Lucas Blogs About the Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

So, what's this book's deal?

You know how rad dinosaurs are, right?

Uh, they're only the raddest!

This is a book about that. . . well, really about how Dinosaurs evolved in Triassic Period, came to dominate multiple biomes in the Jurassic, and went extinct in the Late Cretaceous. It's written by Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist with a specialty on Theropod dinosaurs, which you may know as the forebears of modern birds (or, more accurately, avian dinosaurs).

Rad!

Yeah, it's rad. And you know what's really rad?

 What's really rad?

The fact that advancements in science mean that we know a lot more about dinosaurs now than we did when I was a kid.

For example?

Well, I should say that advancements in science and recent discoveries mean that paleontologists can say things like, "Dinosaurs had feathers for a long time before birds evolved flight," or "Tyrannosaurs may have possessed chimpanzee-like intelligence."

Two things: A) Those aren't actual quotes are they? and 2) Really, T-Rex was as intelligent as a chimpanzee?

1)No, and B) Well, more like, "The T-Rex's brain-to-body size ratio was similar to that of the chimpanzee."

Okay. Any other tidbits you'd like to share with us?

Well, maybe rather than getting bogged down in the minutiae of what I learned from the book, we could talk about the book itself.

If we must.

I do kind of insist.

Fine. How is the book?

It's pretty good. Brusatte manages to squeeze a lot of information into a fairly short page length. Instead of giving a comprehensive view of any one part of the mesozoic, it's more of a survey.

That's understandable, given that it covers . . . wait, how long were there dinosaurs?

Roughly 200 million years.

That's like three times longer than the period in which there have been no dinosaurs.

Well, except birds.

You get what I mean.

Anyway, Brusatte isn't a master prose stylist or anything, but his writing is highly readable and definitely aimed squarely at the layman. There isn't a lot of paleontological jargon (and when there is, he explains it), and there is a bit of more an anecdotal focus. There are a lot of stories about his own research and that of his colleagues and advisors, as well as stories about the early days of fossil hunting which helps give the reader a better perspective on the development of paleontology. That's not to say that the focus is only on researchers, there's plenty of information about dinosaurs both well known and obscure, as well as on more recently discovered species. Plus, Brusatte has some endearing tics as a writer, like the examples he uses when discussing the comparative sizes of prehistoric animals.

Do any come to mind?

The amphibians the size of Toyotas that populated the early triassic are one example, as is coelophysis, which was apparently the size of a mule. All of that said, I don't know that this will be so much of a revelation to anyone who's been keeping up with the latest developments in the field, which have a way of trickling down to the populace through news stories. Still, it's a well-written book about a fun topic that everyone fondly remembers from childhood. So, yeah, if it sounds like your jam, give it a spin.

It's not a record.

‾\_(ツ)_/‾

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of Their Lost World by Steve Brusatte, William Morrow trade paperback edition, 2019, 349 pages, pairs well with hot cocoa and idyllic childhood memories about dinosaurs

Links:

Here's the author's website, if you're into that kinda thing.