Narrator Christina Delaine delivers Black’s information-packed audiobook with good pacing, clarity and accuracy—though her tone is inconsistent in reflecting the author’s. The story of the massive asteroid strike that is blamed for the sudden extinction of most dinosaurs is dramatic and complex. But Black’s descriptions of the impact and its aftermath strain to be even more dramatic, and Delaine strains along with her, injecting tautness and a thrill into her voice. Furthermore, when Black relaxes the book’s tone to that of simple narrative, Delaine keeps the edge in her voice. She doesn’t build a comfortable rapport with the listener, and her performance eventually seems uncongenial and monotonous. Despite these excesses in text and performance, she does get across the audiobook’s wealth of facts. W.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World
Narrated by Christina Delaine
Riley BlackUnabridged — 8 hours, 53 minutes
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World
Narrated by Christina Delaine
Riley BlackUnabridged — 8 hours, 53 minutes
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Overview
In The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, Riley Black walks listeners through what happened in the days, the years, the centuries, and the million years after the impact, tracking the sweeping disruptions that overtook this one spot, and imagining what might have been happening elsewhere on the globe. Life's losses were sharp and deeply-felt, but the hope carried by the beings that survived sets the stage for the world as we know it now.
Picture yourself in the Cretaceous period. It's a sunny afternoon in the Hell Creek of ancient Montana 66 million years ago. A Triceratops horridus ambles along the edge of the forest. In a matter of hours, everything here will be wiped away. Lush verdure will be replaced with fire. Tyrannosaurus rex will be toppled from their throne, along with every other species of non-avian dinosaur no matter their size, diet, or disposition. They just don't know it yet.
The cause of this disaster was identified decades ago. An asteroid some seven miles across slammed into the Earth, leaving a geologic wound over 50 miles in diameter. In the terrible mass extinction that followed, more than half of known species vanished seemingly overnight. But this worst single day in the history of life on Earth was as critical for us as it was for the dinosaurs, as it allowed for evolutionary opportunities that were closed for the previous 100 million years.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press
Editorial Reviews
★ 01/24/2022
“The worst single day in the history of life on Earth” came 66 million years ago when a space rock slammed into Earth and subsequently wiped out about 75% of living species, according to journalist Black (Skeleton Keys) in this impressive account. Black begins by exploring how creatures living in the “Hell Creek Formation beds of central Montana and the Dakotas” experienced that day, imagining the zone from the time of the impact, and the first day (the sun is “blocked by the choking smoke”), month (the area is “a skeleton of what it once was), year (forests are “skeletal), and century following. Black avoids the pitfall of overdramatizing, instead bringing the global disaster to life in elegant prose, imagining, for example, the actions of a young male Edmontosaurus, an 18-foot-long herbivore, and a 25-foot-long armored Ankylosaurus as the world around them changes. She effectively demonstrates the complexity and interdependence of various ecosystems, and the appendix is an extra treat—in it, Black explains how scientists know as much as they do about the behavior and physiology of species alive millions of years ago, and identifies where she used literary license to set a scene. This is top-drawer science writing. (Apr.)
Winner of the AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books!
*Newsweek 22 Books for 2022 * Philadelphia Inquirer's Best Books of April * Publishers Weekly 2022 Holiday Gift Guide * Science News' Top Books of the Year * New Scientist best nonfiction books of 2022 * Smithsonian Magazine Best Science Books of 2022 *
"A marvelous look at what happened after the asteroid hit Earth will make readers feel like a kid discovering dinosaurs for the first time. Black blends the intricacies of science with masterful storytelling for a cracking, enchanting read." —Newsweek
"This is top-drawer science writing." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Exquisitely written...as she expands her coverage through millions of years, Black’s skill as a writer and scientist and vivid imagination enable her to capture the dramatic transition from the Cretaceous period to the Cenozoic era which brought the flourishing of mammals and, eventually, humanity." —Booklist
"A real-life, natural history page-turning drama that is necessary reading for almost anyone interested in the history of life." —Library Journal, starred review
" Where science usually yadda-yaddas the gory details, Black’s The Last Days of the Dinosaurs reconstructs that bad day and its fallout in vivid, sometimes granular detail." —Philadelphia Inquirer
"A must-read." —NewScientist
"A deeply compelling narrative...The Last Days of the Dinosaurs would fit equally comfortably on the bookshelf of a die-hard dinosaur enthusiast, someone revisiting their childhood love of dinosaurs or paleontology, and anyone interested in the science of extinction or the transition from the age of dinosaurs to the age of mammals." —Science Magazine
"While engaging and approachable, The Last Days of the Dinosaurs is scrupulously rooted in information gathered by paleontologists, geologists, astronomers, physicists and ecologists."
—Science News
"One of the keys to the book's success is Black's willingness to narrate events from the animals' perspectives, which allows readers to conceptualize both the scale of the disaster and the luck and ingenuity that allowed species to survive. The book also succeeds by lending immediacy and an admirable narrative sweep to scientific information." —Shelf Awareness
"One of the best books of the year." —Coot's Reviews
"Gorgeously composed." —The Wall Street Journal
"Captivating, conveying piles of scientific information with a poets grace. Even if dinosaurs aren't your thing, I recommend checking this book out from the library for the last chapter on it's own; it's one of the most beautiful meditations on life, identity, death, and the earth I've ever read." —Scarleteen
"Immerse yourself in the last moments of the dinosaur empire, as Riley Black weaves a tale of destruction, survival, and rebirth in the wake of a killer asteroid. You feel what T. rex and Triceratops felt as their world ended in an apocalypse of fire and famine on the single worst day in Earth history, and what our mammal ancestors felt as they emerged on the other side, in a ghostly void ripe for renewal. This is pop science that reads like a fantasy novel, but backed up by hard facts and the latest fossil discoveries. Black is pioneering a new genre: narrative prehistorical nonfiction." —Steve Brusatte, professor and paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh and New York Times/Sunday Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
"This book is as vivid as a fairy-tale, brought to life by Black’s scientifically informed imagination. The Last Days of the Dinosaurs reveals the links between the deep past, and present-day ecosystems. Black guides you through Earth’s darkest hours - when an asteroid decimated the thriving dinosaurian world - and out the other side into a bright new evolutionary landscape. Facts are woven deftly into the narrative, parachuting you back in time to watch events unfold firsthand. This tale could be bleak, but Black turns our planet’s interstellar wound and subsequent transition into a story of hope and resilience. Mostly told from the animals’ perspectives, you share the experiences of a host of organisms including mammals, insects and plants. It’s Call of the Wild meets Armageddon." —Dr. Elsa Panciroli, paleontologist, Oxford University Museum of Natural History research fellow, and author of Beasts Before Us.
"While the human endeavor of paleontology is infused into every page of this book, Black skillfully shifts it to the background and instead carries us straight into the forests, rivers, and plains of the Cretaceous and Paleogene world. Black's writing brings the last days of the dinosaurs and the critical first days, years, and millenniums afterwards to vivid life, portraying a dynamic world full of living, breathing, creatures. I'd never before thought about what it must have felt like for a dinosaur to have lice, or for an early primate to be woken by birdsong, but now these images are seared into my memory, thanks to Black's skillful imagining of this lost world." —Phoebe A Cohen, paleontologist and Chair of Geosciences at Williams College
"During the most famous mass extinction, the dinosaurs died and the mammals survived. Riley Black brings every step of the crisis and the recovery to life in this novelization of the crisis. See it unfolding through the eyes of the victim dinosaurs and the survivor mammals. The lightness and pace of the writing is founded on thorough and careful analysis of the rich scientific evidence that lies behind the story." —Michael J. Benton, paleontologist, professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Bristol, and author of Dinosaurs Rediscovered
★ 03/01/2022
Black (Written in Stone) combines science information with beautiful prose, providing snapshots of various dinosaurs just before, during, and after the asteroid impact. That asteroid was a seven-mile-wide rock from space that was pulled into Earth's solar system by the Sun. The impact of this rock ends the reign of dinosaurs and begins a new age of mammals. The book focuses on the fossils of Hell Creek, Montana, but Black's history also travels to Asia and deep beneath the ocean. Readers encounter plant-eating Edmontosaurus and its nemesis Tyrannosaurus rex, as well as armor-plated Ankylosaurus. All of these creatures are destroyed by the cosmic catastrophe Black brings to life with vivid detail. She describes the immediate reverberations of the impact, as well as providing snapshots of life the day after, a month later, one year later, one thousand years later, and onwards. She also explains how certain animals, like burrowing mammals, avian dinosaurs, and insects survived. Like Steve Brusatte's Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, Black offers a compelling look at the final days of dinosaurs and the aftereffects of the asteroid impact. VERDICT A real-life, natural history page-turning drama that is necessary reading for almost anyone interested in the history of life.—Jeffrey Meyer
Narrator Christina Delaine delivers Black’s information-packed audiobook with good pacing, clarity and accuracy—though her tone is inconsistent in reflecting the author’s. The story of the massive asteroid strike that is blamed for the sudden extinction of most dinosaurs is dramatic and complex. But Black’s descriptions of the impact and its aftermath strain to be even more dramatic, and Delaine strains along with her, injecting tautness and a thrill into her voice. Furthermore, when Black relaxes the book’s tone to that of simple narrative, Delaine keeps the edge in her voice. She doesn’t build a comfortable rapport with the listener, and her performance eventually seems uncongenial and monotonous. Despite these excesses in text and performance, she does get across the audiobook’s wealth of facts. W.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940176004250 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Macmillan Audio |
| Publication date: | 04/26/2022 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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