Dougal Dixon studied geology and paleogeography at the University of St Andrews. He is an award-winning author specialising in the earth sciences and evolution with many children's books and encyclopaedias to his name. He has acquired a reputation for putting over concepts in a totally novel way.

Along these lines his most notable books are After Man: A Zoology of the Future in which he explained the workings of evolution by postulating the types of animals that may evolve in times to come, and The New Dinosaurs, in which he described the zoogeography of the world by describing what life might be like today had the dinosaurs not become extinct.