“The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs” is a Warning
What happened to them can happen to us too
Dinosaurs had been around for over 150 million years when their time of reckoning came. They had endured hardships, evolved superpowers like fast metabolisms and enormous size, and vanquished their rivals so that they ruled an entire planet… Then, literally, in a split second, it ended. ― Stephen Brusatte, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
Millions of years ago, the Earth was a completely different place. Humans did not dominate the land. On the contrary, mammals were almost an afterthought, the “extras" to the main characters who were, of course, the dinosaurs.
I knew dinosaurs (T-rex being the most famous among them) dominated the Earth millions of years ago. I knew they were huge. I thought they terrorized other animals. And they were killed by an asteroid. What I thought I knew about dinosaurs, however, did not even begin to compare with what I learned by reading Steve Brusette’s “The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs.”
The book has something for everyone: anatomical details of dinosaurs that allowed them to reach such gigantic proportions, mathematical models that help trace lineage and diversity of dinosaurs, geological changes in the environment, and, of course, fossils. That is just the tip of the iceberg when compared to the myriad of information conveyed in the book.
The Author Establishes Credibility
From the onset, it’s clear the author knows his subject inside and out and is not afraid to share credit where credit is due. The tongue-twister dinosaur names and classes dominate the pages throughout the book. However, they’re presented in such an approachable way that they’re not intimidating or overwhelming.
In many cases, Brusette explains the origin and meaning of the name, along with the paleontologist who named them. It’s mind-boggling to think that all of that information has been gleaned from fossils, from nature silently storing its story in rocks until we are ready to uncover it and put the pieces together.
Brusette is not afraid to share credit where credit is due, and, surprisingly, it lends greater credibility to his book. It’s evident that he works well with others and is open to learning and collaboration opportunities from all over the world.
He also doesn’t shy away from different opinions, especially on the ultimate cause of the dinosaur extinction. He approaches the discussion professionally and philosophically, providing support for both sides of the argument before concluding based on facts.
A Little Fiction Can Go a Long Way
The triceratops was safe. It was across the river, separated by impassable rapids from the danger brewing on the opposite bank. But it could see what was about to happen and was powerless to stop it. ― Steve Brusatte, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
What we as readers sometimes forget when presented with a work of non-fiction is that certain information contained within the book is not hard facts. It is suppositions and conclusions that are deduced from facts or the small unknown niches between facts that our mind needs to leap over.
That’s why I liked what Brusette did at the beginning of almost every chapter. The introduction almost always featured a small fictional portion from the perspective of the dinosaurs. It was depicted so vividly that I had no trouble imagining that I am witnessing these phenomena from millions of years ago.
And as I read through the rest of the chapter, I realized that the information and research gleaned from fossils helped support the first few fictional paragraphs of the chapter. That was how Brusette conveyed his love for the profession and that was clear to me, as a reader.
It made me want to learn more. That was also his way of lending a personality to the dinosaurs that made them more relatable and less frightening.
We are the Dinosaurs
The transitions between the dinosaurs that dominated the Earth at various points in time were so gradual that it was impossible to detect them in the present. Sometimes, it was slow climate changes that eventually led to catastrophic events by impacting the different food chains. Sometimes it was an asteroid hitting the Earth.
Nonetheless, it’s frightening to think that we, as humans, could be the current generation’s “dinosaurs,” living in oblivion of the microscopic changes taking place slowly over time that could lead to our extinction. Things like the depletion of resources and global warming are slowly changing our planet. Other factors that can only be seen in hindsight are as well.
These slow transitions in the external environment are also mirrored internally as our bodies and brains adapt over time.
Conclusion
There is a dinosaur outside my window. I’m watching it as I write this. ― Steve Brusatte, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
“The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs” is equal part inspirational and cautionary. It speaks to the fascinating adaptations our bodies undergo to adjust to external factors, which are, in turn, affected by us. The resilience the dinosaurs showed during their rule of the Earth is astounding. After all, the seagull (an ancestor of the dinosaurs) is still prevalent today.
However, the extinctions the dinosaurs went through over time (even before the meteor struck the Earth) are a cautionary tale to all that small environmental changes compounded over time can lead to unforeseen and catastrophic events.
