Sharks and dinosaurs, dinosaurs and sharks, we find them both alien and awe-inspiring, at once utterly inhuman and somehow irresistibly compelling. But forget Jaws and Jurassic Park—nothing can prepare you for Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep, an amazing plunge into the Cretaceous oceans of 80 million years ago, a merciless realm ruled by the most ferocious animals ever to stalk the seas of planet Earth. More terrifying than anything known to humankind, it scarcely seems possible that these swift, massive underwater predators actually existed, but they did—and this is their frightening, fascinating, unforgettable story.

Featuring incredibly realistic computer-generated images and 3-D film clips—with 3-D glasses—field photography by National Geographic cameramen, and much more, the book interweaves dramatic scenes of the far, far distant past; up-to-the-minute scientific profiles of nearly two dozen sea monsters; and a group portrait of the eccentric Sternberg family, Kansas-bred pioneers of marine paleontology. From giant sharks and fierce reptiles to the fossil-hunters who proved that today's land-locked Great Plains were once submerged, to the cutting-edge Large Format Film technology that made Sea Monsters possible, this book and the movie behind it will forever change how we think about marine predators—and make us look at the oceans of our world with new eyes and a shivery mix of wonderment and ancient, instinctive fear.