Monday, June 27, 2022

The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black

Of course it has a catchy title.

But it is not really a scientific record. It is a mix of the information that we have from decades of research packed in a fun way with imagination. And it does a great job.

Dinosaurs have a special image that attracts a lot of people. The mystery around these giant creatures (not all of them are giants), which got a boost by Jurassic Park franchise, is a real crowd puller. You build a good story around that and you will have the audiences.

The narration mostly revolves around the events post the asteroid strike. And it puts the details in a very illustrative format. This was actually one of the times when I went through the elaborated post scripts.

In the last chapters the writer also shared what caused her fascination with dinosaurs, and she end up connecting some personal/philosophical/existential thoughts and it was really nice to read them.

With the new discoveries old facts will go outdated and our understanding of a lot of historic events will keep changing. Which means there is nothing set in stone, and you can stay flexible in your understanding. Carbon dating is just 70 odd years old and it is already answering a lot of million year old questions. You throw in the genome sequencing and all the upcoming technologies in it and it is going to open up new windows if not the doors.

If you are looking for a more rational account with a lot of facts and figures then this might not be the right choice but if you are looking for a lighter way to read about the events which caused dinosaurs going extinct, then this is a good place to start.

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