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The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs

The 230-Million-Year Story of Their Time on Earth
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Brief Description
The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs tells the 230-million-year epic of these staggeringly fascinating prehistoric creatures, covering their small beginnings, spectacular golden periods, and stunning evolutionary success—before an unthinkable asteroid event brought everything to a screeching halt. But this history digs deeper, using numerous recent fossil... Read More
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A highlight-reel history of the dinosaurs, told like never before—bringing their world to vivid life in a paleontological detective story 

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs tells the 230-million-year epic of these staggeringly fascinating prehistoric creatures, covering their small beginnings, spectacular golden periods, and stunning evolutionary success—before an unthinkable asteroid event brought everything to a screeching halt.

But this history digs deeper, using numerous recent fossil discoveries and fresh understandings of genetics and evolution to show how we’ve gleaned so much about a long-lost world from mere fragments of fossil.

Marshaling the evidence, award-winning author Riley Black reveals the startling relationships that dinosaurs shared with one another, the land they lived on, and other animal species. By conjuring a more complete picture of Earth in the age of the dinosaurs, she shows us how these massive monsters owe their rise to luck as much as to their cunning—and the many surprising ways they left an indelible mark on their dramatically changing world.

The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read.

Series: The Shortest History Series

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  • The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs
    The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs tells the 230-million-year epic of these staggeringly fascinating prehistoric creatures, covering their small beginnings, spectacular golden periods, and stunning evolutionary success—before an unthinkable asteroid event brought everything to a screeching halt. But this history digs deeper, using numerous recent fossil discoveries and fresh understandings of genetics and evolution to show how we’ve gleaned so...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • The Shortest History of Eugenics
    The Shortest History of Eugenics offers an accessible and engaging exploration of one of the most controversial scientific movements of the 20th century. Presented by Erik Peterson, this book traces the origins, development, and lasting impact of eugenics. The narrative begins with the creation of the concept by Sir Francis Galton in the late 19th century, capturing how eugenics gained...
    Paperback
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  • The Shortest History of Soccer
    How did a simple kicking game conquer the world? In this concise yet comprehensive history, sports historian Brian D. Bunk traces soccer’s unlikely, meteoric rise, showing how a pastime humbly rooted in English schoolyard contests grew to become the planet’s most popular sport. Today, soccer is a cultural and economic juggernaut: The World Cup, the sport’s crown jewel, is now...
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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9798893030563

Publisher: The Experiment LLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 10 June 2025

Country: United States

Imprint: The Experiment LLC

Illustration: Over 50 B&W images

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 18.0mm

Width: 132.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 218g

Pages: 240

About the Author

Riley Black is the award-winning author of more than ten books about fossils, evolution, and dinosaurs. Her latest, The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, won the AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books, and her follow-up When the Earth Was Green will be published in 2025 by St. Martin’s Press. When not penning books, Riley regularly writes about fossils for a variety of publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian, Slate, and more, with repeated appearances on radio and television programs such as All Things Considered, Science Friday, and NOVA. She has also acted as a science advisor on dinosaur projects for the Jurassic World franchise, and has given talks about the latest in paleontology at venues ranging from Yale University and the Houston Museum of Natural Science to the Tucson Festival of Books. She lives in Utah.

Also by Riley Black

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  • When the Earth Was Green
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    Fossils plants allow us to touch the lost worlds from billions of years of evolutionary backstory. Each petrified leaf and root shows us that dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, and even humans would not exist without the evolutionary efforts of their leafy counterparts. It has been the constant growth of plants that have allowed so many of our favourite, fascinating prehistoric creatures...
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  • Dinosaurs
    Who isn't fascinated by dinosaurs? These strange reptiles have awed us ever since their fossils were first identified as the bones of creatures from the distant past. For millions of years, dinosaurs ruled the prehistoric world. And now, millions of years after their mass extinction, they continue to rule our imaginations. But how did dinosaurs live, what did they eat,...
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