Book Review: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte

 

I used to be obsessed with dinosaurs as a very young kid. In recent years, not so much. At all, really. I still think they're cool but whenever I try to engage with dinosaur content these days I tend to get bored earlier or later. I don't know why, I wish I still had my childlike wonder for these creatures. Ah well, case in point: this book.

In this book, Brusatte tells us about dinosaurs as a species. We get to see the rise of the first proto-dinosaurs, their peak and later on their inevitable extinction. 

A great read for those who want to learn more about dinosaurs. I know I have forgotten 90% of my dinosaur knowledge from when I was a child, so this book was good and also has a lot more modern knowledge of the animals. I also didn't know anything about how exactly they came to be and what the world looked like back when they around, so this was a nice thing to learn.

I liked the chapters being subdivided by topic, such as the rise of dinosaurs, or a specific type of dinosaur (e.g. the tyrannosaurs). However, I do kind of wish that there wasn't so much focus on the T-rex. It's the most iconic dinosaur, everyone knows that, which is just why I wanted to learn more about the non-tyrannosaur species. The T-rex of course does deserve its spot in this book, but it is the only species to have an entire chapter dedicated to them when other dinosaur species such as Triceratops or Troodon are just mentioned a few times. I just wish we could've spend more chapters with lesser known dinosaurs.

Also, I will have to admit that once again I did find my attention falter a bit. I was interested in the subject, but my interest also had its limits and honestly I've accepted by now that dinosaurs just really aren't my cup of tea anymore like they used to be as a kid. Back then I could consume movie after movie, documentary after documentary and book after book on the subject. But now I find myself losing interest earlier or later on the subject when consuming a piece of media surrounding it.

Still, this is a good book and overview of the rise and fall of dinosaurs, as the title suggests. I do recommend it if dinosaurs are a topic you are interested in, I guess the topic just isn't for me anymore these days.

Rating: 3.5/5