The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Steve Brusatte (PDF)

Description

A sweeping and groundbreaking history of the age of dinosaurs, from one of our finest young scientistsThe dinosaurs. 66 million years ago, the Earth’s most fearsome and spectacular creatures vanished. Today their extraordinary true story remains one of our planet’s great mysteries. In this stunning narrative spanning more than 200 million years, Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost stars of the field—discovering ten 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.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐It was fascinating to learn about the beginnings of life up until the age of the dinosaurs. It was enlightening to be updated on advances in the field. I’m an avid dinosaur fan since my childhood. This was the best book on the science and its applications to contemporary lab and field work that I have personally read and there have been many.

⭐This is a review from a reader who has purchased the hardcover, Kindle, and Audible editions of the book: the former for my bookshelf, the second for convenient reading, and the third just to complete the set since I had an Audible credit to burn at the time. Initially I bought Dr. Brusatte’s book on a whim: it had occurred to me that paleontology had advanced by leaps and bounds since the nineties when I was actively learning about these prehistoric creatures. I thought, “Gee, it would be interesting to see how far it’s all come since I was checking out books at the school library and playing ‘3D Dinosaur Adventure’ on that crusty old PC.” It certainly does a good job of catching one up on modern views of dinosaurs among paleontologists.First off, if you’re the type of person who expects books on scientific subjects to be a drag to read, have no fear in this case. Steve Brusatte is clearly writing with a mentality very close to what an effective teacher needs to keep students engaged, which is to say: be entertaining, present the information in a lively way, give the audience’s enthusiasm room to effectively drive their learning forward. This is not a dry fact-dump, but a “story,” for want of a better description. It tells the history of the dinosaurs with vigor, often stepping into side-stories about the paleontologists who work to uncover and deduce the details of that story. Thus you learn not only about the dinosaurs, but about the many and varied intrepid men and women who work to find out all they can about them and other aspects of natural history.The book begins with a colorful description of what the world must have been like in the Permian period, transitioning into the Triassic, where dinosaurs were (contrary to previous belief) bit players, and this is a strong way to open, because it ties in with those side-stories about paleontology, and here we begin to see some discussion on the changing views about dinosaurs and how paleontologists can indeed be mistaken about their findings. It continues on from there. Readers of this book who are willing to and interested in learning about these topics will find this to be an excellent place to begin learning about dinosaurs and paleontology, and those already in the know will likely enjoy it as a refresher course.The hardcover edition is well-formatted, with a fitting selection of visually-pleasing yet easy-to-read text fonts and a fairly generous use of illustrations, photographs, and occasional diagrams where needed. The Kindle version is a little dodgier by the nature of what it is. The first paragraph or so of any given chapter sub-section has an oddly larger text font than the following paragraphs, but the only difficulty arises from those illustrations and such, which tend to be shrunk-down to fit whatever your display screen is… as is the case with most e-books, these elements do not make the smoothest transition, but this is a perfectly serviceable way to enjoy the book if you are reading it, say, on public transit, or on break at work.The audiobook’s reading works quite well, though I note that at the time of this review Audible narration does not work for the Prologue chapter, even though it is indeed in the audiobook. I assume there was an oversight in programming, and have reported this to customer service. It may even have been fixed by the time you read this review. Other than that and the obvious lack of photographs and images in the audiobook, the manner in which this reading is presented may strike listeners as a tiny bit too geared toward younger audiences, with some exaggeration in voice tone when the reader wants things to sound exciting or intriguing that was quite a long way from how my mental voice vocalized the text while reading it independent of audio accompaniment. That said, it’s a pleasant listen. I just hope they fix that Audible narration problem with the prologue.All in all, I highly recommend this book for those interested in the subject, especially in hardcover, as it’s a very nice addition to anyone’s bookshelf. Readers be forewarned, however. Paleontology is an advancing science at all times, and the information in this book is likely to go out of date in a surprisingly short span of time, as the educational material from the nineties and 2000’s did. If you find it interesting enough to pursue, however, you might consider staying up-to-date on paleontological finds and theories on your own time by following the works of both Dr. Brusatte and others in his field. It certainly can’t hurt to know more about the planet you were born on, yes?

⭐Short version: Is Brusatte’s “The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World” (henceforth Rise) mostly good? Yes. Is it mostly good enough for me to recommend reading it on its own? No. That said, I do recommend reading it, but in conjunction with Naish/Barrett’s “Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved”.Long version: Read on.This review’s title refers to the fact that, as indicated by the Brusatte quote, Rise is trying to be what are usually 2 different kinds of dino book: 1) A dino field journal (E.g. Novacek’s “Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs”); 2) A natural history of dinos (E.g. Naish/Barrett’s book). The most similar book I can think of is Sampson’s “Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life” in which his short field stories are sprinkled throughout. Brusatte’s field stories are MUCH longer. This works in some ways, but not in others. In this review, I list those ways.The following things make Rise good:-For what it is, Rise is very well-organized: After the Prologue, the chapters are arranged chronologically, beginning with the end-Permian extinction & ending the end-Cretaceous extinction; Furthermore, each chapter is like a mini-day-in-the-life story (I.e. The 1st part sets the scene/scenario/characters; The 2nd part describes how we know what we know about the scene/scenario/characters), which might not work as well if Brusatte’s field stories weren’t so long.-For what it is, Rise is very well-illustrated: To quote Chris Kratt (See “Tazzy Chris”), “it’s black and white, but sharp as a tack”; Furthermore, Marshall’s Rise work is mostly accurate & very good-looking in a “gritty realism” kind of way, similar to Sibbick’s 1985 work ( https://www.amazon.com/review/RJ6H99FGIW6CC/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 ).The following things keep Rise from being great:-Because Brusatte’s field stories take up so much space, there are only 12 life reconstructions in Rise (9 dinos, 2 proto-dinos, & 1 mammal) & none of them are of the animal in its natural environment. This is especially problematic for a natural history (which, to quote Geils/Vogler, “is a description of one kind of organism in its natural environment”). Also, Marshall’s life reconstructions are a bit shrink-wrapped. This is especially apparent in his new Velociraptor on the cover & his new Archaeopteryx in Chapter 8: In reference to the former, compare it to his old Velociraptor (Google “Velociraptor: Facts About the Speedy Thief”); In reference to the latter, compare it to Nicholls’ Archaeopteryx in Naish/Barrett’s book (Google “Bob Nicholls on Twitter: Archaeopteryx commissioned by”).-There are several weird bits of text & writing throughout Rise: In reference to text, the most infamous example is the claim that T.rex were similarly intelligent to chimps because both have a 2.0 EQ; However, reptile EQ & mammal EQ are measured on different scales; It’d be like claiming that 2 students did equally well on their tests because both scored 9 even though 1 is 9/10 & the other is 9/100;* In reference to writing, the most annoying-to-read example is the incorrectly pluralized dino names (E.g. “Triceratopses, Edmontosauruses, and other prey”); In reference to both, the best example is the equine size comparisons (I.e. ~1/3 of the animal size comparisons); While most of the other animal size comparisons work, most the equine ones don’t, some because the comparison is WAY off (E.g. Ornithomimus is referred to as horse-sized even though it’s max. weight estimate is 180 kg & horses mostly range from 454-907 kg), & others because the weight range is so broad that it’s almost meaningless (E.g. Several dinos ranging from beaver-to-grizzly-sized are referred to as mule-sized; Technically correct, but still weird).1 more thing of note: It’s weird to see a popular Brusatte book with so many negative reviews, especially given how much better Rise is than its predecessors. Where were all these reviewers when Brusatte’s terrible Pixel-shack books were published ( https://www.amazon.com/review/R3J1R5BYAZABGZ/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 ) ( https://www.amazon.com/review/R1BHCV2E970BGY/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 )?*Based on relative cerebrum size, T.rex were probably similarly intelligent to crocs (Google “Relative size of brain and cerebrum in Tyrannosaurus rex”).Quoting Brusatte: “That is the tale I am going to tell in this book…the epic account of where dinosaurs came from, how they rose to dominance, how some of them became colossal and others developed feathers and wings and turned into birds, and then how the rest of them disappeared, ultimately paving the way for the modern world, and for us. In doing so, I want to convey how we’ve pieced together this story using the fossil clues that we have, and give some sense of what it’s like to be a paleontologist whose job it is to hunt for dinosaurs.”

⭐A great book from start to finish! Learned a lot. There’s also a lot of great images in the book of some groundbreaking fossils. Can’t wait to get his next book to learn more about the Pleistocene!

⭐This is a fascinating and enjoyable read – and I recommend it to anyone interested in the history of dinosaur exploration. The author adopts a novel approach, offering a narrative consisting of two distinct elements. On the one hand, this is a tale about the dinosaurs themselves – how they lived, their habitats, ecosystems, etc. And on the other hand, it’s a story about developments in the science of palaeontology (as relate to dinosaur excavation and investigation). The author – who is himself a palaeontologist – bends these two elements together, and shifts focus between them from one chapter to the next. So, for example, you’ll get a chapter about the extinction event that ended the Cretaceous period – looking in detail at how this affected the dinosaurs. Then, in the following chapter, you’ll read about the competing ideas offered by different scientists as regards the reason for the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.This is not an academic textbook or scholarly treatise. Rather, it’s a work in popular science. It’s easy to read and understand. The subject matter is engrossing. Of course, the author simplifies much of what went on – as he covers a period of some 180 million years of dinosaur evolution and extinction. On occasion, he adopts a slightly hyperbolic stance – as if writing fiction (e.g. describing how a group of T. Rex’s experienced the cataclysmic day that ended the Mesozoic era). Nonetheless, it’s fun to read.

⭐I have always been interested in paleontology in a very, very amateur way. I found this book very readable but the scientific names of the fossils used are hard to keep track of in my ageing brain. By the time I was about halfway through, though still enjoying the information, and admiring the ingenuity and intelligence that had gone into it’s finding, I started to wonder what sort of people make a living by studying and devoting untold resources to finding out if a 100 million year old dead fossilised animal had this characteristic or another. All of the characters (fellow scientists) mentioned by the author sound like people I would be happy to avoid and would never, ever go to the pub with. His thumbnail sketches of these people can be summed up as wierdo obsessive geeks. This did put a bit of a damper on my enjoyment of the information being presented. Call me odd but there it is. When the author devotes himself to “factual” information he can write very well indeed his description of the Asteroid impact that did for the dinosaurs is very good as is his explanation of how dinosaurs did, in fact, survive to the present day… as birds.It was not quite the book I hoped for or expected but it is very good and I recommend it.

⭐You really wonder how this book won popular science book of the year. Maybe it was the only one that year. Ha ha.Maybe there are different editions because my hardback is on cheap paper which doesn’t help the illustrations at all. These, in turn , are fairly sparse and could do with illustrations of the land masses during the 250 million years under discussion.I learned some interesting facts. Who knew that the T Rex was a latecomer and had a very short reign on earth; though longer than ours. Or that birds and dinosaurs share a complex breathing mechanism taking oxygen from the air on both the in and out breath?Yet despite wading through ages of facts I still had further questions. For a start does DNA analysis suggest that today’s birds are descended from just a few survivors of the asteroid impact or from many species. Ditto with today’s mammals. And very little discussion on mammals that lived through the Dinosaurs era.And there is a short piece on the fantastic discovery of colours in dinosaurs and other extinct creatures. The author correctly states that this is one of the greatest discoveries of our age. But then he doesn’t tell us the colours of a single one of these creatures! Or give us any colour illustrations.The science is presented in a dense way , but sometimes very irritating as he tries to liven it up. Maybe he does this in his classes in Edinburgh, in which case I am heading for Aberdeen.But others have pointed out what is worst about this book. The descriptions of his colleagues, almost all “Young” like something from the days of Harold Wilson. Private Eye might have called them ‘thrusting’.All are climbing the greasy and awful pole of an academic career. We hear about degrees, masters, doctorates…zzzz. Sorry dozed off there as , like for most people, adult life began before my mid thirties. The more the author tries to make these people interesting and exciting, the more glad you become that you will never have to meet them. Ever.

⭐An extremely interesting and well explained popular science book. The evolution of the dinosaurs through the various time periods, and the eventual extinction of many of them is clearly laid out and convincingly argued (for now anyway). A subtitle of ‘the Rise and Rise of the Palaeontologists’ May also be suitable, but I found the history, and recent experience of fossil hunting, and examination to be interesting in itself The author brought it to life, and tied it in with the overall story of the dinosaurs. Not a definitive work – the pace of fossil discovery and scientific advancement in this field would make sure of that, it is nevertheless a concise, comprehensive guide to the dinosaurs and their world. Clearly explained, requiring only the odd resort to the dictionary, it leaves me knowing things my kids don’t know, for a brief period anyway, until the book is regurgitated, bit by bit by the dinogeeks on You Tube. A very interesting book, even for those no more than casually interested in the subject. A justifiable best seller

⭐I enjoyed this book, mostly for the reasons I was expecting, but Brusatte writes a lot about his work as an paleontologist and collecting, collating and studying fossils and it provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of dinosaur study.I do think it perhaps goes a little too far into this though; this is a book called ‘The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs’ yet a great deal of it is autobiographical, which does let it down a little. The anecdotes and colleague name-dropping is a little off putting when you want to get immersed into the world of the Dinosaurs (of which he is incredibly knowledgeable)Nothing wrong with the autobiographical sections per se but perhaps it should be marketed more this way so the reader has an idea that large sections of the book are personal stories.

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