Dinosaurs; Inside the Internet

A new series from Cassell that promises to build into an encyclopedic resource for both adults and children. Closer inspection reveals that these compact little books were originally produced in France. Their creator is Pierre Marchand, once joint publisher of the Eyewitness Guides while at Gallimard, and now publisher at Hachette. The books' French origins are clear in their stylish presentation and electic mixture of fact and fiction. As a pictorial resource, Dinosaurs may prove useful to 10+ readers, but one wonders whether an audience raised on amazingly realistic animatronic beasts on film and TV will be as impressed by hand-coloured engravings. Listings of websites and a glossary will prove useful, but maddeningly there is no index. Inside the Internet is even more quirky, with pages of full-bleed photographs of a spider's web, mouse (furry variety), mailbox, surfers etc offering a bizarre magazine-style photo essay. It is hard to imagine quite for whom this book is intended.