RISE & FALL DINO PB

Excellent book for dinosaurs lover

When the book is still receiving awards you know how great a book this is. It's a must have for everyone. The best literary piece on prehistoric life. Brusatte made me his fan !

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte left me with a sense of respect for scientific humility and a clearer understanding of evolution as a slow, uncertain, and deeply non-dramatic process. My overall feeling was that the book provides both awe and perspective: dinosaurs were not inevitable rulers, and the story of life is shaped by a constant tension between inherited traits and environmental pressures. The book’s greatest strength lies in how honestly it treats evolution—not as a clean sequence of breakthroughs, but as a continuous process blurred at the edges. Brusatte shows that what we call “major evolutionary milestones” are often retrospective labels imposed on gradual change, much like diffused inter-regional borders that exist mainly as administrative classifications rather than real divisions in nature. This perspective helps dismantle the illusion that species boundaries are sharp or absolute. The nature vs nurture conflict is implicit throughout: dinosaurs had inherited traits that gave them advantages (nature), but whether they survived or thrived depended heavily on environmental conditions, catastrophic events, and chance (nurture). The author is also refreshingly transparent about missing evidence, repeatedly reinforcing that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. His discussion of why dinosaurs survived while biologically similar pseudosuchians did not is especially compelling, ultimately pointing toward chance rather than deterministic superiority. That conclusion resonates beyond paleontology, echoing modern human experience: success, whether biological or social, cannot be reduced to a repeatable formula. The book consistently avoids overstated certainty and instead presents evolution as a selection process shaped by both inherited traits and environmental pressures. Where the book falls short is mainly in accessibility. The frequent use of complex Greek and Latin scientific names can distance general readers and make it harder to form an intuitive connection with the animals themselves. The limited and sometimes underwhelming visual aids do little to compensate for this gap. Some concepts could have reached a broader audience if explained with more relatable analogies, similar to how writers like Stephen Hawking translate abstract cosmological ideas without diluting their depth. Overall, I would recommend this book to readers interested in evolution, deep time, and scientific thinking that values true uncertainty over false certainty. It is best suited for curious readers who are comfortable with ambiguity and willing to accept that both inherited traits and environmental factors, along with chance, play a central role in the history of life.

I like the way the writer has described about how dinosaurs evolved. Paper quality is nice ,,weight less simply it's an awesome book,thanks to steve for such an awesome book

Must read for everyone to understand the past of our mother earth.

Good one.

Excellent book! Very informative and enlightening!