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The Dinosaurs and their Mysterious Demise (Hardback)

P&S History > Natural History

By Andrew Norman
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.

This was a fantastic book to deepen my never ending thirst for dinosaur history and facts. The author has done fantastic work with presenting past and current information. I personally learned a lot, and got to refresh and correct some information I believed.

NetGalley, Emilie Borge

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The reign of the dinosaurs has fascinated us since the first dinosaur was described and named in 1824 by William Buckland. It has long been accepted that the demise of the dinosaurs was the result of an asteroid colliding with the earth. However, that has raised the question of why all of the dinosaurs, with the exception of avian, perished while mammals, reptiles, and fish survived. In his book, The Dinosaurs and Their Mysterious Demise, author Andrew Norman sets out to answer this question and, although it is, by necessity, speculation, he backs his theory up with plenty of facts and evidence. I won’t try to explain his hypothesis but will say that Norman writes in a very clear way that makes it easy to follow his reasoning. I also really appreciated that, despite his necessary use of many technical terms, he explains these terms right after their use rather than in end- or foot- notes which really helps when reading on an ipad as I was. There are also maps included showing the earth at different periods as well as pictures at the end which added to my enjoyment as well as understanding. I found this book extremely interesting and informative and would recommend it for anyone interested in the subject even if, or perhaps, especially if, like me, you are not a scientist.

NetGalley, Maxine McLister

As seen in 'New Book Provides a Fresh Perspective on Dinosaur Extinction'.

Read the full article here!

Everything Dinosaur

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I can’t praise Mr. Norman enough. Not only does he present a new theory on the demise of the dinosaurs, he goes into their history. He lists many of the classifications and “families.” While the book is impressively technical, Mr. Norman translates the scientific terms to easy to understand language.

This book is a comprehensive discussion of dinosaurs. I was thrilled to pick up new geological terms and their meanings. I was interested in the author’s discussion of how dinosaur footprints are formed. Even the formation of the continents and the layers of the earth were described.

Mr. Norman extensively covered the meteors that struck the earth and how they contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs. But, he takes his investigation further and out forth a theory which must be considered alongside the meteor theory.

The book is well written, both scientifically and in plain language. I am so glad I was able to read this work. There is a fantastic bibliography for those who would like to further study the history of the dinosaurs.

NetGalley, Joyce Fox

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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.

NetGalley, Stephen Goldberg

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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.

NetGalley, Kathryn McLeer
 Andrew Norman

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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