The Rise And Fall Of The Dinosaurs (the Untold Story Of A Lost World)

By (author) Steve Brusatte; By (author) Brusatte Steve
Short description/annotation
A thrilling re-evaluation of the creatures that ruled the earth for 150 million years by one of the world''s leading paleontologists.
Description

The Times Science Book of the Year.
A Sunday Times Bestseller.

66 million years ago the dinosaurs were wiped from the face of the earth. Today, Dr. Steve Brusatte, one of the leading scientists of a new generation of dinosaur hunters, armed with cutting edge technology, is piecing together the complete story of how the dinosaurs ruled the earth for 150 million years.

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.

Along the way, Brusatte introduces us to modern day dinosaur hunters and gives an insight into what it’s like to be a paleontologist. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is full of thrilling accounts of some of his personal discoveries, 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.

''Thrilling . . . the best book on the subject written for the general reader since the 1980s.'' - The Sunday Times

Table of contents
Section - i: Prologue: The Golden Age of Discovery Chapter - 1: The Dawn of the Dinosaurs Chapter - 2: Dinosaurs Rise Up Chapter - 3: Dinosaurs Become Dominant Chapter - 4: Dinosaurs and Drifting Continents Chapter - 5: The Tyrant Dinosaurs Chapter - 6: The King of the Dinosaurs Chapter - 7: Dinosaurs at the Top of Their Game Chapter - 8: Dinosaurs Take Flight Chapter - 9: Dinosaurs Die Out Section - ii: Epilogue: After the Dinosaurs Acknowledgements - iii: Acknowledgements Section - iv: Notes on Sources Index - v: Index
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Thrilling . . . the best book on the subject written for the general reader since the 1980s.
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A gripping read in the best traditions of popular science
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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.
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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.
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A masterpiece of science writing
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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