The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
The dinosaurs. Sixty-six million years ago, the Earth’s most fearsome creatures vanished. Today they remain one of our planet’s great mysteries. Now The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs reveals their extraordinary, 200-million-year-long story as never before.
In this captivating narrative (enlivened with more than seventy original illustrations and photographs), Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost stars of the field—naming fifteen new species and leading groundbreaking scientific studies and fieldwork—masterfully tells the complete, surprising, and new history of the dinosaurs, drawing on cutting-edge science to dramatically bring to life their lost world and illuminate their enigmatic origins, spectacular flourishing, astonishing diversity, cataclysmic extinction, and startling living legacy. Captivating and revelatory, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a book for the ages.
Brusatte traces the evolution of dinosaurs from their inauspicious start as small shadow dwellers—themselves the beneficiaries of a mass extinction caused by volcanic eruptions at the beginning of the Triassic period—into the dominant array of species every wide-eyed child memorizes today, T. rex, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, and more. This gifted scientist and writer re-creates the dinosaurs’ peak during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, when thousands of species thrived, and winged and feathered dinosaurs, the prehistoric ancestors of modern birds, emerged. The story continues to the end of the Cretaceous period, when a giant asteroid or comet struck the planet and nearly every dinosaur species (but not all) died out, in the most extraordinary extinction event in earth’s history, one full of lessons for today as we confront a “sixth extinction.”
Brusatte also recalls compelling stories from his globe-trotting expeditions during one of the most exciting eras in dinosaur research—which he calls “a new golden age of discovery”—and offers thrilling accounts of some of the remarkable findings he and his colleagues have made, including primitive human-sized tyrannosaurs; monstrous carnivores even larger than T. rex; and paradigm-shifting feathered raptors from China.
An electrifying scientific history that unearths the dinosaurs’ epic saga, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs will be a definitive and treasured account for decades to come.
For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge
The Reason
Our in-person bookclub decided we wanted to go on a road trip to the Royal Tyrrell Museum this summer and thought we should read a book that was related to the dinosaurs.
The Quotes
“There is a dinosaur outside my window. I’m watching it as I write this.”
“You could call T. rex the James Dean of dinosaurs: it lived fast and died young.”
“A new species of dinosaur is currently being found, on average, once a week.”
The Narrator(s)
Patrick Lawlor. No complaints, it was great!
My Thoughts
So I had actually bought a physical copy of this book but ended up also borrowing the audiobook through my library. The audiobook went a lot faster and I occasionally refered to the physical book for pictures and illustrations, but I mostly finished it on audio. I thought about writing this review after I reread through the physical book again because I’m not sure I absorbed everything I wanted through audio, but life has been hectic and I don’t think I’ll be able to absorb everything even if I reread in print, so I’m letting it be.
Accepting that, I must say that this was a very interesting book and I really enjoyed listening to it. One of the things that delighted me the most is that I live in Alberta and we have an amazing dinosaur museum and history here that is also referenced in the book.
I’ve actually been to the Royal Tyrrell Museum three times before but the last time was at least five years ago and it’s time to go back and learn more, and hopefully remember more! I do intend to read this book again, eventually, but even if I don’t remember the details, I remember enjoying the process of listening to the book.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
