Simply Kayla

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Steve Brusatte wrote “The Rise and Reign of the Dinosaurs” and it easily became my favorite book on Dinosaurs. I mean, it’s not everyday I read a paleontology book and bawl my eyes out at the end. I was anticipating another Dino read from him, but while browsing the book store one day, I stumbled on this book. Honestly, my first impression was disappointment: “Wait… no dinosaurs???”. No matter, I enjoyed his first book so much that I probably would at least like this one. I guess I would see what he had to say about mammals. Spoiler alert: He said a whole lot.

We all know after the Dinosaurs died, the mammals “took over”. There is a lot more to that story. Brusatte starts at the base of our mammal tree and explains through bones (especially teeth) in how we evolved to fit into our ever-changing world. I say “we” because in case you forgot, we (humans, cats, dogs, bats, giraffes, cows, hippos, etc.) are all mammals. Brusatte has a magic touch to story-telling. Based on his and his team’s research, he paints a world and brings it to life. He tells us a story that makes us feel connected to the character, even if it has a name I can’t pronounce.

I appreciated his structure as well. He focuses on our entire lineage of mammalian history and saves the Homo species (that is us, humans) for the last chapter*. It really drives the point in that it’s NOT all about us and it never has been. Humans are just another branch on the massive and sprawling tree of Mammals.

This was a fascinating read and made me appreciate mammals so much more – we are just as cool as the Dinosaurs.

*If you want to read a book about Human evolution, check out “Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.

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