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

Description

66 million years ago the dinosaurs were wiped from the face of the earth. Today a new generation of dinosaur hunters, armed with cutting edge technology, is piecing together the complete story of how the dinosaurs created a hugely successful empire that lasted for around 150 million years. In this hugely ambitious and engrossing story of how dinosaurs rose to dominate the planet, using the fossil clues that have been gathered using state of the art technology, Steve Brusatte, one of the world's leading paleontologists, follows these magnificent creatures from the Early Triassic period at the start of their evolution, through the Jurassic period to their final days in the Cretaceous' and the legacy that they left behind. Along the way, Brusatte introduces us to the cast of new dinosaur hunters and gives an insight into what it's like to be a paleontologist whose job it is to hunt for dinosaurs. He offers thrilling accounts of some of the remarkable discoveries he has made, including primitive human-sized tyrannosaurs, monstrous carnivores even larger than T. rex, and feathered raptor dinosaurs preserved in lava from China. At a time when Homo sapiens has existed for less than 200,000 years and we are already talking about planetary extinction, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a timely reminder of what humans can learn from the magnificent creatures who ruled the earth before us.

Dr Steve Brusatte is a paleontologist on the faculty of the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He has a BS in Geophysical Sciences from the University of Chicago, MSc in Palaeobiology from the University of Bristol (UK), and PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Columbia University in New York.

Thrilling . . . the best book on the subject written for the general reader since the 1980s. -- Tom Holland * The Sunday Times * A gripping read in the best traditions of popular science -- Andrew Anthony * The Observer * The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a lovely book. Brusatte has a wonderful knack for conjuring vivid worlds out of a few shards of petrified bone. He is excellent company as a narrator, steering a course between pedantry and patronising oversimplification with flair, and unafraid to guide the reader through some fairly complicated patches of science when he feels it is worth it. -- Oliver Moody * The Times * A vibrant view of how dinosaurs originated and what happened to our Mesozoic favourites. Brusatte is as adept a scientific storyteller as any reader could ask for. * The Spectator * A masterpiece of science writing * The Washington Post * An up-to-the-minute account of the long history and remarkable biology of the extraordinary animals that capture the imagination of every child. The dinosaurs are much more varied than the popular picture of lumbering giants and matching meat eaters. Steve Brusatte expertly leads the reader through the latest discoveries to unravel their great range of lifestyles in a vanished world. He explores the research that led to the realisation that dinosaurs Iive on - as birds. The book is an appropriate antidote to the hubris that puts our human species at the centre of the living world. -- Professor Richard Fortey Steve Brusatte is doing some of the most exciting research on dinosaurs today, and he brings that excitement to The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Whether he's recounting remarkable fossil discoveries or explaining millions of years of evolutionary change, Brusatte shows just how much our understanding of dinosaurs has changed in just the past decade. -- Carl Zimmer, author of Evolution: Making Sense of Life The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a work of solid modern science, updating the fallacies and fancies of antiquated paleontology, revealing the quantum leaps in understanding of this modern science. But it is more than that. It is a personal quest full of enthusiasm and joy, getting beneath the dust to reveal the scales and the feathers of dinosaurs. -- Steve Backshall, Naturalist and BBC TV Presenter Steve Brusatte's The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a triumph. Written by one of our young leaders of the field, he brings new discoveries, a taste for a good yarn, and his infectious enthusiasm to some of the epic tales of paleontology. It is hard to read Brusatte and not love lost worlds. -- Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish As a scientist on the front lines of discovery, Brusatte delivers a cutting-edge account of Earth's most awe-inspiring age, and does so with great skill, humor and wonder. In his thrilling account of the revolutions and innovations that brought dinosaurs to rule the world for a near eternity, Brusatte captures both the majesty of the creatures he studies, as well as the breathtaking evolutionary ride that transformed these once scrawny also-rans into the myth-making tyrants of legend. It's the most epic chapter of earth history, and here it's told vividly by one of the world's top paleontologists. -- Peter Brannen, author of The Ends of the World With his new book The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs esteemed palaeontologist and author Steve Brusatte shows that the fun, fascinating and fact-filled story of the dinosaurs is still very much alive after 66 million years. Simply, a must read. -- Ben Garrod, BBC TV presenter Fantastic . . . Superbly illustrated with photos and art, this is popular-science writing at its best. -- Nancy Bent 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 ultimate dinosaur biography * Scientific American * [Brusatte's] captivating text explores the excitement associated with searching for and discovering new dinosaur species, provides clues to many long-standing questions associated with dinosaurs. . . a mix of memoir, chronicling Brusatte's personal odyssey from a child smitten by dinosaurs to a member of a vibrant scholarly community, and first-rate science writing for the general public. * Publishers Weekly * A must-have for fans of ancient reptiles and their lost world. * Kirkus Reviews * He is a working scientist in the early stages of his career, so his tales have a freshness and an engaging immediacy that you don't get from the pens of scientists long past their productive years and with the leisure to write. Like Alexander Hamilton, he really does write as though he's running out of time, so one can excuse him if his style bubbles over into breathlessness. And best of all, he gives an extensive bibliography of semi-popular and scholarly sources, many of them so new that the ink is hardly dry. This is science at first hand, meant for grown-ups. -- Henry Geee * The Literary Review * Kind in tone and generous in description...[this] memoirlike writing is silly and lovable, making for one big adventure. * The Paris Review * Full of adventures and humour. Abundant photographs and illustrations bring these stories to life * Science * Excellent...a superb combination of good argument and good writing. -- Matt Ridley Brusatte skillfully brings dead dino bones to life as he shares - no, gushes about - his personal journey as a young fossil hunter andthe people he's met along the way... The beauty of this book lies in the details, too, and in the stories of the scientists who dig them up. * New York Times Book Review * Brusatte is one of the stars of modern paleontology...he has discovered 10 new dinosaur species. He has also led groundbreaking scientific studies that have rewritten the history of these magnificent creatures which, thanks to Hollywood and countless children stories, haunt our imaginations today like never before...Brusatte tells the epic tale of the dinosaurs' rise to dominance and extinction, taking us on a thrilling journey back in time. * National Geographic * Rawwrghhh! Millions of years ago dino roars echoed across the earth. This vivid book takes us back. Meet the argentinosaurus, the largest land animal to have lived, and the allosaurus, a nasty predator with horns over its eyes. Steve Brusatte brings dinosaurs alive for a new generation. * The Times, Saturday Review, The best nonfiction to read on holiday this summer * Brusatte's up-to-date survey of the current state of palaeontological knowledge is the best book on dinosaurs written for the general reader since the 1980s. * The Times, The 100 best books to read this summer *