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The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present
From the renowned paleontologist and bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, a sweeping evolutionary history of birds, from their dinosaur origins to the 14,000 extraordinary species alive today.
Tens of billions of birds share the planet with us, an astonishingly diverse array of species that are present nearly everywhere humans call home—and many places we do not. With their flamboyant plumage, joyous dawn serenades, extraordinary aerial feats, they have captivated human imagination for millennia. Undeniably delicate creatures with hollow bones and thin skin protected by downy feathers, how did such a seemingly fragile species break the bounds of Earth and begin to fly, how have they survived millennia, and how does their legacy shape our world?
Hailed as “one of the stars of modern paleontology” (National Geographic), Brusatte begins his quest to the tell the story of birds by exploring how dinosaurs gradually developed the trademark features of birds one-by-one—feathers, wings, beaks, big brains, keen senses, and warm-blooded metabolisms. He investigates why birds were the only dinosaurs to survive the cataclysmic asteroid impact 66 million years ago and chronicles how these survivors rapidly proliferated in a barren landscape to produce the huge diversity of avian species we know today.
Along the way, we meet a variety of remarkable – now extinct – species:
• 10-foot-tall terror birds with beaks that sliced flesh
• 1.5-ton elephant birds that lived on Madagascar and laid eggs the size of footballs
• Pelagornithid seabirds with 20-foot wingspans
• A ferocious Jamaican ibis that used its wings as clubs to attack rivals
Yet, Brusatte also urges us to appreciate the extraordinariness of birds alive today – penguins that literally fly underwater, parrots that can mimic human speech and hummingbirds that hover mid-air and dive at 50 miles per hour.
A fascinating scientific history that unearths the origins of birds, The Story of Birds establishes the living legacy of this remarkable species.
Tens of billions of birds share the planet with us, an astonishingly diverse array of species that are present nearly everywhere humans call home—and many places we do not. With their flamboyant plumage, joyous dawn serenades, extraordinary aerial feats, they have captivated human imagination for millennia. Undeniably delicate creatures with hollow bones and thin skin protected by downy feathers, how did such a seemingly fragile species break the bounds of Earth and begin to fly, how have they survived millennia, and how does their legacy shape our world?
Hailed as “one of the stars of modern paleontology” (National Geographic), Brusatte begins his quest to the tell the story of birds by exploring how dinosaurs gradually developed the trademark features of birds one-by-one—feathers, wings, beaks, big brains, keen senses, and warm-blooded metabolisms. He investigates why birds were the only dinosaurs to survive the cataclysmic asteroid impact 66 million years ago and chronicles how these survivors rapidly proliferated in a barren landscape to produce the huge diversity of avian species we know today.
Along the way, we meet a variety of remarkable – now extinct – species:
• 10-foot-tall terror birds with beaks that sliced flesh
• 1.5-ton elephant birds that lived on Madagascar and laid eggs the size of footballs
• Pelagornithid seabirds with 20-foot wingspans
• A ferocious Jamaican ibis that used its wings as clubs to attack rivals
Yet, Brusatte also urges us to appreciate the extraordinariness of birds alive today – penguins that literally fly underwater, parrots that can mimic human speech and hummingbirds that hover mid-air and dive at 50 miles per hour.
A fascinating scientific history that unearths the origins of birds, The Story of Birds establishes the living legacy of this remarkable species.
448 pages, Hardcover
Published April 28, 2026
About the author
Steve Brusatte
20 books552 followersAuthor writes under the penname Stephen Brusatte as well.
Stephen Louis Brusatte (born April 24, 1984) is an American paleontologist and evolutionary biologist, who specializes in the anatomy and evolution of dinosaurs. He was educated at the University of Chicago for his BS degree, at the University of Bristol for his MSc on a Marshall Scholarship, and finally at the Columbia University for MPhil and PhD. He is currently a Reader in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Edinburgh. In addition to his scientific papers and technical monographs, his popular book Dinosaurs (2008) and the textbook Dinosaur Paleobiology (2012) earned him accolades, and he became the resident palaeontologist and scientific consultant for the BBC Earth and 20th Century Fox's 2013 film Walking With Dinosaurs, which is followed by his popular book Walking with Dinosaurs Encyclopedia. His most recent book The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World (2018), written for the adult lay person, won widespread acclaim, and was a New York Times bestseller.
Stephen Louis Brusatte (born April 24, 1984) is an American paleontologist and evolutionary biologist, who specializes in the anatomy and evolution of dinosaurs. He was educated at the University of Chicago for his BS degree, at the University of Bristol for his MSc on a Marshall Scholarship, and finally at the Columbia University for MPhil and PhD. He is currently a Reader in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Edinburgh. In addition to his scientific papers and technical monographs, his popular book Dinosaurs (2008) and the textbook Dinosaur Paleobiology (2012) earned him accolades, and he became the resident palaeontologist and scientific consultant for the BBC Earth and 20th Century Fox's 2013 film Walking With Dinosaurs, which is followed by his popular book Walking with Dinosaurs Encyclopedia. His most recent book The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World (2018), written for the adult lay person, won widespread acclaim, and was a New York Times bestseller.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
May 28, 2026
Really hope he tackles Ancient Reptiles in one of his next books :)
Will re-visit via audiobook one day to properly learn how to pronounce all the names of the different types mentioned in the book, pretty sure I got most of em wrong haha but had fun trying to sound out the more complicated ones.
Dinosaurs are just so.. fascinating ya know?
Glad I took my time with this one and sad I'm done with it.
Highly recommend all his books 📚 👌.
Will re-visit via audiobook one day to properly learn how to pronounce all the names of the different types mentioned in the book, pretty sure I got most of em wrong haha but had fun trying to sound out the more complicated ones.
Dinosaurs are just so.. fascinating ya know?
Glad I took my time with this one and sad I'm done with it.
Highly recommend all his books 📚 👌.
June 21, 2026
With his April 2026 The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present author and palaeontologist Steve Brusatte academically soundly and thoroughly yet also readably points out that while many of us have generally been told both at school and later also at college or at university that there are no more dinosaurs, that ALL dinosaurs became extinct when that meteor slammed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico 66 million years ago, this is indeed and in fact patently, is thus completely untrue.
For Brusatte successfully (well, for me at least) shows and tells in The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present that one group of dinosaurs did in fact survive the K-T Boundary mass extinction event, as birds are actually to be considered dinosaurs (and not just closely related), that even today, birds are, that they should be seen as being the latter and how among the diverse dinosaur groups of the Jurassic and the Cretaceous were small, agile theropods, were feathered hunters which ran on two legs and possessed sharp senses, lightweight bones and increasingly birdlike features, that over millions of years, some of these dinosaurs also evolved feathers not merely for warmth or display, but eventually also for gliding and for flight, finally becoming class aves (birds), but that according to Steve Brusatte in The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present class aves is, birds are thus and basically the one group of dinosaurs that managed to survive the mass global extinction at the end of the Cretaceous to evolve and also to thrive.
And yes, in The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present, the fossil record (naturally so for a palaeontologist) serves as Brusatte’s both textual and also as his visual guide, with him pointing out discoveries from places such as Liaoning, China, where spectacular fossils of feathered dinosaurs have been unearthed, preserving impressions of plumage in stone (how dinosaurs themselves, how creatures once imagined as being reptilian, scaly and sluggish now tend to be considered as something vibrant, feathered, dynamic and also not inherently cold but often indeed warm blooded) and that transitional species such as for example Archaeopteryx reveal an evolutionary mixture (with teeth and claws like a dinosaur but feathers and wings like a bird).
So what emerges from Brusatte’s narrative in The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present is a profound as well as a totally delightful and also absolutely believable shift in perspective (and one that I for one am also more than ready and willing to wholly, absolutely believe) where birds are for Steve Brusatte (and actually not just for him either and in fact for many of today's top palaeontologists) not anymore simply related to and the descendants of dinosaurs in the same manner that we humans are descended from ancient mammals, but instead that birds both now and then are still and today bona fide, are actual dinosaurs, that they are the modern and surviving dinosaur branch that survived while and when all the other great dinosaur lineages perished in and because of the catastrophe (the meteor strike and its aftermath) which ended the Cretaceous (and that therefore all dinosaurs are according to The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present not extinct and indeed never have been extinct, that ONLY the non-avian dinosaurs perished en masse and completely while some if not even many of the avian dinosaurs survived, endured, adapted and eventually diversified into the many thousands of bird species we know of and encounter today).
Now some more critical reviews of The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present seem to find the prose a trifle too colourful, overly popularised (in other words not academic enough) and argue that Brusatte occasionally also anthropomorphises extinct animals. But no, no, no, for me, how Steve Brusatte with The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present shows and tells about the evolution and the history of birds (from the Jurassic until today) readably and without too much scientific jargon, this indeed and definitely makes The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present not only interesting and enlightening, it also makes The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present suitable for readers without an advanced, university level STEM background (that indeed, even teenaged readers with an interest in biology, palaeontology, evolution, dinosaurs, birds etc. should in my humble opinion be able to find The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present enjoyable and satisfying and especially so if they read and textually explore The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present in short and thus also manageable, easy to verbally digest chunks).
And for me, the only reason why my rating for The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present is four and not five stars is that I do wish Brusatte's sources could be a bit more user friendly, since for me, an itemised list of book titles would definitely be considerably more supplemental research friendly (as having the book titles Steven Brusatte features and profiles in his notes for The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present kind of in my humble opinion be hidden there or at least appear as a bit hard to easily find has definitely been more than a trifle textually frustrating and that the notes for The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present and how they appear and are presented are as such also the only part of Brusatte's text I have not totally and utterly enjoyed).
For Brusatte successfully (well, for me at least) shows and tells in The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present that one group of dinosaurs did in fact survive the K-T Boundary mass extinction event, as birds are actually to be considered dinosaurs (and not just closely related), that even today, birds are, that they should be seen as being the latter and how among the diverse dinosaur groups of the Jurassic and the Cretaceous were small, agile theropods, were feathered hunters which ran on two legs and possessed sharp senses, lightweight bones and increasingly birdlike features, that over millions of years, some of these dinosaurs also evolved feathers not merely for warmth or display, but eventually also for gliding and for flight, finally becoming class aves (birds), but that according to Steve Brusatte in The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present class aves is, birds are thus and basically the one group of dinosaurs that managed to survive the mass global extinction at the end of the Cretaceous to evolve and also to thrive.
And yes, in The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present, the fossil record (naturally so for a palaeontologist) serves as Brusatte’s both textual and also as his visual guide, with him pointing out discoveries from places such as Liaoning, China, where spectacular fossils of feathered dinosaurs have been unearthed, preserving impressions of plumage in stone (how dinosaurs themselves, how creatures once imagined as being reptilian, scaly and sluggish now tend to be considered as something vibrant, feathered, dynamic and also not inherently cold but often indeed warm blooded) and that transitional species such as for example Archaeopteryx reveal an evolutionary mixture (with teeth and claws like a dinosaur but feathers and wings like a bird).
So what emerges from Brusatte’s narrative in The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present is a profound as well as a totally delightful and also absolutely believable shift in perspective (and one that I for one am also more than ready and willing to wholly, absolutely believe) where birds are for Steve Brusatte (and actually not just for him either and in fact for many of today's top palaeontologists) not anymore simply related to and the descendants of dinosaurs in the same manner that we humans are descended from ancient mammals, but instead that birds both now and then are still and today bona fide, are actual dinosaurs, that they are the modern and surviving dinosaur branch that survived while and when all the other great dinosaur lineages perished in and because of the catastrophe (the meteor strike and its aftermath) which ended the Cretaceous (and that therefore all dinosaurs are according to The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present not extinct and indeed never have been extinct, that ONLY the non-avian dinosaurs perished en masse and completely while some if not even many of the avian dinosaurs survived, endured, adapted and eventually diversified into the many thousands of bird species we know of and encounter today).
Now some more critical reviews of The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present seem to find the prose a trifle too colourful, overly popularised (in other words not academic enough) and argue that Brusatte occasionally also anthropomorphises extinct animals. But no, no, no, for me, how Steve Brusatte with The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present shows and tells about the evolution and the history of birds (from the Jurassic until today) readably and without too much scientific jargon, this indeed and definitely makes The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present not only interesting and enlightening, it also makes The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present suitable for readers without an advanced, university level STEM background (that indeed, even teenaged readers with an interest in biology, palaeontology, evolution, dinosaurs, birds etc. should in my humble opinion be able to find The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present enjoyable and satisfying and especially so if they read and textually explore The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present in short and thus also manageable, easy to verbally digest chunks).
And for me, the only reason why my rating for The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present is four and not five stars is that I do wish Brusatte's sources could be a bit more user friendly, since for me, an itemised list of book titles would definitely be considerably more supplemental research friendly (as having the book titles Steven Brusatte features and profiles in his notes for The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present kind of in my humble opinion be hidden there or at least appear as a bit hard to easily find has definitely been more than a trifle textually frustrating and that the notes for The Story of Birds: A New History from their Dinosaur Origins to the Present and how they appear and are presented are as such also the only part of Brusatte's text I have not totally and utterly enjoyed).
June 2, 2026
I’m gonna be thinking about this book for the rest of my life. Superb.
June 14, 2026
Slowly morphing into a birdwatcher
May 14, 2026
★★★★★ A Great Read for Anyone Who Loves Dinosaurs, Evolution, and Birds
As someone who has loved dinosaurs and evolutionary science since I was a kid, this book was exactly the kind of read I hoped it would be. It does a really good job of showing just how fascinating birds are once you stop seeing them as “just birds” and start seeing them as living dinosaurs.
What I appreciated most was how practical and readable it was. The explanations of feather evolution, theropod dinosaurs, survival after the extinction event, and how birds adapted into so many forms over millions of years were genuinely interesting without being mentally exhausting.
If you enjoy paleontology, evolution, natural history, or just learning how the world got to be the way it is, this is worth picking up. It feels written by someone who genuinely cares about the subject and wants readers to share in that fascination. Definitely one of the better books I’ve read on the topic. (And I've read a few)
As someone who has loved dinosaurs and evolutionary science since I was a kid, this book was exactly the kind of read I hoped it would be. It does a really good job of showing just how fascinating birds are once you stop seeing them as “just birds” and start seeing them as living dinosaurs.
What I appreciated most was how practical and readable it was. The explanations of feather evolution, theropod dinosaurs, survival after the extinction event, and how birds adapted into so many forms over millions of years were genuinely interesting without being mentally exhausting.
If you enjoy paleontology, evolution, natural history, or just learning how the world got to be the way it is, this is worth picking up. It feels written by someone who genuinely cares about the subject and wants readers to share in that fascination. Definitely one of the better books I’ve read on the topic. (And I've read a few)
June 18, 2026
Steve Brusatte has done it again. I will read anything he writes as he is able to beautifully illustrate the latest discoveries in paleontology with prose so vivid that I'm completely immersed.The prose in the book is wonderfully balanced with explanations on the science, weaving through the author's field experience and history of various discoveries. More than once during this read did I find myself watching the birds through the window into my backyard, getting emotional thinking about how the dinosaurs I loved so much as a child were here all along in another form.
June 4, 2026
HELL 👏 YEAH 👏
this book taught me SO MUCH and I was GRIPPED the entire time!!! I love birds!!!! Read this book!!!
this book taught me SO MUCH and I was GRIPPED the entire time!!! I love birds!!!! Read this book!!!
May 14, 2026
I really enjoyed this book! I thought The Story of Birds was well-formatted, as it starts with more ancient birds and the foundations of theories surrounding bird-dinosaur evolution before transitioning into describing the lives of more modern extinct birds and birds that exist today. As someone who does not know much about dinosaurs and their timeline on Earth, I thought Brusatte did an excellent job of giving great context as the book progressed. I was not inundated with information, but I felt confident in my understanding.
I was happy to listen to the audiobook by HarperAudio. I thought the narration was expressive and easy to follow. I've heard Steve Brusatte on radio interviews before, and it really struck me how similar his delivery is to the narrator of this book, Patrick Lawlor.
Thanks to Netgalley and HarperAudio!
I was happy to listen to the audiobook by HarperAudio. I thought the narration was expressive and easy to follow. I've heard Steve Brusatte on radio interviews before, and it really struck me how similar his delivery is to the narrator of this book, Patrick Lawlor.
Thanks to Netgalley and HarperAudio!
May 31, 2026
I’ve read Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs and Rise and Reign of the Mammals several times over the years because I just love them that much and find them so easily accessible and engaging, and the author’s latest book will certainly be one I intend to re-read in the future.
The Story of Birds is understandably broad in scope, tracing the history of the avian family all the way from their origins (or what we know of their origins so far), 150 million years ago with the feathered masterpiece Archaeopteryx, up until the present day, where birds are now facing their biggest threat (making us, shamefully, worse than the dinosaur-killing asteroid).
Honestly, Brusatte just has this magic knack for engaging you in a subject that, at first glance, might seem impenetrable and complex. I’m no scientist, and only really read about dinosaurs and prehistory and biology for fun, but I find his books so incredibly easy to fall into. He explains things in ways that are neither patronising nor overly academic, ensuring the average reader grasps things like how we can count the number of neurons in an animal’s brain, how we’re able to tell what colour an extinct bird’s feathers were, and what significance bone structure has on bird classification.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the broad strokes used to chart this 250 million year journey. By focusing on smaller examples within each chapter, Brusatte is able to provide a bigger picture by building up a layer of smaller ones. For example, chapter 4 covers the time period immediately before the End Cretaceous mass extinction of 66 million years ago, when birds had already diversified from dinosaurs. He uses Vegavis (a duck-like bird that lived in Cretaceous Antarctica just before the asteroid) as an example of an animal suited to its environment, which then allowed him to explore how Cretaceous Antarctica wasn’t the blasted snowscape we know it as today, because the climate was markedly different back then. He then explored how the skull shape and the formation of the palette resulted in birds losing their teeth. From this, we then learn that birds do retain this tooth-growing gene, but to activate it in bird embryos is fatal.
And every chapter is like this, using one example as a launchpad for various other intricate, interesting pitstops on the incredibly colourful journey of birds from their humble origins to their insane diversity of today.
I probably don’t apprecaite birds as much as I do dinosaurs or prehistoric mammals, but this book has thoroughly convinced me that I should start taking more of an interest.
Even if you have only a passing interest in the topic of birds, I seriously cannot recommend this one enough.
The Story of Birds is understandably broad in scope, tracing the history of the avian family all the way from their origins (or what we know of their origins so far), 150 million years ago with the feathered masterpiece Archaeopteryx, up until the present day, where birds are now facing their biggest threat (making us, shamefully, worse than the dinosaur-killing asteroid).
Honestly, Brusatte just has this magic knack for engaging you in a subject that, at first glance, might seem impenetrable and complex. I’m no scientist, and only really read about dinosaurs and prehistory and biology for fun, but I find his books so incredibly easy to fall into. He explains things in ways that are neither patronising nor overly academic, ensuring the average reader grasps things like how we can count the number of neurons in an animal’s brain, how we’re able to tell what colour an extinct bird’s feathers were, and what significance bone structure has on bird classification.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the broad strokes used to chart this 250 million year journey. By focusing on smaller examples within each chapter, Brusatte is able to provide a bigger picture by building up a layer of smaller ones. For example, chapter 4 covers the time period immediately before the End Cretaceous mass extinction of 66 million years ago, when birds had already diversified from dinosaurs. He uses Vegavis (a duck-like bird that lived in Cretaceous Antarctica just before the asteroid) as an example of an animal suited to its environment, which then allowed him to explore how Cretaceous Antarctica wasn’t the blasted snowscape we know it as today, because the climate was markedly different back then. He then explored how the skull shape and the formation of the palette resulted in birds losing their teeth. From this, we then learn that birds do retain this tooth-growing gene, but to activate it in bird embryos is fatal.
And every chapter is like this, using one example as a launchpad for various other intricate, interesting pitstops on the incredibly colourful journey of birds from their humble origins to their insane diversity of today.
I probably don’t apprecaite birds as much as I do dinosaurs or prehistoric mammals, but this book has thoroughly convinced me that I should start taking more of an interest.
Even if you have only a passing interest in the topic of birds, I seriously cannot recommend this one enough.
June 12, 2026
It is always such a pleasure to read something from Brusatte.
I have been in love with his books for a long time, and learning that he was about to drop a book about birds was very exciting to me, since I also love those avian hyperactive goobers.
Focusing less on the birds that are alive right now, The Story of Birds chronciles how they evolved from their dinosaur ancestors to what we see in the world today, in the meantime talking about topics such as when, why, and how feathers and flight evolved, or when, why and how some birds stopped flying. All the while, we get some examples of amazing bird creatures, but not too many so as to overwhelm the casual reader with namedropping (though I do think that Brusatte could've done with about 50 pages more, just to flesh out some background information).
I also have a few issues with his prose, as the book sometimes reads almost too casually. And, and this is the more important part, I did not enjoy that the book is a little speciecist when it comes to animals. While Brusatte is willing to accept how intelligent non-human animals are, he seems to be fine with zoos, and even eating them. He does not outright endorse the grisly practices of zoos and factory farming, but he uses analogies of chicken breast to illustrate which muscles help birds fly for instance (yes, he does later point out that humans bread them to be disablingly large in modern chickens), which just gave me an ick. I contrasted this with his portrayal of the extermination of the dodo, which he clearly does not endorse, and found it sadly lacking.
Overall, though, the book is highly informative as are the other two books of in the 'series', and I wonder where he will go next, or if there is even room for a next installment. And it made me appreciate a thing that I already loved even more.
I have been in love with his books for a long time, and learning that he was about to drop a book about birds was very exciting to me, since I also love those avian hyperactive goobers.
Focusing less on the birds that are alive right now, The Story of Birds chronciles how they evolved from their dinosaur ancestors to what we see in the world today, in the meantime talking about topics such as when, why, and how feathers and flight evolved, or when, why and how some birds stopped flying. All the while, we get some examples of amazing bird creatures, but not too many so as to overwhelm the casual reader with namedropping (though I do think that Brusatte could've done with about 50 pages more, just to flesh out some background information).
I also have a few issues with his prose, as the book sometimes reads almost too casually. And, and this is the more important part, I did not enjoy that the book is a little speciecist when it comes to animals. While Brusatte is willing to accept how intelligent non-human animals are, he seems to be fine with zoos, and even eating them. He does not outright endorse the grisly practices of zoos and factory farming, but he uses analogies of chicken breast to illustrate which muscles help birds fly for instance (yes, he does later point out that humans bread them to be disablingly large in modern chickens), which just gave me an ick. I contrasted this with his portrayal of the extermination of the dodo, which he clearly does not endorse, and found it sadly lacking.
Overall, though, the book is highly informative as are the other two books of in the 'series', and I wonder where he will go next, or if there is even room for a next installment. And it made me appreciate a thing that I already loved even more.
June 6, 2026
The Story of Birds by Steve Brusatte is an excellent look into one of the great families of animals; the birds. Brusatte charts their history from the Jurassic all the way to the present, detailing riveting species whilst also explaining how they came to be how they are.
I was a bit of a layman when it comes to post-Cretaceous bird evolution, and thus it was immensely enjoyable to learn more about these majestic animals. Brusatte does an excellent job in making these creatures sound extraordinary and his prose is fast and fun to read. Though not as ‘cool’ as his books on dinosaurs or even mammals, it is certainly as well-researched, and forms part of a growing log of one of the greatest popular palaeontology writers of our time.
I was a bit of a layman when it comes to post-Cretaceous bird evolution, and thus it was immensely enjoyable to learn more about these majestic animals. Brusatte does an excellent job in making these creatures sound extraordinary and his prose is fast and fun to read. Though not as ‘cool’ as his books on dinosaurs or even mammals, it is certainly as well-researched, and forms part of a growing log of one of the greatest popular palaeontology writers of our time.
June 3, 2026
I Will Read Any Book Steve Brusatte Writes
He has a way of keeping you engaged, always with the occasional joke thrown in. I always find myself laughing my way through chapters. I loved learning about all of the different bird species and their evolution. And while some of the scientific names tripped me up, I settled on the nicknames. Demon ducks, elephant birds..... and how the Dodo 🦤 got its name. It's no wonder that this book of birds and The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs are two of my favorites. I enjoyed the mammals as well, but not as much as the dinos and their descendants. I highly recommend this one. Especially to bird lovers.
He has a way of keeping you engaged, always with the occasional joke thrown in. I always find myself laughing my way through chapters. I loved learning about all of the different bird species and their evolution. And while some of the scientific names tripped me up, I settled on the nicknames. Demon ducks, elephant birds..... and how the Dodo 🦤 got its name. It's no wonder that this book of birds and The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs are two of my favorites. I enjoyed the mammals as well, but not as much as the dinos and their descendants. I highly recommend this one. Especially to bird lovers.
May 10, 2026
Really great. As usual, I particularly appreciated Brusatte's commitment to mentioning and talking about the ongoing work in the field, and the scientists who are leading it. It makes the book feel much more connected to the scientific world, and helps ground Brusatte, who is not a bird researcher, with the knowledge that he really is pulling from experts in the field. Full of unique and charming birds, and a careful examination of their dinosaur ancestry. I think I liked the mammals book a touch more, but this was a fun read.
June 14, 2026
What a stunning book. The writing is so captivating and feels akin to reading a drama. The evolution of birds is such a marvel, and is an incredible window into the lives of (other, more famous) dinosaurs, the fifth extinction, and the animal kingdom. As a novice birder, I am already so distracted by birds in the wild, but now after reading this book, I feel like I could stare at birds for an even longer time and never run out of things to appreciate about them.
June 5, 2026
A concise book about how birds have evolved into the myriad distinct branches we know them as today and also tracing their earliest lineages way back to the dinosaurs. Great informative book about said topic. Very precise and well explained science, written by a expert on the field, a real Paleontologist. I mean, it’s a book about the origins of birds need I say more?? I mean I may be a little biased since birds are one of my favourite topics. Still, go read it!
June 1, 2026
This book had me hooked from start to finish. I have an entirely new perspective when it comes to these amazing creatures. Such an informative and well written book that opens your eyes to the incredible evolutionary journey of birds.
June 7, 2026
Brusatte once again showcases his ability to merge nerdy with conversational. Spoiler alert: birds are living dinosaurs and feathers evolved before flight! Oh terror birds, demon ducks and giant penguins, we hardly knew ye.
May 15, 2026
Why did it ever have to end?
May 31, 2026
If my boy Steve Brusatte writes it, you know I’m gonna read it!
June 1, 2026
I love birds.
June 10, 2026
4.5 ⭐️
God damn Brusatte can write
God damn Brusatte can write
June 6, 2026
A fascinating examination of what we know about how dinosaurs transitioned to today's birds. Highly recommended.
May 23, 2026
The Story of Birds, A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present
Steve Brusatte, 2026
Flying is difficult. All creatures that fly must satisfy the requirements of flight. First, they must have a wing in the unique shape of an airfoil to provide lift. Secondly, they must have the ability to provide thrust to lift them off the ground and propel them through the air. Third, as they navigate the three dimensions of space, they must possess a flight control system that provides flight control and guidance. Fourth, they need navigational ability to find desired food sources, nesting places as well as long range flight guidance when migrating. Fifth, to maintain flight, birds, in many instances, require prodigious amounts of fuel or energy. This is obvious to anyone who has watched an airliner fill up their tanks with thousands of gallons of fuel before taking off. Birds, over tens of millions of years, through the creative genius of evolution have solved all these requirements. How did they accomplish these onerous requirements and become one of the most successful species of animals on the face of the earth? The 10,000 different species of birds now extant habituate the ecosystems of all the continents, all the oceans of the earth. Some, such as Penguins, have even repurposed their wings into paddles to fly through the water and habituate all the southern oceans and Antarctica. How and when did these amazing and ingenious adaptions come about? That is the subject of Steve Brusatte’s new book.
First, Brusatte takes us through an anatomical exploration of how birds do what they do. Most people when they carve a chicken or turkey are in effect doing a form of dissection of a bird or actually a dinosaur even though they don’t know the function of the various structures they are disassembling. For example, the breast of a bird, comprising over 20% of the mass, contains all the muscles required to maintain flight. The muscles connected to the breastbone or keel and to the bottom of the wing and are used for the power downstroke. The long thin muscles underneath the breast that connect to the top of the wing, or chicken tenders, as one might know them, are used for the upstroke. Then there is the gizzard, usually packed separately by the store, which has the function of masticating raw food before it enters the stomach. Birds require this because they have a beak with no teeth. You may have noticed if you cut a bone in two that a bird’s bones are hollow. The function of this adaptation is to minimize weight and the pull of gravity while in the air. Then there is the crop which is food reservoir connected to and in addition to the digestive system, the stomach and intestines, to maximize flight distances, in essence a lunch to go. To maximize fuel burning, in addition to the lungs, birds also have air sacs which enable their lungs to absorb air both when inhaling but also when exhaling thus furthering increased combustion and available energy. How did birds develop the ability to sing complex, beautiful songs? Brusatte explains:
“Nestled inside the bones, where the neck meets the chest, is a series of hardened rings stacked together…, a syrinx, the unusual vocal organ of birds… The syrinx is unique to birds. It is an instrument that produces their signature sound and incredible vocal range…Because the syrinx is situated where the lung divides, it is often capable of making two different sounds—of distinct tone and pitch—at the same time. It is the bird equivalent of speaking English and French simultaneously. That would be jarring, so a better analogy is with a folk artist who sings and plays guitar, the music so much richer than either instrument or a cappella performance on their own.”
Birds are smart and certain types like corvids and parrots are some of the smartest creatures on earth. How do they do that with such small brains as compared with other mammal species. Brusatte has an interesting analogy comparing neurons in a bird’s brain to transistors in an iPhone with those in an old PC: “Pound for pound they have more cognitive power than mammals, or indeed, any other animal. Their computer chips may be small, but they have crammed more transistors onto them, and those transistors are more efficient. Bird neurons use three times less energy than mammal neurons, perhaps because bird neurons are crowded so tightly that they can more easily communicate with each other.”
To understand where birds come from Brusatte takes us back 150 million years to the Jurassic Period when a dinosaur cousin lived and when feathers first came into being. Apparently in the beginning feathers originally evolved to serve as insulation for species of warm-blooded dinosaurs. They apparently also had a secondary purpose of colorful plumage in sexual selection much as they are used by many species of male birds today. The Velociraptors incorrectly portrayed in Jurassic Park in reality had colorful feathered plumage and were the ancient ancestors of modern birds which are in fact dinosaurs. The first really flight capable birds evolved during the Cretaceous period, 95 million years ago, by evolving their wings with feathers with short leading edges and long trailing edges shaped like airfoils. Birds during this period were minor players, understudies to the pervasive rulers of the day, the dinosaurs. They didn’t come into their own until after the great Cretaceous extinction 66 million years ago. The great age of birds started after 95% of life on earth was extinguished by a catastrophic meteor collision. Birds survived the catastrophe by their ability to move fast over large distances. Vast new areas of the ecosystem were then wide open for exploitation and the surviving bird species as well as the tiny surviving mammals were in a perfect position to exploit the opportunities. One of those was the evolution during the Cretaceous of the Angiosperms or flowering and fruiting plants and trees. Birds were in a perfect position to exploit these resources because they could fly, habituate the trees, eat the fruit, seeds and vegetables as well as fly to, new areas, distant forests to exploit new resources. They could also fill the niches left open by the extinction of carnivorous dinosaurs and become the top predators for millions of years before mammals could become viable competitors. It was in the Paleocene and Eocene periods that birds reigned supreme and reached gigantic sizes with some flight ready soaring species attaining wing spans of 25 feet. Some land-based species which had repurposed their wings and lost the ability to fly attained heights of over 15 feet. Brusatte provides details of extinct species of predator most people have never heard of called the Terror Bird, 12 feet tall with a murderous two-foot hooked bill and giant hooked talons. An interesting aside that I didn’t know: the New Zealand of today is just a tiny remaining remnant of a lost continent, Zealandia, which was the size of Australia and harbored numerous species of giant birds some such as the Moa, a twelve foot monster, which only became extinct 400 years ago when Maori people arrived on the island and hunted it to extinction.
Birds domesticated by us feed us in the billions. The most successful bird today is the chicken with an estimated population of over 26 billion. 65 billion are slaughtered every year and we eat their eggs, 70 million tons every year. As with domesticated birds, wild birds are all around us. You don’t have to go on a long journey to see them, and they exemplify all that is glorious and miraculous in the world. Read this book and you will never think about birds in the same way again. JACK 5/16/26
Steve Brusatte, 2026
Flying is difficult. All creatures that fly must satisfy the requirements of flight. First, they must have a wing in the unique shape of an airfoil to provide lift. Secondly, they must have the ability to provide thrust to lift them off the ground and propel them through the air. Third, as they navigate the three dimensions of space, they must possess a flight control system that provides flight control and guidance. Fourth, they need navigational ability to find desired food sources, nesting places as well as long range flight guidance when migrating. Fifth, to maintain flight, birds, in many instances, require prodigious amounts of fuel or energy. This is obvious to anyone who has watched an airliner fill up their tanks with thousands of gallons of fuel before taking off. Birds, over tens of millions of years, through the creative genius of evolution have solved all these requirements. How did they accomplish these onerous requirements and become one of the most successful species of animals on the face of the earth? The 10,000 different species of birds now extant habituate the ecosystems of all the continents, all the oceans of the earth. Some, such as Penguins, have even repurposed their wings into paddles to fly through the water and habituate all the southern oceans and Antarctica. How and when did these amazing and ingenious adaptions come about? That is the subject of Steve Brusatte’s new book.
First, Brusatte takes us through an anatomical exploration of how birds do what they do. Most people when they carve a chicken or turkey are in effect doing a form of dissection of a bird or actually a dinosaur even though they don’t know the function of the various structures they are disassembling. For example, the breast of a bird, comprising over 20% of the mass, contains all the muscles required to maintain flight. The muscles connected to the breastbone or keel and to the bottom of the wing and are used for the power downstroke. The long thin muscles underneath the breast that connect to the top of the wing, or chicken tenders, as one might know them, are used for the upstroke. Then there is the gizzard, usually packed separately by the store, which has the function of masticating raw food before it enters the stomach. Birds require this because they have a beak with no teeth. You may have noticed if you cut a bone in two that a bird’s bones are hollow. The function of this adaptation is to minimize weight and the pull of gravity while in the air. Then there is the crop which is food reservoir connected to and in addition to the digestive system, the stomach and intestines, to maximize flight distances, in essence a lunch to go. To maximize fuel burning, in addition to the lungs, birds also have air sacs which enable their lungs to absorb air both when inhaling but also when exhaling thus furthering increased combustion and available energy. How did birds develop the ability to sing complex, beautiful songs? Brusatte explains:
“Nestled inside the bones, where the neck meets the chest, is a series of hardened rings stacked together…, a syrinx, the unusual vocal organ of birds… The syrinx is unique to birds. It is an instrument that produces their signature sound and incredible vocal range…Because the syrinx is situated where the lung divides, it is often capable of making two different sounds—of distinct tone and pitch—at the same time. It is the bird equivalent of speaking English and French simultaneously. That would be jarring, so a better analogy is with a folk artist who sings and plays guitar, the music so much richer than either instrument or a cappella performance on their own.”
Birds are smart and certain types like corvids and parrots are some of the smartest creatures on earth. How do they do that with such small brains as compared with other mammal species. Brusatte has an interesting analogy comparing neurons in a bird’s brain to transistors in an iPhone with those in an old PC: “Pound for pound they have more cognitive power than mammals, or indeed, any other animal. Their computer chips may be small, but they have crammed more transistors onto them, and those transistors are more efficient. Bird neurons use three times less energy than mammal neurons, perhaps because bird neurons are crowded so tightly that they can more easily communicate with each other.”
To understand where birds come from Brusatte takes us back 150 million years to the Jurassic Period when a dinosaur cousin lived and when feathers first came into being. Apparently in the beginning feathers originally evolved to serve as insulation for species of warm-blooded dinosaurs. They apparently also had a secondary purpose of colorful plumage in sexual selection much as they are used by many species of male birds today. The Velociraptors incorrectly portrayed in Jurassic Park in reality had colorful feathered plumage and were the ancient ancestors of modern birds which are in fact dinosaurs. The first really flight capable birds evolved during the Cretaceous period, 95 million years ago, by evolving their wings with feathers with short leading edges and long trailing edges shaped like airfoils. Birds during this period were minor players, understudies to the pervasive rulers of the day, the dinosaurs. They didn’t come into their own until after the great Cretaceous extinction 66 million years ago. The great age of birds started after 95% of life on earth was extinguished by a catastrophic meteor collision. Birds survived the catastrophe by their ability to move fast over large distances. Vast new areas of the ecosystem were then wide open for exploitation and the surviving bird species as well as the tiny surviving mammals were in a perfect position to exploit the opportunities. One of those was the evolution during the Cretaceous of the Angiosperms or flowering and fruiting plants and trees. Birds were in a perfect position to exploit these resources because they could fly, habituate the trees, eat the fruit, seeds and vegetables as well as fly to, new areas, distant forests to exploit new resources. They could also fill the niches left open by the extinction of carnivorous dinosaurs and become the top predators for millions of years before mammals could become viable competitors. It was in the Paleocene and Eocene periods that birds reigned supreme and reached gigantic sizes with some flight ready soaring species attaining wing spans of 25 feet. Some land-based species which had repurposed their wings and lost the ability to fly attained heights of over 15 feet. Brusatte provides details of extinct species of predator most people have never heard of called the Terror Bird, 12 feet tall with a murderous two-foot hooked bill and giant hooked talons. An interesting aside that I didn’t know: the New Zealand of today is just a tiny remaining remnant of a lost continent, Zealandia, which was the size of Australia and harbored numerous species of giant birds some such as the Moa, a twelve foot monster, which only became extinct 400 years ago when Maori people arrived on the island and hunted it to extinction.
Birds domesticated by us feed us in the billions. The most successful bird today is the chicken with an estimated population of over 26 billion. 65 billion are slaughtered every year and we eat their eggs, 70 million tons every year. As with domesticated birds, wild birds are all around us. You don’t have to go on a long journey to see them, and they exemplify all that is glorious and miraculous in the world. Read this book and you will never think about birds in the same way again. JACK 5/16/26
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
If you’ve read The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, you already know that Steve Brusatte has a gift for making paleontological history feel vivid, accessible, and exciting. That book is one of my favorite nonfiction reads, so I went into The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present with high expectations, and it definitely delivered.
This isn’t just a book about modern birds. It’s really the story of how birds came to be, told through a paleontologist’s lens. Brusatte blends his own field experiences with decades of research - from both fossil records and modern bird studies - to trace the full evolutionary journey from dinosaurs to the birds we know today.
He starts at the beginning, when scientists first began connecting birds to dinosaurs, and walks us through the big evolutionary questions: which dinosaurs were relatives to birds, which ones were the missing link in the evolutionary chain, how feathers and wings developed, whether early species could actually fly, when beaks appeared, and what other traits began to emerge that we now associate with birds. It’s such a fascinating look at how gradual (and sometimes strange) evolution really is.
One of the most compelling parts is how birds made it through the asteroid extinction event 66 million years ago, and then absolutely thrived in the aftermath. Brusatte shows how quickly they diversified and spread across the globe, in many ways outpacing mammals during that period. He also dives into unique evolutionary paths, like flightless birds (penguins, ostriches, and others), and explores why losing flight later on actually made sense in certain environments.
A standout for me was the chapter on bizarre and extinct bird species - some of which I knew very little about. Honestly, a few of them were more unsettling than their dinosaur relatives, which I was not expecting.
He then brings things back to the present, touching on how birds are still evolving today, and ends with a sobering reminder: many bird species are now facing another potential mass extinction event - this time caused by us.
Like his previous books, Brusatte’s writing is incredibly readable without ever feeling oversimplified. It’s packed with information but never overwhelming, and there’s even some humor sprinkled in (I definitely laughed at the cassowary joke - because yes, I've absolutely had a similar thought: they're just modern-day T. rexes with beaks).
Overall, this is a fascinating, well-paced, and highly engaging look at the evolution of birds - from their dinosaur origins all the way to the crows and songbirds we see today. If you’ve enjoyed Brusatte’s other work, or if you’re at all interested in evolution, dinosaurs, or birds, this is an easy recommendation.
And just in case it wasn’t clear enough already: birds are dinosaurs.
Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the ebook advanced reader's copy! All thoughts are my own.
This isn’t just a book about modern birds. It’s really the story of how birds came to be, told through a paleontologist’s lens. Brusatte blends his own field experiences with decades of research - from both fossil records and modern bird studies - to trace the full evolutionary journey from dinosaurs to the birds we know today.
He starts at the beginning, when scientists first began connecting birds to dinosaurs, and walks us through the big evolutionary questions: which dinosaurs were relatives to birds, which ones were the missing link in the evolutionary chain, how feathers and wings developed, whether early species could actually fly, when beaks appeared, and what other traits began to emerge that we now associate with birds. It’s such a fascinating look at how gradual (and sometimes strange) evolution really is.
One of the most compelling parts is how birds made it through the asteroid extinction event 66 million years ago, and then absolutely thrived in the aftermath. Brusatte shows how quickly they diversified and spread across the globe, in many ways outpacing mammals during that period. He also dives into unique evolutionary paths, like flightless birds (penguins, ostriches, and others), and explores why losing flight later on actually made sense in certain environments.
A standout for me was the chapter on bizarre and extinct bird species - some of which I knew very little about. Honestly, a few of them were more unsettling than their dinosaur relatives, which I was not expecting.
He then brings things back to the present, touching on how birds are still evolving today, and ends with a sobering reminder: many bird species are now facing another potential mass extinction event - this time caused by us.
Like his previous books, Brusatte’s writing is incredibly readable without ever feeling oversimplified. It’s packed with information but never overwhelming, and there’s even some humor sprinkled in (I definitely laughed at the cassowary joke - because yes, I've absolutely had a similar thought: they're just modern-day T. rexes with beaks).
Overall, this is a fascinating, well-paced, and highly engaging look at the evolution of birds - from their dinosaur origins all the way to the crows and songbirds we see today. If you’ve enjoyed Brusatte’s other work, or if you’re at all interested in evolution, dinosaurs, or birds, this is an easy recommendation.
And just in case it wasn’t clear enough already: birds are dinosaurs.
Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the ebook advanced reader's copy! All thoughts are my own.
June 21, 2026
This excellent book is a must for anyone who, like me, is interested in both birds and evolution. Brusatte does a great job of explaining - clearly, fully and convincingly - the story of the evolution of birds from their origins 150 million years ago to today. I found particularly interesting the sections which covered the following:
(1) Birds are dinosaurs. To be precise, they are “avian dinosaurs” which first evolved from a sub-group of theropod dinosaurs. They are therefore the only surviving branch of the dinosaurian section of the evolutionary tree. The extinct dinosaurs that we are all familiar with are now officially classed as “non-avian dinosaurs”. (Charles Darwin’s “bulldog”, Thomas Henry Huxley, was the first to make the connection between dinosaurs and birds.)
(2) Birds are also reptiles. Dinosaurs evolved as part of the reptilian family tree. So birds are also part of that broader section of the tree of life. Incidentally, pterosaurs were NOT dinosaurs. They are on a separate branch of the reptile family tree, and their wings were made of skin, not feathers.
(3) Several types of dinosaurs developed feathers. The first feathers were probably simple, hair-like strands which might have served as sensory devices, like a cat’s whiskers. Then complex feathers developed because they served for insulation. Then the feathers were grouped together as wings – but initially for display purposes. Finally, those wings were adapted to enable flight.
(4) Birds like Archaeopteryx appeared long before the mass extinction (caused by an asteroid collision) which wiped out all the non-avian dinosaurs and pterosaurs 66 million years ago. So, early birds were flying around over the heads of dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex for millions of years. That asteroid also wiped out a lot of bird species. But some birds survived, and were then able to fill many of the vacant niches left by the extinct dinosaurs. (As did the mammals which survived.)
And there is more than this in the book. We also meet birds which have dispensed with flight; extinct “terror birds”; Dodos; Darwin’s finches; intelligent crows; and much more.
There are just two minor things about the book which annoyed me. Firstly, there are the chatty anecdotes. For example, the book starts with four pages describing how a friend of the author was dive-bombed by a gull. And I really don’t need to know about a colleague’s “sardonic British humor contrasting with my American boisterousness.”
Secondly, the author several times creates imaginary scenes with prehistoric dinosaurs and birds. Some readers might like these. But for me, as with the anecdotes, I just felt like saying, “Please, just get on with the science.”
However, despite these two minor negatives, I’m giving the book five stars. I thoroughly recommend it.
(1) Birds are dinosaurs. To be precise, they are “avian dinosaurs” which first evolved from a sub-group of theropod dinosaurs. They are therefore the only surviving branch of the dinosaurian section of the evolutionary tree. The extinct dinosaurs that we are all familiar with are now officially classed as “non-avian dinosaurs”. (Charles Darwin’s “bulldog”, Thomas Henry Huxley, was the first to make the connection between dinosaurs and birds.)
(2) Birds are also reptiles. Dinosaurs evolved as part of the reptilian family tree. So birds are also part of that broader section of the tree of life. Incidentally, pterosaurs were NOT dinosaurs. They are on a separate branch of the reptile family tree, and their wings were made of skin, not feathers.
(3) Several types of dinosaurs developed feathers. The first feathers were probably simple, hair-like strands which might have served as sensory devices, like a cat’s whiskers. Then complex feathers developed because they served for insulation. Then the feathers were grouped together as wings – but initially for display purposes. Finally, those wings were adapted to enable flight.
(4) Birds like Archaeopteryx appeared long before the mass extinction (caused by an asteroid collision) which wiped out all the non-avian dinosaurs and pterosaurs 66 million years ago. So, early birds were flying around over the heads of dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex for millions of years. That asteroid also wiped out a lot of bird species. But some birds survived, and were then able to fill many of the vacant niches left by the extinct dinosaurs. (As did the mammals which survived.)
And there is more than this in the book. We also meet birds which have dispensed with flight; extinct “terror birds”; Dodos; Darwin’s finches; intelligent crows; and much more.
There are just two minor things about the book which annoyed me. Firstly, there are the chatty anecdotes. For example, the book starts with four pages describing how a friend of the author was dive-bombed by a gull. And I really don’t need to know about a colleague’s “sardonic British humor contrasting with my American boisterousness.”
Secondly, the author several times creates imaginary scenes with prehistoric dinosaurs and birds. Some readers might like these. But for me, as with the anecdotes, I just felt like saying, “Please, just get on with the science.”
However, despite these two minor negatives, I’m giving the book five stars. I thoroughly recommend it.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Steve Brusatte has once again written a fascinating book by utilizing his expertise in paleontology and evolutionary biology. Brusatte does for birds here what he did for dinosaurs in his first book, The Rise and the Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World.
In the prologue to The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present, Brusatte makes the bold statement that birds are dinosaurs, and he spends the rest of the book presenting all of the overwhelming evidence to support that birds evolved from their dinosaur ancestors. Most chapters begin with Brusatte setting the scene by describing an extinct bird in action, like Vegavis for instance. I loved how his descriptions set the tone for the subsequent chapter and drew you in to the story. I especially appreciated and enjoyed all of the photographs and illustrations peppered throughout the book; they elevated the reading experience. After reading The Story of Birds, I too want to see the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx. I cried when I visited the Royal Tyrell Museum in Alberta, so I can only imagine what it would be like to experience seeing the first bird in person.
After learning all about the evolution of birds, Brusatte brings you back down to earth in the epilogue with a sobering look at how innumerable species of birds are currently at risk of extinction like their dinosaur ancestors. However, modern birds aren't being threatened by a 6 mile wide asteroid; their lives are at risk due to us. I appreciated Brusatte's call to action. If anyone knows anything about extinction events, it's him.
Thank you to Mariner Books, Steve Brusatte, and NetGalley for the ebook advanced reader's copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own. The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present is set to be released on April 28, 2026.
In the prologue to The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present, Brusatte makes the bold statement that birds are dinosaurs, and he spends the rest of the book presenting all of the overwhelming evidence to support that birds evolved from their dinosaur ancestors. Most chapters begin with Brusatte setting the scene by describing an extinct bird in action, like Vegavis for instance. I loved how his descriptions set the tone for the subsequent chapter and drew you in to the story. I especially appreciated and enjoyed all of the photographs and illustrations peppered throughout the book; they elevated the reading experience. After reading The Story of Birds, I too want to see the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx. I cried when I visited the Royal Tyrell Museum in Alberta, so I can only imagine what it would be like to experience seeing the first bird in person.
After learning all about the evolution of birds, Brusatte brings you back down to earth in the epilogue with a sobering look at how innumerable species of birds are currently at risk of extinction like their dinosaur ancestors. However, modern birds aren't being threatened by a 6 mile wide asteroid; their lives are at risk due to us. I appreciated Brusatte's call to action. If anyone knows anything about extinction events, it's him.
Thank you to Mariner Books, Steve Brusatte, and NetGalley for the ebook advanced reader's copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own. The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present is set to be released on April 28, 2026.
May 29, 2026
Nothing fills me with appreciation for a group of animals faster than a Steve Brusatte pop-science paleo book—I think if he wrote a book about parasites, his narrative prose and evolutionary expoundings could make me feel wonder for ticks and leeches.
Suffice to say, an absolutely fantastic book. Packed with scientific facts in a well paced, digestible style that makes these animals palatable to anyone with an interest. While my background in paleontology (and within that, my research of K/Pg fossil birds) probably primed me better than most people to read this, I was still absolutely floored with how much I learned and how engaged I was.
When I met Dr. Brusatte at SVP in Birmingham this year I got to tell him how influential The Rise and Reign of the Mammals was to me; when he told me he was almost finished a bird book, I was immediately excited. If I had to pick a favorite chapter, it'd probably have to be 7, Birds Return to Earth.
This book does something remarkable: it presents birds, including the tiny songbirds, in the same splendor as the non-avian dinosaurs, and the megamammals of the Cenozoic; the craziest part? They deserve it. This book reminds us that in evolution, there are no "best animals," and that the smallest sparrow is as successful as the largest whale in evolutionary terms, and that every bird is part of a 150+ million year journey of unbroken winners, and survivors of the worst day this planet has ever seen.
This was my single most anticipated non-fiction read of the year, for good reason. This book has knocked my expectations out of the park again, and I've been enraptured by every bird call I've heard since starting this read. My only regret is that now it's over. Once I'm done reading Larramendi's new book, I'm procrastinating reading my sed/strat textbook.
Suffice to say, an absolutely fantastic book. Packed with scientific facts in a well paced, digestible style that makes these animals palatable to anyone with an interest. While my background in paleontology (and within that, my research of K/Pg fossil birds) probably primed me better than most people to read this, I was still absolutely floored with how much I learned and how engaged I was.
When I met Dr. Brusatte at SVP in Birmingham this year I got to tell him how influential The Rise and Reign of the Mammals was to me; when he told me he was almost finished a bird book, I was immediately excited. If I had to pick a favorite chapter, it'd probably have to be 7, Birds Return to Earth.
This book does something remarkable: it presents birds, including the tiny songbirds, in the same splendor as the non-avian dinosaurs, and the megamammals of the Cenozoic; the craziest part? They deserve it. This book reminds us that in evolution, there are no "best animals," and that the smallest sparrow is as successful as the largest whale in evolutionary terms, and that every bird is part of a 150+ million year journey of unbroken winners, and survivors of the worst day this planet has ever seen.
This was my single most anticipated non-fiction read of the year, for good reason. This book has knocked my expectations out of the park again, and I've been enraptured by every bird call I've heard since starting this read. My only regret is that now it's over. Once I'm done reading Larramendi's new book, I'm procrastinating reading my sed/strat textbook.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Brusatte is an excellent nonfiction writer. He balances the jargon-laced scientific stuff and the more narratively driven prose incredibly deftly, though he does occasionally veer toward the latter end of the spectrum. That's no criticism: there's no lack of the deep scientific talk in this book and given that we're talking about birds and not the much more charismatic dinosaurs (his bread and butter as a paleontologist), making the book more accessible is probably the right way to go.
The book starts strong with some of the earliest birds and the debate among paleontologists and biologists regarding birds' status as dinosaurs and the evidence that shows birds are literally dinosaurs. Brusatte's ability to tell a story really shines here and it was hard not to smile as I followed the author through some of his fun dramatizations. Unfortunately, somewhere toward the latter half of the book, we start to lose a little steam. There's a definite sag about two thirds of the way in, but a great section about corvids in particular really perked me right up and won my attention back.
What we're left with is an immensely enjoyable if imperfect bit of nonfiction. Perhaps more than any other academic author that I've read, Brusatte's enthusiasm for his subject and love of paleontology shines through in spades, calling to mind that professor whose lectures you never missed because they spoke with so much passion. I truly believe anybody can pick this up and find a lot to love. But if you're a bird lover or animal lover in general, this is a no-brainer.
The book starts strong with some of the earliest birds and the debate among paleontologists and biologists regarding birds' status as dinosaurs and the evidence that shows birds are literally dinosaurs. Brusatte's ability to tell a story really shines here and it was hard not to smile as I followed the author through some of his fun dramatizations. Unfortunately, somewhere toward the latter half of the book, we start to lose a little steam. There's a definite sag about two thirds of the way in, but a great section about corvids in particular really perked me right up and won my attention back.
What we're left with is an immensely enjoyable if imperfect bit of nonfiction. Perhaps more than any other academic author that I've read, Brusatte's enthusiasm for his subject and love of paleontology shines through in spades, calling to mind that professor whose lectures you never missed because they spoke with so much passion. I truly believe anybody can pick this up and find a lot to love. But if you're a bird lover or animal lover in general, this is a no-brainer.
May 2, 2026
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
The Story of Birds is a well written scientifically correct and exciting book about birds from the time of the dinosaurs to our current world, by paleontologist Dr. Steve Brusatte. Released 28th April 2026 by Harper Collins on their Mariner Books imprint, it's 448 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.
The author has a gift for making the ancient world accessible, engaging, and *real*. The animals he describes and the world which they inhabited are very easy to imagine (and often terrifying). This is a well organized and interesting timeline with a definite narrative thread. The author provides numerous visual aids along the way; timelines, resources, chapter notes, and an index.
Although written in accessible layman language, it's meticulously annotated, and the chapter notes are likely worth the price of the book.
Five stars. Well written and interesting. It would be an excellent choice for public and home library acquisition, gifting, or for a non-fiction palate cleanser book club discussion.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Story of Birds is a well written scientifically correct and exciting book about birds from the time of the dinosaurs to our current world, by paleontologist Dr. Steve Brusatte. Released 28th April 2026 by Harper Collins on their Mariner Books imprint, it's 448 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.
The author has a gift for making the ancient world accessible, engaging, and *real*. The animals he describes and the world which they inhabited are very easy to imagine (and often terrifying). This is a well organized and interesting timeline with a definite narrative thread. The author provides numerous visual aids along the way; timelines, resources, chapter notes, and an index.
Although written in accessible layman language, it's meticulously annotated, and the chapter notes are likely worth the price of the book.
Five stars. Well written and interesting. It would be an excellent choice for public and home library acquisition, gifting, or for a non-fiction palate cleanser book club discussion.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
June 18, 2026
When I was a kid, birds weren't dinosaurs! You youngsters have no idea how good you've got it. Imagine living in a world where dinosaurs were just extinct. Period. Pluto was a planet, hiccup was spelled hiccough, and all the gasoline had lead in it so brain damage would happen. And no dinosaurs.
This book is awesome. The world's the same, but Brusatte has reframed everything for me. There are twice as many bird species on the planet as there are mammal species. There are more individual birds than there are mammals. We're living in the age of dinosaurs, baby!
Let's protect them. We've driven hundreds of species extinct, and plenty more have had their populations reduced by a third or more. And, spoiler - it's not because of windmills. OK, about 1 in one thousand human-caused bird death is because of a windmill. But that is dwarfed by the number we kill by letting our cats kill them, by exposed elevated electric lines, by giant transparent windows, by poisoning their food sources (they eat the bugs and plants we like to kill) and by destroying habitat.
Imagine a world with no birds. It's a world with no dinosaurs! And I grew up in a world without dinosaurs! It sucked! Let's not go back there!
This book is awesome. The world's the same, but Brusatte has reframed everything for me. There are twice as many bird species on the planet as there are mammal species. There are more individual birds than there are mammals. We're living in the age of dinosaurs, baby!
Let's protect them. We've driven hundreds of species extinct, and plenty more have had their populations reduced by a third or more. And, spoiler - it's not because of windmills. OK, about 1 in one thousand human-caused bird death is because of a windmill. But that is dwarfed by the number we kill by letting our cats kill them, by exposed elevated electric lines, by giant transparent windows, by poisoning their food sources (they eat the bugs and plants we like to kill) and by destroying habitat.
Imagine a world with no birds. It's a world with no dinosaurs! And I grew up in a world without dinosaurs! It sucked! Let's not go back there!
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