5つ星のうち5.0
An absolute must-read for any dinosaur fan, with a very unique and appreciated perspective
2022年5月1日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済み
This was an absolute joy to read, and I'm so glad I did! I blasted through it and just couldn't put it down. This is a book focused on the K-Pg event, aka the end of the non-avian dinosaurs (and much other life), and how life recovered from it. It's broken down into a series of chapters, such as Before the Impact, the Impact itself, the Day After Impact, A Month After Impact, A Year, 100 Years, etc, with each chapter being based on the latest science with a bit of informed speculation to fill in the gaps of what life was like at the time, what organisms survived, which perished, what new forms of life were popping up, and the likely how's and why's to all that.
But what I particularly enjoyed was how in addition to that, each chapter is framed around a vignette regarding a member of a species that was likely around in the Hell Creek formation in modern-day Montana (the primary setting of the book, due to the amount of fossils from near the K-Pg event at the side), sometimes a member of a species that was doing relatively well (all things considered) in this brave new world, sometimes ones that weren't so lucky, and using them as launchpads for the discussion of the rest of the chapter.
Similarly, while the bulk of each chapter is focused on Hell Creek due to the strong fossil record there for the book's subject, each chapter ends in a coda focused around a species elsewhere in the world, such as the Atlantic Ocean, what would become modern-day Antarctica, New Zealand, etc, and the stories of these organisms and what was likely happening in these parts of the world as the days and years progressed was just as riveting for me.
All this is done while wonderful interspersing the history of how organisms such as the gigantic herbivorous sauropods and carnivorous tyrannosaurs likely evolved and got to their size in the first place, how those traits (and the traits and behaviors they didn't have) played a role in their downfall, and why those organisms who did survive were most likely able to do so, by having the right traits at the right time, whether it be the ability to burrow underground, use the burrows of others, stay submerged in safe waters, or other such methods (and this in turn leading to how the survivors would go on to shape the planet in their own way, in a world where non-avian dinosaurs were no more).
But what I most appreciate, perhaps due to my general disposition, perhaps because I've faced trials and obstacles in my life similar to the author's own personal story (which I feel she does a wonderful job interweaving where appropriate), is how the whole theme of this book, despite being about the event that caused the death of so many forms of life, is the sheer persistence and refusal of life to give up even under the most tragic and terrible of circumstances.
How even in the greatest of fires, new life will rise from the ashes, life that's both the same and yet different, has remnants of before the tragedy which they owe their survival to in the first place, and in time, especially as these survivors interact and prey on and compete with each other, something brand new will arise in the survivors as the processes of natural selection and evolution play out.
But just that general theme throughout the book, that this isn't a book about death, not truly, but rather one about life's ability to persevere even in the darkest of days really resonates me, and I love how the book concludes with a modified version of a quote from a certain infamous dinosaur blockbuster "If there is a way, life will find it."
We certainly wouldn't be here if it didn't. No matter what tragedies may befall the planet, the vast, interlinking, tapestry of life continues onward, sometimes being a much more ragged yarn than others, at times, like the worst single day life likely ever experienced, barely hanging on by a thread, but no matter how hard things get, if there is a way, life will find a way to continue on, and what a beautiful sentiment that truly is.
I personally feel this book succeeded wonderfully in its goals, and definitely not did I learn more than a few things reading it, but I also gained an even greater appreciation for dinosaurs (and all other forms of life) than I already did, and I definitely thank the author for that, a lot.
Truly a wonderful work, that I would recommend to anyone who loves dinosaurs, or anyone who want's a perspective on what likely happened the day the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct, and the years that followed, and what that says about the beauty of life and its ability to carry on, and find a way through even the darkest of nights.