The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs
“An entrancing primer. . . . Black has a knack for singling out the most surprising and engrossing findings of modern paleontology, bringing the ancient reptiles back to vivid life. The result is an excellent overview of the ever-evolving science on dinosaurs.”—Publishers Weekly
The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs tells the 230-million-year epic of these staggeringly fascinating prehistoric creatures, covering their small beginnings, spectacular golden periods, and stunning evolutionary success—before an unthinkable asteroid event brought everything to a screeching halt. But this history digs deeper, using numerous recent fossil discoveries and fresh understandings of genetics and evolution to show how we’ve gleaned so much about a long-lost world from mere fragments of fossil. Marshaling the evidence, award-winning author Riley Black reveals the startling relationships that dinosaurs shared with one another, the land they lived on, and other animal species.
A USA Today Bestseller
"another triumph from Black” - Publisher’s Weekly, starred review
"Black masterfully transforms 15 fossil sites into vibrant, living landscapes ...an exercise in empathy that left me hopeful about humanity’s ability to consider other perspectives, whether those of ancient, exotic organisms or members of our own species."
—Science
The evolutionary romance between plants and animals, played out over hundreds of millions of years. Primordial coal swamps crawling with giant insects, hungry dinosaurs munching on prehistoric horsetails, sabercats rolling in ancient catnip, and even our own early human ancestors clambering through the trees, When the Earth Was Green draws from the latest scientific discoveries to lushly reconstruct critical moments of connection that have shaped life on Earth.
“An essential, extraordinary story.” —Daniel Lewis, Huntington Library
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Paperback coming in 2026!
Winner of the 2023 AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books
"This is top-drawer science writing." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"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
A USA Today Bestseller
On a spring day 66 million years ago, an asteroid crashed into our planet and ended the Age of Dinosaurs. This is the story of what transpired from the day before impact to a million years afterwards, following the lives of dinosaurs, mammals, plants, sea creatures, and more caught in the middle of Earth’s fifth mass extinction.
Riley is also the author of Written in Stone, My Beloved Brontosaurus, National Geographic: When Dinosaurs Ruled, Prehistoric Predators, Skeleton Keys, Did You See That Dinosaur?, Deep Time, Dinosaurs: Profiles From a Lost World, and Deep Water.