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Reviews tagging 'Suicide'
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Stephen Brusatte
2 reviews
crownoflaurel's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide, Colonisation, and Animal death
brnineworms's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
4.0
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a flawed book, but I liked it overall and I did learn a few things. Everything was explained very clearly, though sometimes it came across as somewhat dumbed down rather than just being accessible.
Unlike Dinosaurs Rediscovered, this book focuses on scientists more than science. Each palaeontologist mentioned gets a full introduction, which is sweet but it does take time away from discussing dinosaurs. The novel-like storytelling laden with anecdotes sometimes makes the book meander a little too much for my liking but it does make it more engaging to read. I liked the chapter “The Tyrant Dinosaurs” – it was nice to see tyrannosauroids besides the famous T rex getting some attention.
My main objection is that at several points throughout the book, assumptions and assertions were made with very little evidence to back them up. For example, Brusatte insists that palaeontologists are certain Tyrannosaurus must have had feathers, but T rex integument has been a highly controversial topic for many years and there has never been a solid consensus, only conjecture. Further dubious claims about T rex (it used its arms to subdue prey, it was intelligent, it lived in packs) are based on circumstantial evidence at best. They’re not necessarily wrong, we just don’t know for sure that they’re right. There are also some points that are known to be untrue, such as Archaeopteryx being “the oldest bird in the fossil record” (it was an avialan but not a true bird).
Palaeontology books are bound to include a few errors – that’s to be expected. My issue is that Brusatte presents guesswork and inaccurate information with confidence, and this book is aimed at non-experts who don’t have enough knowledge on the subject of dinosaurs to recognise these mistakes for what they are.
Still, this isn’t a bad book. I imagine it would serve as a nice introduction to palaeontology for the layperson. I’d recommend it as to someone interested but not particularly well-versed in palaeontology, with a reminder not to take the author’s word as gospel and to instead use it as a jumping-off point for their own research.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Animal death, Death, Racism, and Suicide
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