The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: The Untold Story of a Lost World

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?

I bet it is not very hard for the majority of people to grasp the content of this book just by scanning its title. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte is an epically written summary of the amazing history of the dinosaurs, from their modest beginnings in the Triassic supercontinent called Pangea, through their remarkably widespread dominance all across the Earth, to the tragic demise of most of them at the end of the Cretaceous Period, around 66 million years ago. It is probably not easy to crunch over 150 million years of dinosaur existence in the Mesozoic Era into a single book in an organized and comprehensive way, but the author has proven himself by successfully executing this noble, monumental task. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a thrilling journey both in the present and ancient past. Steve takes readers from place to place on the globe, using his personal experiences and stories to guide the dinosaur-curious minds through the long, wondrous evolutionary tale of our distant reptilian cousins. Along the way, you'll meet many paleontological figures – before reading the book I had known or at least heard of many of them and it is nice to have furthered my knowledge of them through the oft witty descriptions given by the author. Steve presents the story in this book with his amazing rhetorical writing skills, producing a fantastic marriage between art and science that keeps the readers riveted along the ride. Throughout the book you will bone-deeply feel his immense passion for dinosaurs, and science more generally, as well as clearly see that Steve is a man of humility – I'd really love to chew the fat with him over a ketoprak dinner in Jakarta, if I have the chance. Tyrannosaurus rex is undoubtedly the most famous non-bird dinosaur and Steve treats us to one chapter fully devoted to the "tyrant lizard king". The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs certainly deserves a place on any dinophile's bookshelf and is too good to be left unread.

Displayed fine on Kindle Paperwhite and iPad Pro. 4 stars for Kindle Unlimited, would only give 3 stars for $15.99. A lot of text regarding author and his colleagues, some of which might be considered objectionable by un-woke parents for children or young adults. Many attempts at humor, some brought a smile but a number of groaner jokes - in a few cases wasn't sure it it was a joke or the author was serious. I skimmed over these parts. A readable summary but with a number of internal inconsistencies and some significant differences with other sources, such as Oxygen levels in Mesozoic same as now and food consumption per ton of body weight of T Rex more than 10 times that of a Sauropod. The author's focus is on genealogy and the family tree of dinosaurs. Convincing summary arguments that birds are the remaining family tree branch of dinosaurs. The beginning of the last chapter describing the asteroid impact ending the Cretaceous from the author's thesis is the best. There are a number of references cited at the end and recommendations on text for further detail. I plan to follow through on some of these before returning to Kindle Unlimited.

Brusatte takes the reader on a very interesting tour of the age of the dinosaurs. In fact of all the books I have read on dinosaurs this I believe is one of the most informative and certainly one of the most interesting. I have read that one lady in particular is upset by Brusatte’s inclusion of scientists he has studied and worked with during his career. I take no exception to these inclusions since if the reader recognizes the names of these individuals the reader understands the author’s background is sound as is his information. Although I have read several works on dinosaurs The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaures is the first work I have read that included the animals that gave rise to the beasts we have come to know and love. Yes, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a layman’s read, but it is a good, complete read with some new and very interesting information especially concerning the rise of birds and the development of their feathers. His descriptions of T Rex and its lifestyle are done particularly well, and include information that some will read for the first time. I heartily recommend Mr Brusatte’s effort to the nerdy teen as well as the interested adult. It’s a good read.

I found this book really interesting. He give a good description of what the world was like with huge dinosaurs running around and how their reign came to a catastrophic end. He also tackles the ideas that birds evolved from dinosaurs and that they were wiped out by an asteroid landing on the earth. I was going to call them controverses, but even though some people don't agree with the theories, the majority of scientists do. It is written at a level that a layman like myself can understand, but I didn't feel that it was dumbed down too much. Some people complain that he had too much biographic information about him and other paleontologists, but I didn't find it too distracting. If you want to get deeper into the study of dinosaurs it is good to know whose work you might want to read.

If you love dinosaurs and want to get a better handle on their evolution and demise, you need to read Steve Brusatte's New York Times best-selling book "The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs ." If you follow this blog, you've seen some of my postings that were inspired from my reading of the book- including on the Tyrannosaurus Rex, The author, a young paleontologist, provides a lot of information in a story form, that covers his experiences with others, and highlights the rise and fall of the greatest beasts the Earth has ever seen. He goes over the timelines, and the millions of years it took to get to different points in evolution. He also provides info about a couple of mass extinction events. One that involved high volcanic activity and the other, the famous asteroid that hit the Gulf of Mexico and scattered debris all over the world causing instant deaths of any living thing that wasn't in the ocean or living in a burrow, or otherwise protected. I was so inspired by this book that I listened to a lecture on-line about the Cretaceous Period end time by the asteroid. BTW, the author also explains how that asteroid impact can be seen in layers of rock around the world as a thin layer. It's all pretty fascinating. My Friend Liz also read the book and she also really enjoyed it. Her thoughts echo mine: What I enjoyed most about the book is that Brusatte uses a storyline format. He weaves the history of the dinosaurs as seen through his own career, making each discovery an exciting connection to another piece of the dinosaur puzzle. Usually an academic will write with a highbrow narrative that leaves me uninterested in exploring further. This book provided factual evidence as it was discovered in the field, connecting the geography with the paleontology, taking a more holistic view of a very distant past. It is also helpful to know which dinosaurs lived during which periods, so much of their growth and where they were on the food chain depended upon the meteorology happening on earth. Just fascinating!

I’m not an avid reader and it takes a skilled author to keep me engaged in their content. Steve Brusatte’s “The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs” is a true masterpiece. It is unbelievable how well he bridged the gap between science words/concepts and “common” language. Brusatte brought history to life, debunked common misconceptions, and wrote in a way that kept me hanging on to every word; I did not want to put the book down. (The mental cinematic experience, while reading this book, was top notch. #IYKYK) Whether you are a fan of science, history, pre-history, literature, or are looking for something to fill your time, I cannot recommend this book enough!

For those who crave information on dinosaurs, this is definitely worth reading. I basically could not put it down. I love how he went into rather extreme detail on many things, it's not just a cursory treatment. What gets rather annoying however is how self-serving the author is throughout. He cannot resist telling you that he's basically best friends with everybody in who is anybody. He tries to find a way to write that is extremely self aggrandinzing while pretending that he's actually not so high on himself. But he really does not succeed, the false modesty screams out pretty much constantly. If you can get over that, you'll find there is a ton of fresh information and perspective. He definitely is opinionated when it comes to some things - like why the dinosaurs went extinct. He does not do a very good job of presenting the other side of the story. I once read that they have yet to find a single fossil from the moment of destruction. Supposedly like 90% of all dinosaurs just dropped dead where they stood. Yet not one single fossil has been found from this great die off? I kept waiting for him to either tell us about such fossils, or admit there are none and try to explain why. But it was never mentioned. Anyway, he's young, I forgive him for being so into himself, he'll grow out of it, in time, hopefully due to peer pressure.

Steve Brusattes THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DINOSAURS ist für meine Begriffe eines der schönsten Sachbücher, welches ich in diesem Jahr gelesen habe. Brusatte versteht es, lebendig, witzig und informativ zugleich zu schreiben. Die Kapitel sind (selbst wenn man sich für Paleontologie interessiert) lehrreich und geben den aktuellen Stand in zahlreichen Unterdiskussionen wieder, und auch komplette Neulinge auf dem Thema werden an diesem Buch ihre Freude haben. Gleichzeitig ist dieses Buch einfach sehr menschlich geschrieben - Brusatte schreibt nicht nur über Dinosaurier und ihre Zeit, sondern auch über die Menschen, die der Erforschung dieser einzigartigen Tiere ihr Leben widmen. Hierbei stellt er dem Leser einige durchaus skurrile und denkwürdige Charaktere vor, was THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DINOSAURS zu einer alles anderen als trocknen Lektüre macht. Insofern kann ich mich kurz fassen: ein sehr unterhaltsames und gleichzeitig sehr lehrreiches Buch. Die Lektüre habe ich schlichtweg genossen. Von mir gibt es verdiente 5 Sterne.

Steve Brusatte, a Professor of Paleontology at Edinburgh University, is a brilliant writer who brings to life the story of the dinosaurs from circa 300 to 60 million years ago. The history of the dinosaurs is explained relative to the changing land mass of the planet and their discovery up into the present where so many new finds are being made. Each era is conjured with visual imagery of the dinosaurs in their setting. An active field worker, the narrative is full of anecdotes and firsthand experience of paleontologists in the field and in the laboratory. It is an analytical, absorbing and exciting read.

I felt like a 10 year old who knows all the dinosaur names. I had NO idea they and their predecessors were so interesting. I was disappointed that the book had an end - I could have kept reading and reading. He is a great author who keeps your interest as he is talking to you - the reader and makes you understand that he is like us - just plain curious.

(Slight Rev03) Nowadays dinosaurs' fossils are investment for the rich (also Leonardo DiCaprio) and some paleontologists are a celebrity. Our image on T-Rex have changed from a reptile-looking to sporadic birdy-feather-skin appearance also the rout cause eradicating the most of species has been defined as due to the collision of a meteorite. These two definitions are not what I knew in my childhood or when watched the first version of "Jurassic Park" in 1993. Darwinism has worked on dinosaurs making a genetic link between birds not reptiles and this scientific discovery was done by contemporary technologies including statistics.

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