Tag Archives: Mary Anning

#DinosaurDay 2025: The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black

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Now that I’m in my fifth year of reviewing some dinosaur non-fiction for #DinosaurDay, I’m honestly starting to run out of clever ways to introduce the holiday. It’s just a thing, ok?

For this year, I managed to get an ARC of a new entry in The Experiment Publishing‘s “The Shortest History” series titled The Shortest History of Dinosaurs: The 230-Million-Year Story of Their Time on Earth

(Ironically not in the running for shortest title of a Dinosaur History book lol)

The first thing I should probably answer about the book is whether or not it is literally the shortest history of dinosaurs. Unfortunately it is not. At 240 pages, two previous #DinosaurDay books are shorter with Kenneth Lacovara’s Why Dinosaurs Matter being just 192 pages, and Darren Naish’s Dinopedia: A Brief Compendium of Dinosaur Lore clocking in at 215 pages.

Oh well hahah.

The next thing this review should probably discuss is how this book reads, and if it is an enjoyable experience for any dinosaur enthusiasts. Thankfully, the answer to this next question, is yes, it’s good, and a great (and still pretty quick) starting place for budding dinosaur enthusiasts to get their foot in the door when learning about these incredible creatures.

Author Riley Black, describes the book in the Acknowledgements section as a sort of Dinosaurs 101 course, and to my limited knowledge (having never actually taken ANY courses on dinosaurs and just reading about them on my own), this book hits that target admirably well. Many of the dinosaur “basics” — such as the main clades and groups of dinosaurs, geologic time periods, the discovery of the Chicxulub crater and an appropriately tragic description of the K/T Extinction event which was the cause of the dinosaur’s demise — are weaved seamlessly into the various other sections of the book.

From past books I’ve read, it seems a lot of this information is accepted theory and not particularly new information in 2025 for any keeping even a loose track of things (like a post once a year on a blog lol), but for somebody coming across these topics for the first time, I would think that they are described well and are easy to grasp. I also feel that the sections on dinosaur pigment would be quite interesting to folks who are new to it, though of course the depth is not quite as much as a book like Remnants of Ancient Life.

What I enjoyed most about the book were the “new” (to me) topics which the (albeit limited) sources I’ve read previously either didn’t include, or I don’t remember them (obviously a very subjective thing). For me, those topics were: dinosaur eggs (that dinos laid a ton of them), parenting (or lack there of), and juvenile behavior (if parents were absent, they’d form small herds to try to stay alive and then break from the herd when they were older).

Also, the book briefly mentions some of the more prominent early female paleontologists such as Mary Anning, but also Elizabeth Philpot, and Mary Buckland who I have not seen mentioned before.

Where I wished the book would have spent some more time, was on discoveries (and dinosaurs) from other countries. Black’s book sticks primarily to North America, with a few exceptions for discoveries happening in China being the most memorable. Compare to Steve Brusatte’s The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs which takes us to various places around the globe — such as Poland, Argentina, and Scotland — and the book feels a bit limited. However, Brusatte’s book is much, much longer, so I suppose it makes sense.

Finally, the book spends a good amount of time attempting to dismantle a few preconceived notions about dinosaurs . . . to varying success. Arguments that iconic battles scenes, promoted when dinosaur science was still burgeoning, between Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex, or Ankylosaurus and T.Rex, are not supported by the fossil record, and that marks on the actual fossils suggest that Trikes and Ankies probably used their formidable armaments to fight each other not predators, is interesting and pretty well defended.

However, other arguments like Deinonychus NOT hunting in packs, and the multiple skeletons found around larger prey explained by the animals just independently finding the dead animal and scavenging it, do not feel as well defended within this text (although sources are provided at the end).

Finally, a recurring theme presented within this work is that dinosaurs did not “rule the earth” as commonly heard in dino media, but that they were just another part of a vast and complicated ecosystem which contained mammals, birds (avian dinosaurs) and crocodilian reptiles all at once. I have no arguments against this point, it just seemed strange that a book ABOUT dinosaurs would work so hard to convince us that dinosaurs aren’t all that special.

Give “The Shortest History of Dinosaurs” a Read?

Yup! Especially if you’re new to the subject, and want to get a quick and easy version of the sort of “current state” of things. I especially enjoyed learning about various dinosaur’s (lack of) parenting techniques, their nests and eggs, and how they behaved at various stages of their lives. I would have liked to see a bit more from other countries, but I can understand why the focus remained mostly on North America.

Overall I thought this addition to the Short History series was very quick and approachable, and you better believe I scoped out a few other titles in the series which I hope I get a chance to pick up (looking at you: Short History of Music).

That’s all I have for this time. As I always like to ask, which dinosaur is your favorite? Are there any interesting dinosaur facts which surprise you? Or are different from when you were a kid? What other “Short History of” subjects would you read? Which one should I review next?

Leave your thoughts in the comments. I look forward to talking about this one!

And happy #DinosaurDay! and watch for #JurassicJune posts coming up. There’s a new Jurassic Park coming out in July so I may try to just binge all the movies this month. Stay tuned!

Celebrating #DinosaurDay with a Review of Why Dinosaurs Matter

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Oooh

So apparently June 1st is #DinosaurDay. I’m not really sure how one celebrates this holiday . . . but I’m going to celebrate it by posting a book review because that’s pretty much what I do here on this blog.

Anyway, moving right into then, this book was interesting to me for several reasons, the first being it was a TED Talk. I haven’t actually watched Hunting For Dinosaurs Showed Me Our Place in the Universe yet, as I didn’t want to get the book and the video confused if there were subtle differences. I’ll probably watch it after this.

The second being its author, Kenneth Lacovara. His name sounded super familiar to me, but I couldn’t figure it out. Turns out he was part of the team that discovered Paralititan Stromeri which I’d done some research on for my WIP. The story of this awesome dino is written about in a book called The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt, which I started, but ultimately never finished and had to return. There’s apparently a documentary by the same title which is only two hours so . . . maybe I’ll watch that instead.

So was this book any good? Do Dinosaurs actually matter? The short answer to both is yes; the book was good, and dinosaurs matter, although I’m dubious that the book actually proves this.

What I enjoyed most about the book, was that it explained (in simple terms) some basic concepts that I’ve felt were necessary to understand when doing research about dinosaurs, such as what is considered a dino, and why (apparently it has something to do with their hip bones). He talks briefly about how the classification of dinosaurs works and which recognizable dinos go in each classification. Sauropods have long necks, while Therapods are the big Carnivores. Ornithischia has the duckbills, horned dinos, and armored dinos etc.

I also enjoyed the parts in which Lacovara actually discusses some of the adaptations dinosaurs had, and why they helped them survive in the environment they lived in. If you were ever curious as to why a T-Rex has such short and stubby arms, then go ahead and read this book.

Another fun part of the book was learning about how some of the first dinosaurs were thought to have looked. We’ve come a long way in our understanding of some of these creatures. Apparently, the way to go further is 3D printed Dinosaur robots! (I picked the wrong career . . .)

My only dislike, was how much time was spent talking about the history of paleontology and the importance of the “deep time” perspective. He discusses how ancient and medieval civilizations, essentially didn’t have the tool set to make the discoveries that where made later on, once Darwin had published On the Origin of Species (though it is interesting that the author seems to celebrate Charles Lyell, and James Hutton as being the true pioneers that set up the ‘headspace’ for Darwin’s theories). In general, I felt it painted ancient peoples in a bad light while trying desperately to do the opposite.

I wondered if a few things in the book were in need of updating (this is copyrighted 2017). He briefly mentions Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus, but our understanding of that weird looking fellow seems to be changing constantly. Another thing that stood out to me, was that he whole heartedly references Mary Anning being the inspiration for the ‘she sells sea shells’ tongue twister (he even cites a New Scientist article). While I’m glad he talks about perhaps the first woman paleontologist in his book, I think it’s pretty unlikely the tongue twister is a reference to her. There’s actually quite a bit of evidence it’s not. I’ve requested the article he cites from the library, so perhaps I’ll do a follow up.

Conclusion?

In general, I greatly enjoyed this book. It was a quick read, and though the author can get long winded about a few things, his writing style is generally engaging, and it’s clear he’s VERY experienced with his subject matter. Perhaps my favorite parts were the ones in which the author actually talks about dinosaurs. He’s correct to think they’re fascinating, and I think this book is strongest when he focuses on the wonder they invoke and the reason for that wonder. The title asks if dinosaurs matter, to which I would say ‘who cares?’ We don’t need a reason to enjoy them as much as we do . . .

That’s all I have for this, thanks for reading and please leave some comments below if you thought the review was useful or even if you just wanna talk about dinos . . . I’m always up for that. Happy #DinosaurDay!