Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Stephen Brusatte

[King Bob]

Saw this on the new shelf in the library, and thought that I hadn't read anything about the subject except for occasional articles since I was a kid. And I was very pleased. The title does say it all: he starts with Permian extinction which led to the first dinosaurs, then how they became dominant, then the Jurassic (should I say classic?) dinosaurs, including a chapter on the Tyrannosaur line, and then the meteorite strike and a short conclusion. He squeezes in stories of digs he went on with major paleontologists, and nicely fits them with the subject at hand.

The early chapters were a little difficult because I knew pretty much nothing about the period and he names a lot of animals (sadly with no pictures). It got clearer as he went on. I learned a lot, including that extinctions were pivotal in the the dinosaur story: the first dinosaurs appear after the Permian extinction, then they became dominant after another extinction about 200 million years ago, and then they get wiped out, expect for birds (referred to as "avian dinosaurs"), by the meteorite. And his telling of the meteorite strike was quite dramatic and effective.

Recommended.

[Drunk Monk]

[cranefly]

I'm waiting for a dinosaur book dealing specifically with Triceratops, which no doubt evolved through the rigorous mating of unicorns and stegosauruses.

Maybe I should write the book myself, since I know a good title: The Rise and Fall of the Third Spike

Anyway, the Stephen Brusatte book sounds very intriguing, and I'm desperately in need of a refresher from my childhood studies of dinosaurs (based on Jeopardy questions).   Will likely check it out.

[King Bob]

There is a chapter about Triceratops in there. Sadly not quite as long or as good as the Tyrannosaurus chapter, but it is there. As T Rex was the dominant late Jurassic predator, they were the dominant herbivore.

[cranefly]

Thanks to KB for pointing this book out.  I read it a couple weeks ago and have been on a tear reading articles online and streaming PBS EON episodes, slowly catching up on the current state of knowledge on those times.

I'm left thinking that there were a whole lot of exceptional circumstances that led to the emergence of humans, which gives me pause about intelligent life arising elsewhere in the universe.  Deep down I still think the universe is swarming with intelligent species.  But on a more intellectual level I need to give my exuberance ia reality check.


Oh, and I now have a new favorite dinosaur: the tesseractyl.

[Drunk Monk]

Oh, and I now have a new favorite dinosaur: the tesseractyl.

I'm envisioning the Tesseractyl skeleton in my mind. Yes, yes, I can see it.  And it's beautiful.

[King Bob]

CF, you have made me very happy. It's very rare that anyone reads the same books that I do. I'm not sure if that says more about my taste or the people I spend most of my time with.

Also I've discovered that there are some fossils on display in the Valley Life Sciences building at UC Berkeley, including full skeletons of a T-Rex and a Pteranodon (yes, not really a dinosaur).

[King Bob]

The author has a new book, Rise and Reign of the Mammals

I haven't seen a copy but put myself on the waiting list at the library.

[King Bob]

Since there's no specific dinosaur thread - Where would it go? Probably in Gatherings to annoy the Yeti - I'm putting this here.

A good overview of the Chicxulub impact and aftermath, if you don't mind the animation style: