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.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pen & Sword for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

176 Pages

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.

I want to thank NetGalley and Pen & Sword - White Owl for forwarding to me a copy of this wonderful book so that I may read, enjoy and review it. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

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.

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. Thank you to Netgalley and White Owl for the digital review copy.

The habit of this book to define within the text even common words (such as fossil, marine, lagoon, track, and clay) makes it almost unreadable. I’m not sure who the intended audience is, because the language is too advanced for this to be a children’s book. The content is interesting but thin.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

This book has a lot of information. It feels like it was written for scholars more than the common reader. #TheDinosaursandtheirMysteriouDemise #NetGalley

I devoured this book because I'm obsessed with dinosaurs. I will admit that I did skim some parts but only because those parts didn't have any new information for me. Other than that this was a well written and informative read.