurs), Steve Brusatte’s dinosaur work, and broader science writers like Stephen Jay Gould. The episode ends on a local note with a shout-out to Dave Trexler, founder of the Montana Dinosaur Center, and his book Becoming Dinosaurs, using paleoclimate to put today’s climate change into a longer, more unsettling context.

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