“A bloom is the happiest of accidents!”

Listening to this science based new nonfiction book hits especially hard as our natural world seems to be under attack by those who disregard the importance of climate change, our national parks and a general understanding of our planet.

I wasn’t sure if the subject of the evolution of biodiversity would keep me engaged for nearly 10 hours, but narration by Wren Mack had me intrigued and entranced. This fascinating and dare-I-say hopeful in depth account was easily digestible, given its massive scope.

By distilling these changes into the smallest form, and starting from the very beginning, those who are drawn to origin stories and meticulous research, will hang on every word. I sincerely hope curious readers will take a chance on this book and I look forward to the discussion when it’s released.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the early copy in exchange for my honest review.

Women in science!! The story and impact of plants!!

This book is narrative, fun, and explorative. The enthusiasm Riley Black brings to every page makes an already fascinating subject that much more enjoyable. It’s rare to find a science nonfiction book that frames everything in positivity and awe instead of fear, and, although I think both are important, this was a nice respite from the doom and gloom.

The conclusion is beautiful, speaking so vividly about the magic of nature and science and how queerness is part of that magic. A perfect wrap-up to another incredible book from Riley Black, whose intellect, joy, and creativity shine throughout.

“If we are the plants, then our ideas and actions are the seeds and spores. We might not live to see them grow or even flower as we have. Nevertheless, the variety we embody and bring to the world forms a base from which new communities will grow and respond to the shifting world around them.”

Also: don’t skip those appendices!!!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this Advanced Reader Copy. This book releases this week.

When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance by Riley Black is love letter to vegetation of the Earth that has driven, enhanced and allowed for the great evolutionary leaps of all life. Black's writing is engaging giving the reader a clear vision with interconnected vignettes easy for a layperson like myself to understand.

I was blessed to experience the exquisite audio narration by Wren Mack, providing a breathtaking and captivating view of evolution of life on planet earth. This vivid narration allowed me to visualize events as if I was watching it as a documentary on television. I certainly hope that this book is filmed for all to see.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

A mesmerizing narrative that holds you every second you spend with it. Beautiful, optimistic and so relevant. It gave me a new perspective. The narration was a cherry on top.

Riley Black was the resident palaeontologist for the Jurassic World franchise, so they really know how to weave a dinosaur tale. In this, their most recent book which releases February 25, they take us on a deep dive into paleo botany, or the study of ancient plants. Sounds boring, but I assure you it isn’t. Not the way Black tells it. The whole book feels like one National Geographic episode after another, and you can almost imagine Morgan Freeman or David Attenborough narrating (though Wren Mack does a very good job.)

I listened to this one on audio and enjoyed how this amplified the story-telling, documentary feel of this book. But my favourite parts were the intro and conclusion, when Black gets personal about how their passion for palaeontology has shaped their understanding of their own lives.

Thanks to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for a complimentary copy of this audiobook to review. All thoughts are my own.

4.5 ⭐️

I enjoy science reads, and this is unlike others I've read. Each chapter is written in "vignettes" that imagine how plants and animals interacted at different periods of prehistoric time. The audiobook narrator is mesmerizing, and it felt like listening to a nature documentary that allows you to travel back in time. It was beautiful!

Because I like science reads, however, I ended up appreciating the appendices that Black calls the "show your work" portion of the book more than the imaginative chapters themselves. I loved the vignettes (especially the one about the mosquito! Fantastic writing!), but I was starving for more of the scientific background and research for the animals, plants, and phenomenon that were in the book. The appendices provided research AND social critique that I found too important to stick at the back of the book; I had nearly decided to skip the section, and only kept listening because I was cooking and couldn't turn everything off! I wish each appendix had been added at the end of each chapter.

I also was surprised by Black's concluding argument about queerness only because the preceding chapters didn't lead up to it strongly. While reading, I was wondering if Black would bring in her trans identity and perspective to her view of the prehistoric world, but it wasn't apparent in the vignette chapters. So the concluding argument, while beautiful, almost seemed to come out of nowhere. I wish there were more in the vignette chapters so that this argument could come out beautifully, because it is a powerful one.

Overall, a lovely book that I wish was organized a little more effectively so that Black's argument and insights could shine even more! Her writing is beautiful and the audiobook narrator is amazing. My only complaints are editorial, so still giving this a high rating. Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC.

Riley Black has crafted a beautifully written nonfiction work that explores the relationship between plants and life on earth. Starting from prehistoric times, this evolutionary tale puts plants at the center of the story, and how they contributed to how life on earth looks today.

As a child we learn about the woolly mammoths and the dinosaurs, but rarely about the plants they needed to survive. This is a well researched look at how plants evolved over time and how they influenced the evolution of the animals during the different prehistoric times. I am always fascinated by books that can teach me things. This book was such a unique perspective and a focus I’d never even thought about. Black did a great job at making this exceptionally engaging. I did receive this as an #gifted audiobook, so not sure if the physical book has pictures. But would have loved the visualization! Overall a fascinating read.

Informative book but I had trouble following the time jumps. I also didn't like the ending and felt it was forced to try to fit into the political climate.

When the Earth Was Green offers a refreshingly unique exploration into the ancient world of plants—a perspective that is too often overlooked in favor of animal stories. I was immediately captivated by the narrator’s wonderful performance, which brought clarity and warmth to a narrative rich in scientific detail. It was a delight to delve into how plants evolved, changed, and ultimately shaped the world around us.

The book takes you on a journey through prehistoric seas, swamps, forests, and savannas, revealing the crucial role that plants played in oxygenating our atmosphere and enabling the rise of diverse life forms. While the scientific elements are robust, they only serve to deepen the appreciation for the intricate interplay between plants and the world they helped create.

Overall, When the Earth Was Green is a captivating and thought-provoking read that challenges the traditional focus on animals by shining a light on the often-overlooked wonders of plant evolution. It’s a celebration of the natural world that will leave you with a newfound respect for the silent architects of our planet’s past—and future.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillian audio for providing me with the ARC of When the Earth was Green.

Riley Black is my favorite author in Pre-history educational and informative books because he does it so entertainingly. This is the first time that I have listened to an audiobook first, and I loved it. It's easier to get the humor that makes learning fun. Always so much detail and information. What I loved most about his approach is that he sees nature as a community and symbiosis where one element influences the other being responsible for the evolution of other species. In this volume the author makes the plants sound as active and powerful as the dinosaurs, because they depend on their digestion, and their aggressiveness and hunger to spread the seeds and repopulate other locations. Also,o it was so relevant to learn that plants know how to create fire. The intro in itself is a great lesson. I learned about trees that are now extinct, and others like the Ginko Tree that is still outside our windows. It's extraordinary and makes always a great read. I always recommend it for easy comprehension but also because we don't forget the facts after a few months. It sticks to our memory.

(Instagram post scheduled for this week)

This was an engaging series of vignettes featuring life on earth as it evolves over time, leapfrogging from its simple start to the last ice age. Each chapter has its own main characters and delivers on the promised relationships between plants and animals.

Wren Mack was a narrator I thoroughly enjoyed listening to.

The descriptive language used by the author made me feel like I was listening to someone describe a painting, not a snapshot from geologic history. It was beautifully written.

While I didn’t learn much from the initial chapters (the result of my own scientific background), I learned a great deal from the chapters dealing with more recent evolutions. It was information I couldn’t keep to myself. Two particular chapters come to mind: I immediately called my sister to tell her about the prehistoric horse who used to live in Kansas, and then again when I got to the chapter that suggested how primates got from Africa to South America.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Riley Black for an Advanced Listener's Copy of this title!

If you grew up and/or still enjoy listening to National Geographic- and Discovery-type odes to the past, present, and future of nature, you'll absolutely thrive with this book. "When the Earth Was Green" is a love letter to the plants and how they gently shaped the world we know and love today, from the first whispers of cells seeking symbiosis of an warming planet, to the whorls and curls of leaves and vines that sustained your favorite prehistoric beasts of old. Each chapter provides a narrative glimpse into a different era of development and gives the reader a dive into the plant and animal forces of that era, including the evolutionary forces that would shape and propel plants and the creatures that lived among, within, and because of them across time and space. Plant parents and prehistoric enthusiasts alike will find something to learn and love here, and I highly recommend listening to the audiobook if you're a regular connoisseur of nature shows and podcasts, as it was a delight to listen to and inspired me to pick up some documentaries over the weekend to try and recapture that vibe.

For those prepared to get lost in the prehistoric jungle, there is also a really detailed appendix of the author's reasons for including certain facts, deeper dives into research, and contextualization of some of the finer aspects of each chapter as far as nomenclature, categorization, and ongoing discoveries in the worlds of plant and animal paleontology.

The author's conclusion also really struck a chord with me - I have not read this author before (though I will absolutely be seeking out their other work on dinosaurs as a result of reading this book), and their identification with plants and their evolution, their categorization, and their interconnectedness and fluidity throughout their own lifecycles and time itself in the context of their own transition was really poignant and beautiful. As they pointed out, humans have a tendency to like strict categories and labels, which in some ways defies the very essence of life on earth, plants in particular, in their metamorphoses, their ability and proclivity for adaptation, and their resilience in the face of outside forces. In the context of the rest of the book, it certainly struck a note with me and I'll be thinking about it for days to come.

This book explores the crucial role of prehistoric plants in shaping life on Earth. Fossil records reveal how plants paved the way for animal evolution, from dinosaurs to humans. Using a narrative approach, the book journeys through prehistoric landscapes, highlighting key moments in plant evolution and their impact on the world we know today.

Beautifully written, this captivating book provides an excellent overview of how plant life developed and thrived on Earth. I loved the audio narration. It’s a book worth reading and savoring a second time.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Riley Black’s When the Earth Was Green completely drew me in with its fascinating look at the deep connections between plants and animals throughout evolution. Black’s storytelling makes prehistoric worlds feel vivid and alive, turning complex science into something accessible and exciting.

What I loved most is how she reframes evolution—not as a mere survival game but as an intricate, ongoing relationship between flora and fauna. Her passion for natural history is contagious, making even the smallest evolutionary shifts feel like grand discoveries.

If you’re into natural history or just love a well-told science story, this book is a must-read. It left me with a fresh appreciation for the world around us!

I am someone who primarily reads fiction, I can confirm that this was an engaging piece of nonfiction. I had a goal to read more non fiction this year and so jumped at the opportunity to review this book.

As someone fascinated by prehistoric beasts, I knew I would love those sections. However I was surprised by how equally fascinating I found the prehistoric plants right.

As non fiction I found the narrative engaging. The author really did a great job bringing the past to life.

If you love non fiction or want to get into the genre, this is an excellent book to pick up. I found the scope of the broad and deep with enough interesting details to keep any reader hooked.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

As someone who loves plants and evolution I absolutely ate this one up. Being transported back to the very beginning and learning about how certain changes totally changed the trajectory of certain plant and animal species was truly exceptional. I loved learning about how things use to be compared to how things are now.

Riley Black has a very floriferous writing style, seems appropriate for a paleontologist biologist. Throughout When the Earth Was Green I kept wishing that the book came with a supplement that provided pictures/sketches of the creatures that were being described. I did google Titanoboa, as I had never heard of the creature.

I reviewed the audio book narrated by Wren Mack, who did an amazing job at bringing this audio to life.

I thought that the Epilogue was a little weird, could probably even call it a little queer.

The format of the book was explained a bit in the Epilogue, each chapter was a vignette, a snippet in time that the author envisioned. There were multiple (12?) chapters, then the Epilogue and then an Appendix for each chapter. Each Appendix provided background and additional information about each chapter. I kind of wish I had read each chapter, then the matching appendix, then the next chapter and appendix.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for approving my request to listen to the advance copy f the audio of When the Earth Was Green in exchange for an honest review. Approximately 9 hours and 45 minutes. Publication date is Feb 25, 2025.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Stats:
4.5 rounded up
(Losing .5 for an editorial choice I’ll explain below)
About 4 hours audiobook at 2x speed
Narrator choice = 10/10

Stepping into Riley Black’s voice was like coming back home after a beautiful fresh coat of paint. As someone who has read a lot of “dinosaur” books, this was a fresh perspective on the earth and its plant life from a voice I haven’t encountered before. This is distinctly “lefter” than many science books and distinctly “queerer”

Fans of Steve Brusatte’s “The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs” will enjoy stepping onto the other (even more ancient) side of the coin as Black looks at the evolution of plant life on earth in tandem with the animals who thrived on changing landscapes.

I found this to be incredibly readable even with the dense scientific language. Black parallels vivid and often fun and irreverent imagery with technological and biological terms that, in context, even a lay person such as myself could understand. Blacks voice is buoyant and inviting. I put down all the other books I was reading just to finish this one.

Black also balances “what we know, what we think, and what [she] just supposes” and is very open about that. I listened to the audiobook which meant I had to listen to the entire appendix (FIFTEEN SECTIONS!!!!) where this discussion mostly takes place AFTER listening to the whole book. This is a lovely statement of transparency that allows reality and imagination to work in tandem to make this an enjoyable read. My only complaint here is I think the appendix where fact and fiction is acknowledged should have come right after the chapter it references rather than all of the appendix coming at the end. Not a big deal tho. It just had the effect of feeling like I was listening to the same book twice in a row, one with more imagery and one with more “this is how the field is and how I made up the imagery.” if that makes sense. That may feel different when reading the physical book.

I also thought the ending concluding leap into queerness, rather than the expected general environmental statement, was a fresh and unique perspective fueled by Black’s openness about her own identity.

All in all, I think the people who find this book will love it. I’m sure absolute experts will find issues with it, and if you literally don’t care about ancient earth at all, this may not be for you. I can see why this kind of nonfiction may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I was enthralled. For a day, I felt like an expert in ancient plant life evolution as Black’s verdant language enveloped me. And don’t worry, there are plenty of creatures here too.

Absolutely fascinated by how evocative Black's writing was in this narrative nonfiction. I loved every second of this listen and adored the glimpses into what the pre-historic past might have looked like and how plants lived intertwined with various organisms. Fantastic nature writing that shone even more with the narration by Wren Mack. I seriously felt immersed in the narrative.

I love books like this, I am a big science nerd so anything that goes over the world came to be and how everything evolved is an automatic favorite. The information was well thought out, researched, and delivered. the narrator was great and made it all come to life. Such a good informational book!