The Dinosaurs and their Mysterious Demise (Hardback)
Imprint: White Owl
Pages: 160
Illustrations: 32 mono illustrations
ISBN: 9781399041126
Published: 16th October 2024
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The dinosaurs are a source of endless fascination, and each new generation is inspired and enchanted by images of these wondrous and awe-inspiring creatures that dominated the Earth eons of time ago. The smallest was the size of a chicken; the largest on record, the titanosaur Argentinosaurus huinculensis, weighed about 95 tons—fifteen times as much as an African bull elephant (today’s largest terrestrial creature).
Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for no less than 181 million years: about 600 times longer than Homo sapiens have existed on the planet (Homo sapiens is defined as the primate species to which modern humans belong: the first modern humans having evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago).
Today, the consensus is that the dinosaurs became extinct when a meteorite impacted with the Earth 66 million years ago, covering it with a thick layer of soot and throwing up enormous quantities of dust which caused the sky to darken, and photosynthesis on which all terrestrial animals ultimately depend for their survival to cease.
The unanswered question, however, is how did mammals, reptiles, and birds (which are the only species of dinosaur to survive) escape this holocaust?
An entirely new theory is put forward for the first time to explain this mysterious and intriguing phenomenon.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
NetGalley, Stephen Goldberg
Although it appears that the intent of the book was to propose a new hypothesis for why dinosaurs died out whereas many of its contemporaries survived, I found the book to be much more than that. It is a great introduction to dinosaurs and evolution. Andrew Norman writes in a conversational tone and gives a lot of background to the subject. While he uses a lot of technical terms, he explains them all in parenthetical remarks. This made the book very easy to understand and follow. I also found the writing fluid and that his enthusiasm for the subject area was very clear to me. He also included parts of his personal journey, something I find very interesting. While Norman did speculate about his theory, he acknowledges this and nonetheless provides, what is to me, credible supporting information. And the last part of the book provided useful continental maps, as well as great photos and additional information on dinosaurs. Overall this is a great read for anyone interested in dinosaurs.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
NetGalley, Kathryn McLeer
This was a fantastic nonfiction book about the dinosaurs, it was engaging and had that feel that I was looking for from a dinosaur book. Andrew Norman has a great writing style and thought the overall concept was strong and the research worked overall.
About Andrew Norman
Andrew Norman was born in Newbury, Berkshire, UK in 1943. He was educated in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Midsomer Norton Grammar School, Somerset, UK, and St Edmund Hall, Oxford.
Andrew worked as a general practitioner in Poole, Dorset, before a spinal injury cut short his medical career. He is now an established writer with biographies of Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, Thomas Hardy, T. E. Lawrence, Adolf Hitler, Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton, Beatrix Potter, Marilyn Monroe, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to his name.
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