The author Brusatte leads the reader through the various stages of dinosaur evolution, beginning with the Triassic Period when their presence was not dominate. However a mass extinction caused by large and continuing volcanic eruptions cleared the way for dinosaurs to dominate during the following Jurassic Period. It's almost like all that money can't buy smarts or prove smarts... Ultimately, it's a badge of dismal failure. The rest of us just keep living without millions. You wouldn't last a day. Even though I don't have much interest in dinosaurs, I still enjoyed this book. Mind you, that isn't because I understood a single word of what he was saying but because I could feel the pure joy and passion. It was almost like the author was sitting across from me, trying to explain to me the wonders of his world, smiling and stumbling over his words as one does when they are ecstatic.

Brusatte toes the current evolutionary mainstream line, stating that “Dinosaurs are still among us today. We’re so used to saying that dinosaurs are extinct, but in reality, over ten thousand species of dinosaurs remain” (p. 271). It occurred to me, as I was finishing The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, that there are some interesting assumptions baked into that particular usage. Chiefly, there is the idea that dinosaurs somehow failed, while we humans have succeeded. This is not really an accurate summation. Robinson, P., Sorry, how many feathers did you find? creation.com/sorry-how-many-feathers-did-you-find, 1 December 2016. Return to text. A fascinating if brief picture of dino-era predation is also given, which shows all the mechanisms of selection working superbly hundreds of millions of years before Charles Darwin came along to articulate them. The world of the dinosaurs has fascinated on book and screen for decades – from early science fiction classics like The Lost World, to Godzilla terrorizing the streets of Tokyo, and the monsters of Jurassic Park. But what if we got it wrong? In The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, top dinosaur expert Brusatte, tells the real story of how dinosaurs rose to dominate the planet. Using the fossil clues that have been gathered using state of the art technology, Brusatte follows these magnificent creatures from their beginnings in the Early Triassic period, through the Jurassic period to their final days in the Cretaceous and the legacy that they left behind.Summary: Dr. Brusatte is an American paleontologist that now is a professor and consultant in Scotland at the University of Edinburgh and one of the most world-renowned dinosaur experts. 66 million years ago, the dinosaurs were wiped from the face of the earth. In this novel, Brusatte gives a detailed and exciting account of the evolution of the dinosaurs up until the mass extinction at the beginning of the Triassic period. Additionally, the book is filled with interesting stories from around the world as he progresses through his career as a paleontologist. Every year 50 new species are being discovered, in countries as widespread as Poland, China (half of all new dinosaurs being discovered in China nowadays), Portugal and Argentina. In The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: The Untold Story of a Lost World we follow the story, through the fossil record, on how dinosaurs became dominant and then for millions of years interacted and changed due to their environments. Violent weather swings due to 6 times as much CO2 being in the early Triassic atmosphere than current days, combined with the slow splitting up of Pangea, leading to lava flows twice the height of the empire state building, made the living conditions far from easy.

In addition to the many dinosaurs which we now know had feathered appendages, there was at least one which actually had membranous wings like a bat. A feathered, lizardlike creature with bat wings? Sounds like a dragon if ever there was one. (Even if it was only the size of a pigeon.) Recently, however, I have started to make more of an effort to expand my intellectual pursuits beyond those subjects that have obsessed me for years. It was in this spirit that I saw Stephen L. Brusatte’s The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs on the shelf at a local bookstore. The novelty of seeing a dinosaur book aimed squarely at adults certainly got my attention, and before I knew it, my credit card was in my hand. Well, judging by its short arms, it seems to be a Thesaurus Rex. They are basically turkeys now, right? So one could say they survived. In a way. At least their cousins did. The real Thesaurus Rex didn't get anywhere with its highbrow palaver either." There has likely been a moment in your life when you’ve heard a person compared to a “dinosaur.” This, of course, is not a compliment. Rather, the term is used to describe someone who’s old and out-of-touch and on the superhighway towards irrelevance.The second storyline is a history of the study of dinosaurs. These sections, intermingled with the first, delve into the questions of how we know what we know, and who helped us to know what we know. Though not as inherently entertaining, I found these segments equally valuable, especially with regard to the scientific method employed by paleontologists studying the fossil record. Brusatte answers fundamental questions about how we can glean so much information from ossified bones. He also highlights the occasionally vivid personalities of dinosaur hunters themselves. Of special note is Baron Nopcsa, a Romanian-born aristocrat who sought fossils in Transylvania when he wasn’t trying to become King of Albania. In short, this is good science writing, and engenders an appreciation for the discipline as a whole. This book covers from the period of Earth's history, before the first true dinosaurs came into play, all the way up to their extinction. It's absolutely fascinating! I have truly learned so much. You learn about plant life, Pangaea, how the world changed, about animals that lived among the dinosaurs, what the weather was like, the different environments, and so much more. It also contains first person accounts from the author's life, about his adventures fossil hunting around the globe with colleagues and teachers, as well as him studying and cataloging fossils with other scientists. Another ambivalent three stars for a book that has two strands of highly varying success in my opinion. oh well what do you know it’s bowentimes day as my daughter used to say! I think since I am my own bowentime I deserve to buy myself some books you know since it’s been about 12 hours since I bought any. Anyway I finally bought the audio version of this book because I love it so much and I just cannot remember how to pronounce the names. I enjoyed being engrossed in this book, but two things always prevent me from liking any "pop science" book at a five star level, and I found them in this one as well.

This book not only provides an overview of the current state of dinosaur research but also a history of paleontology and the characters who have worked in the field. It is a rapidly expanding field. Right now is the golden age of dinosaur research. Somebody, somewhere around the world, is finding a new species of dinosaur now, on average, once a week. So that’s 50-some new species a year, and that’s not a new bone or a new skeleton, that’s a totally new type of dinosaur that we never knew existed before.Prior to listening to this book, my knowledge of dinosaurs was based primarily on a smattering of news reports. Thus I previously had the impression that the bird-dinosaur relationship was a debatable hypothesis. But evidence now available seems quite convincing. The Liaoning fossils sealed the deal by verifying how many features are shared uniquely by birds and other theropods, not just feathers but also wishbones, three fingered hands that can fold against the body, and hundreds of other aspects of the skeleton. There are no other groups of animals, living or extinct, that share these things with birds or theropods. This must mean that birds came from theropods. Any other conclusion requires a whole lot of special pleading.Among the unique features shared by birds and dinosaurs is a respiratory system that provides highly efficient and light weight oxygen transfer system. No other species alive today has a respiratory system like this. To me this is the definitive proof of the relationship. When you compare our time on Earth to that of dinosaurs we are really just a blip on the geological radar. So, what Brusatte is also telling is the story of how the Earth itself changed. So I’m listening to this book this time just so I can hear how all of these dinosaurs 🦖 are pronounced. It’s easy to just guess, but I have a feeling I’m off, especially on the ones found in Asia. Or anything with an X in it. I’m also wondering if the bird 🦅 connection will still be my favorite part...

Same old, same old

Oh yeah, awesome, sweeping story of millions of years and billions of lives (none of them appeared to have any money... That's why the asteroid/comet thing killed them, I bet.) Robinson, P., Separating fact from fiction in a farcical story! creation.com/dino-feathers-southpole, 3 December 2019. Return to text. An interesting lecture (33 minutes) on how paleontologists research dinosaurian social behavior and what they have found - Social Behaviour in Dinosaurs - with David Hone Hone's delivery has a sing-song rhythm that can be a bit soporific, but the content is fascinating. Of particular interest is the basis for juvenile clustering.

If, like me, you were a kid during the Jurassic Park era, you know that the new generations have an interest in dinosaurs which is ten hundred times less than we had in the 1990s. At the time, dinosaurs were everywhere: on TV, on our first computers, in video games, even in cereal boxes. Sometimes I can't help but being flabbergasted by the notion that today's kindergartners don't know what a dyplodocus is, or exactly how tall and heavy a brontosaurus was.Overall: A brilliant combination of paleontology, research, and evolution detailing the rise and fall of the dinosaurs told by a dinosaur expert. Enthusiastic, fact-filled, and wonderfully written, anyone will learn and be captivated by this book 7.5/10 Again mass extinction followed, with 95% of plants dying off due to volcanic induced 3-4c temperature increases at the end of the Triassic.