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A review by chaptersoncapecod
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black
challenging
informative
medium-paced
5.0
"But the one amazing fact that we are confronted with every day is that life is incredibly, irrepressibly resilient."
"The Last Days of the Dinosaurs" is going to go down as one of the most interesting and informative books that I have ever read. If you enjoy science books and are looking to learn more about the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, just go read this book.
It's hard to explain the premise of this book in a few sentences (because I'm talking millions and millions of years), but here goes: Riley Black approaches the last days of the dinosaurs in such an interesting way - by chronicling:
"The Last Days of the Dinosaurs" is going to go down as one of the most interesting and informative books that I have ever read. If you enjoy science books and are looking to learn more about the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, just go read this book.
It's hard to explain the premise of this book in a few sentences (because I'm talking millions and millions of years), but here goes: Riley Black approaches the last days of the dinosaurs in such an interesting way - by chronicling:
- What happened before impact (i.e. how did the space rock come from and how did it end up hitting earth)
- What happened on impact in the Yucatan and simultaneously in Hell Creek, Montana
- What happened in various increments after impact (1 hour, 1 month, 1 year, etc).
The part that was so surprising for me, was learning that the crater from the space rock wasn't discovered until the 90's. I guess I assumed that this was pretty common knowledge for years, so it prompted me to have some interesting conversations with my mom and family members about how they remember being taught about the extinction.
Riley also chronicled the evolution of several species, letting us in on how those animals thrived (i.e. why birds have beaks and what habitats were less likely to be affected by the extinction). Now the species names throughout the book are challenging, so I'd suggest taking notes or reading on a kindle Scribe where you can highlight and annotate.
I have already recommended this book to at least 5 people and will continue to do so. It's a fascinating read that I highly recommend. I'll leave you with this final quote: "The world as we know it today is the continued flowering after a disaster, life is not only coming back but reshaped by the nature of the cataclysm."