The Age of Dinosaurs: The Rise and Fall of the World's Most Remarkable Animals

By Steve Brusatte

Think you know about dinosaurs? Think again! New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Steve Brusatte brings young scientists and readers everywhere into his world of massive herbivores and fearsome predators, daily unexpected discoveries, and all the new science used to learn about some of the world’s oldest beings.

Even though the dinosaurs roamed the earth millions of years ago, we’re still piecing together new information about these ancient animals.

Did you know that, on average, a new species of dinosaur is discovered every single week? Or that many dinosaurs had feathers? Or that there are even modern-day dinosaurs walking around right now?

New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed paleontologist Steve Brusatte writes about all the new discoveries he and his colleagues have made that help us better understand—and marvel at—these remarkable reptiles.

This exciting nonfiction book for ages 7 to 12 includes a glossary, pronunciation guide, and index, as well as photos throughout. A strong choice for the classroom and for independent reading, and a great source for reports using information direct from an expert in the field.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9780062930194

Steve Brusatte

Steve Brusatte, PhD, is an American paleontologist who teaches at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland. He is the author of the international bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. The paleontology advisor on the Jurassic World film franchise, Brusatte has named more than fifteen new species, including the tyrannosaur “Pinocchio rex” (Qianzhousaurus), the raptor Zhenyuanlong, and several ancient mammals. His research and writing has been featured in Science, the New York Times, Scientific American, and many other publications.

Reviews for The Age of Dinosaurs

[kerryd1971 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fabulous. It made me want to get off the couch and go looking for fossils!

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

seemed fine--hard for me to focus, plus there's a bunch of people waiting to read this after me at the library, so I stopped after 1-1/2 chapters. I think I'd do better with a PBS special, but lots of folks seemed to love the dinosaur bits in other reviews.

[tobinelliott · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fun book that provides the reader with not only a history of the dinosaurs (the titular rise and fall), but also about the men and women that hunt their remains to understand them better.

Yes, you're going to get a shit ton of dinosaur names tossed at you, but the author also makes the history fun and real.

If you have an interest in dinosaurs, or would like a little more info on how accurate Jurassic Park was, this is a great place to start.

[breic-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is fine, but far from the best popular science book I've read recently. When I read a book like this, written by a scientist active in the field, I want to know what the work is like—both the day-to-day chores and the exciting discoveries. Who the people are, and what makes them tick. Unfortunately, this book doesn't say that much about how paleontologists work, and in particular there are very few details about the author's own work. Several times we hear about how he filled in a spreadsheet and ran an algorithm on it. Perhaps Brusatte thinks this work is too boring for most people to care? But I want to know the details! To be fair, Brusatte does try to give capsule portraits of quite a number of other paleontologists. The anecdotes are usually too brief and shallow, and can lack a punch line. The book does do a decent job surveying the history of dinosaurs, explaining a few of our most recent discoveries as well. I think the book did a good job at consolidating information that I'd been vaguely aware of, but only from scattershot sources. But the information density isn't that high, and perhaps could also have been conveyed in a magazine article. Occasionally, Brusatte falls into the trap of listing species names. Taxonomy is dull. Overall, I liked the book. It is a very quick read. I just wanted more!

[geoffhabiger · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love dinosaurs. I got a degree in geology and spent several years attempting to get a masters degree in paleontology. I routinely attend the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and I've written my own coloring/activity book about dinosaurs. So, take it as a verifiable dinosaur nerd that you need to read this book. Stephen presents a wonderful narrative and history of the age of dinosaurs, weaving in the latest scientific research with a witty and interesting narrative that encompasses his own love for dinosaurs that started well before his career as a paleontologist took off. We learn about the end Permian extension that cleared the way for the dinosaur ancestors and eventually the dinosaurs themselves to take the stage in the Triassic. About the diversity and abundance of the dinosaurs during the Jurassic, and the pinnacle of the dinosaur empire during the Cretaceous. Stephen explains in very easy to understand language the latest science that explains how the dinosaurs proliferated to fill practically every niche in the world, how they were still thriving until the very end, and how dinosaurs continue to survive today, their lineage continuing as birds. (FYI - Birds ARE dinosaurs, if you've missed that bit of news.) I highly recommend The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs to anybody who is not only a dinosaur lover, but who has an interest in the natural world around us and how we continue to explore and learn about our world's amazing history. Stephen Brusatte does a wonderful job of bringing this ancient animals to life, and clearing away a lot of the scientific dogma that has surrounded dinosaur science in the past several decades. I listened to the audiobook version of the book read by Patrick Lawlor. There were no production problems with the book and Patrick does an excellent job of pronouncing not only the usual plethora of dinosaur names, but also the many out of the way localities around the world that often have names designed to be tongue-twisters.

[dramman_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Easy reading account of the Dinosaur age, the theories and latest findings. The author has travelled widely and draws upon a wide network of fellow paleontologists in giving examples to explain what went on.

[widdersyns · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was extremely readable and I enjoyed it. I think I expected it to go a little more in-depth with the science, which it did not.

[4bonasa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good history of the dinosaurs. The book does need a few more illustrations, just keep your smart phone handy to search the net.

[tuusannuuska-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4,4 stars

I enjoyed the subject matter and the author's enthusiasm. Not the biggest fan of the incessant need to drop the personal anecdotes about the different specialists. The attempt to paint the paleontologists as rock stars is adorable.

[fionaanne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating read and superbly done.

[anniik_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very interesting history of the dinosaurs. I am not a scientist but I found it engaging and easy to follow. I really enjoyed it!

[untitled841 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An easily accessible non-fiction book about dinosaurs and the history of archeology.

[ghost_boy-691444 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading the reviews for this book I felt like I was going to be reading a book not about dinosaurs. Hate saying this, but some of the negative reviews on here seem misleading and focusing too much on the parts that don't really matter.

The book is about what the title delivers. Some of this information isn't new to me, but I still learned a lot. Brusatte isn't writing for the science intellectuals. He's writing for the everyday person still interested in dinosaurs for whatever reason that may be.

He talks about Jurassic Park a bit in this book. It makes sense since he's only in his 30s and that's how most kids my age go into dinosaurs. However, that wasn't me. I didn't see the movie until recently, but loved learning about dinosaurs and still do because of books.

I loved the part of him talking about going to the Peabody Museum as a kid at Yale, New Haven, Connecticut. Have a special memory of that place with my grandfather and brother. We saw the bones and a stuffed dodo. My grandpa liked that we were all excited seeing this stuff. I think that's one reason I'm still interested in this stuff.

I think this is a book worth reading if you are still into dinosaurs. It's quick, easy, and a fun read with enough photos and cited sources.

[nmele_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A while ago, I found a book my parents bought for me when I was five or six years old (mid-1950s) during a visit to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It was a child's introduction to the evolution of animals and it focussed on dinosaurs. Much of that book is badly outdated, from the depictions of unfeathered dinosaurs to the then mystery of the dinosaurs disappearance. Brusatte covers all that has been learned since the 1950s, and puts what we knew then and now in the context of the geology, geography, climate and animal populations of each period. Sure, he highlights Tyrannosaurus rex and some other star animals, but he carefully traces what we know about their evolution and their habits. He also points out that dinosaurs were never the only creatures in their various environments and that a good bit of what we consider the age of dinosaurs was actually dominated by other reptiles. I kept turning the pages to see what else I didn't know!