The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World - Softcover

Brusatte, Steve

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062844660 ISBN 13: 9780062844668

Publisher: William Morrow & Company, 2018

Synopsis

"THE ULTIMATE DINOSAUR BIOGRAPHY," hails Scientific American A thrilling new history of the age of dinosaurs, from one of our finest young scientists.

"A masterpiece of science writing." --Washington Post

A New York Times Bestseller - Goodreads Choice Awards Winner - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Smithsonian, Science Friday, The Times (London), Popular Mechanics, Science News

"This is scientific storytelling at its most visceral, striding with the beasts through their Triassic dawn, Jurassic dominance, and abrupt demise in the Cretaceous." --Nature

The dinosaurs. Sixty-six million years ago, the Earth's most fearsome creatures vanished. Today they remain one of our planet's great mysteries. Now The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs reveals their extraordinary, 200-million-year-long story as never before.

In this captivating narrative (enlivened with more than seventy original illustrations and photographs), Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost stars of the field--naming fifteen 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.

Includes 75 images, world maps of the prehistoric earth, and a dinosaur family tree.

About this title

Review:

"A must-have for fans of ancient reptiles and their lost world."--Kirkus Reviews

"An up-to-the-minute account of the long history and remarkable biology of these extraordinary animals."--RICHARD FORTEY, former senior paleontologist at London's Natural History Museum and author of Life, Trilobite!, and Earth

"Brusatte delivers a cutting-edge account of Earth's most awe-inspiring age--and does so with great skill, humor, and wonder. Captures the majesty of the creatures he studies, as well as their breathtaking evolutionary ride."--PETER BRANNEN, author of The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions

"Steve Brusatte explains how these spectacular bygone animals shaped our present, and how they can inform our future. ... One of the world's leading millennial paleontologists. ... The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is an expansive biography of this peerless group of species."--VICE/Motherboard

"The ultimate dinosaur biography. ... Riveting."--Scientific American

"Vivid. ... This is scientific storytelling at its most visceral, striding with the beasts through their Triassic dawn, Jurassic dominance and abrupt demise."--Nature

"Unrelentingly kind in tone and generous in description. ... Mak[es] for one big adventure."--Paris Review (Staff Picks)

"Excellent. ... [Brusatte] writes with verve... zip and pizzazz. ... Lap it up, dinosaur fans!"--Current Biology

"An absorbing historical saga. ... [A] completely winning blend of technical expertise and storytelling ability. ... Brusatte's recounting of the millions of years of dinosaur dominance makes for very nerdy, very thrilling reading."--Christian Science Monitor

"A thrilling study. ... The best book on the subject since [the 1980s]. ... Brusatte writes with the authority of a man who ranks as one of the leading experts in his field."--Sunday Times (London)

From the Back Cover:

In a 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, 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 periods, 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, 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."

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0062844660
• ISBN 13: 9780062844668
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416