Reviews - The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World

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386 reviews for:

The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World

Riley Black

3.94 AVERAGE

larkken's review against another edition

4.5

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

wolvenhunter's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous informative slow-paced

melisbooked's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous informative medium-paced

shortcub's review

3.75

informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

pbagdigian's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

kohlage's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous informative medium-paced

Black takes a bit of a controversial approach in this book, presenting different situations in which animals found themselves after the K–Pg event, narrated in the first person. I enjoyed it, but I'm sure a lot of people will take issue with it. I can tell all these narratives were based on extant fossils, and honestly, anybody demanding facts doesn't understand what palaeontology is about. We have very little information and a messed up fossil record, so the best we can do is speculate wildly, and this was as good a way as any to do it.

Black did go into the ways mammals were able to survive and thrive, from finding shelter from the initial searing heat and the ensuing issues that reduced sunlight caused (if you think we have a supply chain problem, imagine if the sun was shining at 80%!), and that was definitely my favourite part of the book.

I had a small problem with the section about avian dinosaurs' brain size correlating to their intelligence, with smaller animals automatically being less intelligent than bigger ones. I don't think you'll find an ornithologist that will tell you that a crow is less smart than an ostrich. That aside, it was an enjoyable read.