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rockydahiyausa's review against another edition
4.0
The author writes in a way that makes you fall in love with paleontology, a bit too late in life though
saspell's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
4.5
dcork's review against another edition
4.0
Wish I could give this one a 3.5 but going to give Prof Brusatte the benefit of the doubt and round up and not down.
I echo a lot of the other reviews on this page. I found the sections of this book where the author goes deep on the details of dinosaur evolution and anatomy, the specifics of their lives, diets, surroundings and interactions to be really fascinating. Even more so, I enjoyed the spirit of surveying the various fields of research currently going on and how different research methods and disciplines, such as using databases to construct "maps" of species' relatedness, can compliment each other and further our understanding of these animals and time. In that it reminded me of 1491 by Charles Mann.
What I didn't enjoy were the constant name-dropping descriptions of others in the field, all of whom just seem like, well, big nerds. Don't get me wrong, we're all big nerds here, I just don't feel like descriptions of what some colleague happens to prefer wearing or drinking is really adding to the intent of this book. Brusatte mentions at some point that he was interesting in being a journalist before getting in paleontology as a career and you can sense his want to flex those muscles a bit.
All that said, if you're interested in learning what we know about dinosaurs and how that knowledge has evolved since you were a kid, this is good book. Makes me want to go on a quick tour of Natural History Museums and show off what I've learned.
I echo a lot of the other reviews on this page. I found the sections of this book where the author goes deep on the details of dinosaur evolution and anatomy, the specifics of their lives, diets, surroundings and interactions to be really fascinating. Even more so, I enjoyed the spirit of surveying the various fields of research currently going on and how different research methods and disciplines, such as using databases to construct "maps" of species' relatedness, can compliment each other and further our understanding of these animals and time. In that it reminded me of 1491 by Charles Mann.
What I didn't enjoy were the constant name-dropping descriptions of others in the field, all of whom just seem like, well, big nerds. Don't get me wrong, we're all big nerds here, I just don't feel like descriptions of what some colleague happens to prefer wearing or drinking is really adding to the intent of this book. Brusatte mentions at some point that he was interesting in being a journalist before getting in paleontology as a career and you can sense his want to flex those muscles a bit.
All that said, if you're interested in learning what we know about dinosaurs and how that knowledge has evolved since you were a kid, this is good book. Makes me want to go on a quick tour of Natural History Museums and show off what I've learned.
fabydemar's review
5.0
'Più di ogni altra cosa, il racconto dell'ascesa e della caduta dei dinosauri è la storia incredibile dell'era in cui animali giganteschi e altre creature fantastiche dominavano il mondo. Camminavano sulla nostra stessa terra, e oggi i loro fossili, gli indizi che ce li raccontano, giacciono sepolti nella roccia.'
Forse è perché ho ascoltato qualche sua intervista alla radio e il tono di voce allegro di Steve mi è rimasto impresso, ma questo libro, per me, trasmette molto bene l'entusiasmo e la passione dell'autore per la paleontologia, una scienza in cui le scoperte sono all'ordine del giorno: che emozione deve essere la scoperta di una nuova specie di dinosauro!
Un libro scritto in modo chiaro e diretto, che risponde a tutte le principali domande sui dinosauri, anche a quelle di chi, come me, è a livello Jurassic Park e non sa distinguere un allosauro da un apatosauro.
Forse è perché ho ascoltato qualche sua intervista alla radio e il tono di voce allegro di Steve mi è rimasto impresso, ma questo libro, per me, trasmette molto bene l'entusiasmo e la passione dell'autore per la paleontologia, una scienza in cui le scoperte sono all'ordine del giorno: che emozione deve essere la scoperta di una nuova specie di dinosauro!
Un libro scritto in modo chiaro e diretto, che risponde a tutte le principali domande sui dinosauri, anche a quelle di chi, come me, è a livello Jurassic Park e non sa distinguere un allosauro da un apatosauro.
im_paulina's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
4.0
Fantastic Read! I love dinosaurs and learned so much from this book!