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.
Reviews:
New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/books/review/steve-brusatte-dinosaurs-rise-and-fall.html
Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steve-brusatte/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-dinosaurs/
Information about the Author and his Website:
a. https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/steve-brusatte(e6cfffd3-8c28-4287-af3f-e6ff75f82e28).html
b. Latest News: https://sites.google.com/site/brusatte/home/latestnews
a. https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/steve-brusatte(e6cfffd3-8c28-4287-af3f-e6ff75f82e28).html
b. Latest News: https://sites.google.com/site/brusatte/home/latestnews
Shows, Videos, Articles, Interviews and Events:
1. Discovery Channel: Dinosaur Revolution: Four Part Documentary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_Revolution
2. Grzegorz's TED talk (in Polish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmf5jsuAfDY
3. Author video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGuykhLZ5dM
4. Author Interview on Live Science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Es9n_t3Oj8
5. Event at the The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia: Dinosaurs around the World through January 20, 2020 - https://ansp.org/exhibits/dinosaurs-around-the-world/
Summary and Review:
Where Dinosaurs are found:
1. Scotland, Isle of Skye: https://www.theskyeguide.com/see-and-do-mainmenu-35/27-natural-wonders/174-dinosaurs-at-staffin
2. Portugal: http://museulourinha.org/
3. Arizona, Ghost Ranch: https://www.ghostranch.org/explore/museums/museum-of-paleontology/
4. New Jersey, Riker Hill Fossil Site: https://natureintoaction.com/2018/11/10/tracking-dinosaurs-at-the-walter-kiddie-dinosaur-quarry/; https://endangerednj.blogspot.com/2010/10/riker-hill-park.html
5. Colorado and Utah: Morrison Formation: https://www.nps.gov/dino/learn/nature/morrison-formation.htm
6. Wyoming: Howe Quarry: https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/news-posts/why-howe-quarry-is-among-north-america-s-most-important-fossil-sites
7. China, Ganzhou: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-of-the-fossil-locality-near-Ganzhou-Jiangxi-Province-southern-China-The-solid_fig1_310487793; https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/great-chinese-dino-boom-180968745/
8. Montana, Hell Creek Formation: https://nmnh.typepad.com/smithsonian_fossils/hell-creek-formation/
Discussion Questions: (Please check back: John will be leading the discussion);
EXCITING NOTE: Jason C. Poole, adjunct professor at Drexel University and the Dinosaur Hall Coordinator at the Academy of Natural Science of Drexel, artist and Stacy's husband, will be joining us to discuss his research and participate in our discussion.
Here are some of his sites: https://www.bbpaleo.org/jason-c-poole; http://dino-scribbles.blogspot.com/, https://www.anspblog.org/the-dinosaur-guy/
1. What is a "mass extinction"? What causes them and what are its long tern effects? Can it happen again? Will some life always survive them?
2. How are fossils made and how do they (including footprint fossils) inform us about ancient life?
3. Discuss the timeline and creatures of life. When did it first emerge? What were these lifeforms? What were the evolutionary stages from the first to present species? What do they all have in common?
4. What were the early, or proto-dinosaurs, like that emerged in the early Triassic? How were they different from Permian animals? What were some of their features that eventually enabled their domination?
5. How have our perceptions and understanding of dinosaurs changed over our lives? What were some of the key findings that led to the revision of our knowledge?
6. How did the earth physically change over these geologic epochs? How did this affect dinosaur evolution and diversity, as evidenced by the fossil record of different world regions?
7. What were some of the features and behaviors of the basic dinosaur types, e.g. theropods (meat-eaters), sauropods(long-necked) and others?
8. What made T. Rex the ultimate predator that we know? What made it better at killing than other related predators such as the Allosaurs and Velociraptors, etc.?
9. What are some of the key features and behaviors that some dinosaurs (theropods) share with birds that led to the conclusion that birds are modern dinosaurs?
10. Describe what happened during the mass extinction that killed all dinosaurs (except bird ancestors) How has geology, astronomy and the fossil record contributed to our understanding of it?
