The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
A New History of a Lost World
Ratings99
Average rating4.1
Don't be fooled by the title - this is a poorly written autobiography of Stephen Brusatte. Frustrating that he has little ability to share the history he claims to have contributed to so much.
I struggled to get into this one even though my paleontologist friend really liked it and recommended it to me. About one third of it was really interesting and informative. The next third was repetitive. How many times do you actually need to say what Pachycephalosaurus means? The last third just felt like name dropping. Maybe if I was more involved in paleontology it would matter to me, but it didn't.
An excellent read! Probably one of if not THE best book on dinosaurs I have ever read. It's written in such a way that anyone could pick it up and read it. You don't need to be obsessed with dinosaurs like I am to understand it. It flows beautifully from the time before the dinosaurs, through their rise to the top, their reign as the dominant creatures on the planet, to their rather violent demise. Absolutely love this! It was a library borrow, but I'll definitely be adding it to my own personal library in the future!
Fantastic pop science. Really fun to get excited about paleontology as an adult rather than as a kid.
He is a great storyteller, but you have to really be interested in dinosaurs.
I don't think I've read a book about dinosaurs since I was 11 or 12. So glad I made an exception for this one! Brusatte recounts not only the rise and fall of the dinosaurs but also the exciting world of the paleontologists, geologists, statisticians, and fossil hunters whose work is dramatically expanding our knowledge of these kings of beasts. Brilliantly written, each story and anecdote is filled with the excitement Brusatte so clearly finds in his work. Highly recommend!
Quite a good popular science book about Dinosaurs. Stephen Brusatte is a rising star in the world of paleontology. He is a good writer and obviously loves his work.
This book gives a good overview of what we know now about Dinosaurs. Our view of these great beasts has changed considerably since I studied Geology many years ago. They weren't the slow, dumb, lumbering critters we once thought. (And, did you know that some Dinosaurs are still with us? No, really!)
4.5 stars rounded up.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a little hard for me to keep straight all the different kinds of dinosaurs and other animals that are mentioned throughout, but that's a minor complaint. There's actually a handy chart in the front matter that names most of the big (pun intended) players, so I could have checked if I'd really needed to know. Being somewhat aware of the dino story, there weren't a lot of surprises here, but I loved the detail about the transitions between periods and what the world was like across the hundreds of millions of years we're talking about. I also enjoyed the personal and personable style of the author and the way he names many of the other scientists whose work moved the needle forward in terms of our understanding. Also, as another small town Illinois boy, I enjoyed hearing some of the author's “origin story” from his days as a high school dino hound. Even though there's nothing particularly controversial here, I'm looking forward to discussing this with my book club next week.
Simply brilliant. Rekindled a burning passion for palaeontology I've not felt since I was a child.
The book contains a good deal of accurate, up-to-date information about dinosaur paleontology. Unfortunately, there are issues with the writing that prevent this book from being as excellent as it could have been. The tone is relatively informal for a science book, and as someone with a basic level of knowledge of paleontology from an intense childhood interest in the field, I found some of the introductory material borderline patronizing.
The principal issue plaguing the book is that Brusatte is trying to write, at the same time, a summary of dinosaur paleontology and a memoir of his experiences in the field. I had to force myself to slog through passages in which Brusatte describes his specific fossil-hunting expeditions or biographizes a paleontologist he knows. Those readers searching for insight into the current state of paleontology academia may find such passages interesting, but even then, these passages are limited to Brusatte's own experience and perception; as other reviewers have noted, a great deal of emphasis is placed on male contributors to the field.
If the book were organized in such a way that readers could easily skip Brusatte's anecdotes without missing any of the paleontological conclusions therein derived, I would be more willing to forgive him, but the portions in question are nested within the paleontological information of each chapter.
Paleontology is one of the fastest-advancing fields of science. If you're not up-to-date on recent discoveries concerning dinosaurs, this book might be worth reading to glean some new information. I definitely picked up at least a few new pieces of knowledge. However, if you're looking for the definitive dinosaur book for adults, then you and I will have to keep looking together.
3.5 Stars
(Why do I only ever feel like writing reviews for books I give mixed ratings for)
The natural history, historiography, and behavioral ecology parts hooked me. Evocative, vibrant, and engaging. The memoir parts just...didn't do it for me. It's obvious Brusatte is passionate but I am just....not very interested in who he met at which conference, and how he came to work at which dig site. And because these different types of narrative are well integrated, it was hard to skim to the parts I was super interested in. Worth it for descriptions of T. rex hunts and High Key 20th Century Naturalist Drama(tm).
Excellent survey of the natural history of the dinosaurs and the world they lived in, from someone with personal experience in the field. Clearly written and descriptive with numerous examples of working in paleontology with colleagues from around the world.
Quite a nice and easy to read book about dinosaurs, their birth, their incredible evolution, and their “disappearance”. The overall narrative is strong and the writing quite enthralling. I now want to dig the subject more—a feeling I believe speaks in great length about the quality of this book.
... The information Brusatte provides appears to be solid, given the extent of his bibliography, which is in a chapter called ???Notes on Sources???. Incidentally, those notes are written in the same tone as the rest of the book, and so is just as much a pleasure to read. The section is a little disorganised, seeing as the lists of sources are given in paragraph form as opposed to a more traditional format for bibliographies, but the informality is likely to be more interesting for non-academics, as opposed to a more traditional, academic-style bibliography.
Brusatte is also careful to note where what he is stating is his opinion as opposed to a proven fact, especially when he talks about certain debates currently underway in palaeontology and which he claims will eventually be resolved by the younger generation of palaeontologists coming into the field. This is especially prominent in the Notes on Sources section of the book ??? where, at the very end, he drops the name of a PhD student he and his colleague Tom Williamson are co-mentoring: Sarah Shelley who is working on understanding the rise of mammals after the extinction of the dinosaurs. I am not sure how many readers will read this far into the book, but it is heartening to see an established palaeontologist name-drop a mentee???s name in his book, in the hopes of helping her further along in her career.
Full review here: https://wp.me/p21txV-Gn
This book isn't about dinosaurs. Well, it is about dinosaurs, but that's not what this book is really about. This is a book about science. Not the simplified list of steps for the scientific method that you learn in middle school, but real-world professional science. Science that involves not just academic learning, but luck and personal connections and dedication. Science where knowledge isn't static, where researchers build upon and challenge the work of scientists who came before them. And there's also a bunch of stuff about dinosaurs and evolution and massive extinctions.
The reason I didn't give this book 5 stars (it would get 4.5 if Goodreads would ever adopt the vastly superior half-star system) is that it sometimes tries to hard to be literary. For a book with so much scientific information, it's an easy, enjoyable read (or listen, as I read this on audiobook). Brusatte demonstrates great skill in distilling millions of years of geological development and biological evolution into something that someone like me can understand. Where his prose falters is when he goes too hard for figurative language. An example of this is when he's describing some sort of proto-crocodile thing and he describes it as being like a greyhound. That's good. I know what a greyhound is and that it doesn't look much like a modern crocodile, so I am able to get an image of the creature in my mind. But instead of moving on, the author doubles down, describing proto-croc as looking like an emaciated supermodel. There are times when less figurative language can be a good thing.
This book isn't about dinosaurs. Well, it is about dinosaurs, but that's not what this book is really about. This is a book about science. Not the simplified list of steps for the scientific method that you learn in middle school, but real-world professional science. Science that involves not just academic learning, but luck and personal connections and dedication. Science where knowledge isn't static, where researchers build upon and challenge the work of scientists who came before them. And there's also a bunch of stuff about dinosaurs and evolution and massive extinctions.
The reason I didn't give this book 5 stars (it would get 4.5 if Goodreads would ever adopt the vastly superior half-star system) is that it sometimes tries to hard to be literary. For a book with so much scientific information, it's an easy, enjoyable read (or listen, as I read this on audiobook). Brusatte demonstrates great skill in distilling millions of years of geological development and biological evolution into something that someone like me can understand. Where his prose falters is when he goes too hard for figurative language. An example of this is when he's describing some sort of proto-crocodile thing and he describes it as being like a greyhound. That's good. I know what a greyhound is and that it doesn't look much like a modern crocodile, so I am able to get an image of the creature in my mind. But instead of moving on, the author doubles down, describing proto-croc as looking like an emaciated supermodel. There are times when less figurative language can be a good thing.