Drake's Comprehensive Compendium of Dragonology by Dr. Ernest Drake (Oct 27 2009)

I honestly never thought I'd want another Dragonology book after I read through the majority of the older texts and had them mostly memorized (the original book, the handbook and assorted others). After seeing this installment at my library and flipping through it, however, my opinion was changed completely. Unlike the main Ology books, there are no inlaid gems in the cover and the pages are thick and parchment-like, not shiny cardstock. Despite that minor change, very few illustrations are reused from the original and adds several dragons and pseudo-dragons to the usual fare presented thus far. In terms of content removal, it only contains the original dragon runes seen in the first Dragonology and is missing the sections on dragon magic altogether. While from a publishing perspective repeating that much material is unnecessary, I feel it removes an interesting aspect from the world of Dragonology present in the other books. Even so, the addition of new dragons and fresh artwork can make even a long-time, older fan's interest become renewed. I can happily say this book will not be donated to my cousins as the others have.Pros:-New artwork-New dragons-Recaps and collects important parts of older works-High quality paper and beautiful canvas cover-Has a built-in ribbon bookmarkCons:-Expensive! It's most likely out-of-print, but makes a good gift for collectors and fans of Dragonology-Big, thick book, may be intimidating to smaller children-Lacks interesting (but minor) content from other Dragonology books

More than I wanted to pay for this book, but availability was very low, so I was glad to get it at all. I have a granddaughter who just loves the Dragonology books. She has several and this one will be for Christmas. Quality is so good on all of these "ology" books. Paper quality, illustrations, etc. are all so nice. They make great "coffee table" books, too, if you do much entertaining.

This book (though not a replacement) is an excellent suppliment to the original Dragonology book. It repeats some of the facts contained in the previous book but also features plenty of new information on both old and new dragon species as well their close relatives. The illustrations are fantastic and (if you have a webcam) can also come alive with awesome 3d images. Overall, I strongly recommend this book to dragon fans. It will be a worthwhile addition to your collection even if you prefer not to collect all the dragonology books just because of the insane amount of work that went into this book.

The book cover is a hardback and has a built in ribbon bookmark. The book contains extensive information complied by dragonologists. If you're a fan of dragons, you'll most likely enjoy this book.

I haven't had a chance to read this book yet, but I've flipped through it, and I can tell that it's going to be amazing and informative and a joy to read! All the pictures and diagrams are awesome! It has the look and feel of a text book, and it would make an excellent addition to any dragonologist's library! I love it and I haven't even read it yet! I highly recommend it to anyone who loves dragons, and wishes to further their knowlege about them! :D

I bought this book because I love dragons. I have just about everything dragon in my home. The only thing I didn't like about this product is it's not as thick as I imagined. I expected a thick book with a bunch to read. But on a brighter note the illustrations are very beautiful. Overall I'm happy with this product. It came fairly fast as well

I bought this for a pre-teen child. His only comment when asked was, "I love it." I can tell you he has read the whole book twice, quoted me facts about dragons from the book, and put to use some of the extras in the book. If you have a child interested in fantasy and dragons, this may be worth the investment.

My daughter brought this book home from the library and after a week, we all decided we needed a copy for ourselves. It's amazing how much detail went into creating Drake's Compendium - detailing each kind of dragon, their habits, their temperaments, prey, habitat, diet, language, alphabet, bone-structure. Even their dung.It has a tremendous amount of humor in addition to drop dead gorgeous illustrations. I now know more than I ever thought I would about the European, Knucker, Ryu, Lung, American and Mexican Amphithere dragons (plus all the psuedo-dragons).The whole family loves this books and looks forward to more compendiums of mythical beasts by the publisher.

good

My kids almost believe dragons are real after reading this book. It is beautifully illustrated and written with authority on a subject that is entirely made-up. Very fun.

My daughter loves dragons and this is a very good encyclopedia of dragons. It has great facts and fabulous pictures. She loves it.

My son was well happy with this.

Drakes books are great to have they have all kinds of info about Dragons they're great to read and look at for every one that likes Dragons.