QUESTIONS
ANSWERS By: Austin Smith
The World Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures is a 2007 (Updated occasionally: my copy says 2014) illustrated encyclopedia of exactly what’s in the title, with Dougal Dixon’s name on the front.
Now I’m not a dinosaur expert (though when I was in elementary school I had a business card that said I was. I was a weird kid) but I do like dinosaurs, (and I never felt like pop culture did them right, save for Jurassic Park, which I know is unrealistic thanks in part to books like these). And I can’t go and fact-check all of this info, but from what I’ve seen from multiple sources, it seems to be fairly correct.
I’m not going to lie, though. I haven’t read the whole thing cover to cover, but people who read encyclopedias from cover to cover are crazy people. But from what I have read, I have determined that the book is informative and well written. It is very complete in the amount of entries, also containing many non-dinosaur species (really dinos are the selling point, though), but less complete on the individual entries. I know that is because we know very little about some of them, but I always found myself wanting more descriptors. It still tells you a lot of things about a lot of prehistoric animals, and is a very good and complete reference.
But speaking of reference, my favorite part of the book isn’t really the words , but the massive amount of artwork it contains (everyone’s favorite part of every dino book). There are a thousand entries, each with its own unique artwork, and other supplemental artwork here and there. It is all beautiful (if a bit featherless, in light of recent discoveries), especially in scope. If one wants to draw dinosaurs, here is an amazing set of reference materials. And the paper they are printed on, while not the best, is very good and the images really do pop.
So as a reference, both for the text and visuals, this book succeeds. The price for these types of books is always a bit much, but for the amount of work that went into it, it’s hard to argue with it, especially since this one’s price isn’t really that bad. If you like dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures (drawing them or reading about them) then this is certainly a book to look in to, and if you can find a deal on it (like I did) I wouldn’t pass it up.
QUESTIONS
ANSWERS By: Austin Smith
I’ve looked at the 4 most common Expo marker colors (specifically in the Ultra-Fine tip) in the last few weeks, and this week I’ll look at 4 of the lesser-seen colors: pink, purple, orange, and brown.
Pink- to start with, the pink is a nice, dark pink that looks much more pleasant than the common pinks found in writing utensils. It’s rosy, and very consistent; the line width is medium, though.
Purple- next, the purple is a very bold writer, it goes on smoothly and with a lot of ink, but there is more variance in the color when dry. It is a nice, dark purple, and unmistakably so. It might be confused with black from far away, but is generally distinguishable.
Orange- the orange is very thin, both in line and in color. It’s sometimes hard to tell it’s there at all, and there is a wide color variance within it. I’m not a particularly big fan of it.
Brown- and finally the brown, which is another wide-writer. It writes smoothly, with the only color variance being in the tips. It’s a dark enough brown to be easily read, and still distinguishable from the other dark colors.
Overall, these 4 are a nice addition, though they aren’t my favorites, either in performance or in looks. I like them, but if I were just getting these for a class I would skip them. For organization, note-taking, and art, these colors have a better purpose, but those aren’t the main purpose of dry-erase markers.
Everyone needs to work– at least, well, sorta. But anyway, if you want a good life you need to work. I think. Whatever. But in order to get this work done, you need a good way to get the work done, and that means things like having a workspace and a schedule. And while it’s easy to identify what makes a workspace, it’s much harder to identify what makes a schedule. Not so much in the physical aspects, but in the psychological aspects that make you actually adhere to the schedule.
Now if you’ve read my last How-To, you’d know exactly how important sleeping is, so I’d recommend reading that before proceeding. Next, print out a bunch of pieces of paper and date them. Blank Excel documents or form templates will work well for this. Then begin to schedule out all of the things that need to be done for your work. Do this in one long stretch; it is absolutely imperative that you take no breaks during this process.
Once you have finished writing down everything you need to do for the next five years, go to the store and buy the cheapest binder, and some cookies (because you earned them). Then stuff all of your planning into that binder and place it in the done pile of your desk. Place everything you complete on top of it and forget about it for several months.
Now discover it and remember that you have no discipline and scheduling isn’t your thing. Neither is sleeping.