Palaeontology

Palaeontology or paleontology (/ˌpeɪlɪɒnˈtɒlədʒi/, /ˌpeɪlɪənˈtɒlədʒi/ or /ˌpælɪɒnˈtɒlədʒi/, /ˌpælɪənˈtɒlədʒi/) is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene Epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments (their palaeoecology). Palaeontologist observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier's work on comparative anat ...more

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
Your Inner Fish: a Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
Dinosaurs Rediscovered: The Scientific Revolution in Paleontology (The Rediscovered Series)
Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds
Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World
Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution
Dinosaurs Without Bones
When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time
The Great Dinosaur Debate: New Theories Unlocking the Mystery of the Dinosaurs and Their Extinction
The Tyrannosaur Chronicles: The Biology of the Tyrant Dinosaurs
The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times
T. Rex and the Crater of Doom
Jurassic Park by Michael CrichtonThe Lost World by Michael CrichtonRaptor Red by Robert T. BakkerNoah Noasaurus by Elaine Kiely KearnsPredators of Eden by D.W. Vogel
Best Dinosaur Books
190 books — 318 voters
Chicken Frank, Dinosaur! by S.K. WengerThe Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara KerleyEncyclopedia Prehistorica by Robert SabudaDanny and the Dinosaur by Syd HoffA Night in the Dinosaur Graveyard by A.J. Wood
Picture Books About Dinosaurs
88 books — 18 voters

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy ChevalierMary Anning and the Sea Dragon by Jeannine AtkinsStone Girl, Bone Girl by Laurence AnholtMary Anning's Curiosity by Monica KullingHistory VIPs by Kay Barnham
Mary Anning - Fiction & Non-Fiction
18 books — 12 voters
The Origin of Species by Charles DarwinThe Selfish Gene by Richard DawkinsThe Greatest Show on Earth by Richard DawkinsWhy Evolution Is True by Jerry A. CoyneYour Inner Fish by Neil Shubin
Best Books on Evolution...
280 books — 219 voters


Steve Brusatte
After some of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth history desecrated ecosystems, dinosaurs became more diverse, more abundant, and larger. Completely new dinosaur species were evolving and spreading into new environments, while other groups of animals went extinct. As the world was going to hell, dinosaurs were thriving, somehow taking advantage of the chaos around them.
Steve Brusatte, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World

Steve Brusatte
It goes without saying, but T. rex was huge: adults were about forty-two feet (thirteen meters) long and weighed in the ballpark of seven or eight tons, based on those equations from a few chapters ago, which calculate body weight from the thickness of the thighbone. These proportions are off the charts for carnivorous dinosaurs. The rulers of the Jurassic—the Butcher Allosaurus, Torvosaurus, and their kin—got up to about thirty-three feet (ten meters) long and a few tons—monsters to be sure, bu ...more
Steve Brusatte, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World

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