The Story of Birds - by Steve Brusatte (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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 flesh1.5-ton elephant birds that lived on Madagascar and laid eggs the size of footballsPelagornithid seabirds with 20-foot wingspansA 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.

Review Quotes

"Brusatte's mastery of his field, formidable explanatory powers and engaging style have combined to produce a masterpiece of science writing." -- Washington Post

"[A] Jurassic blockbuster...A gripping read in the best traditions of popular science...Infectiously ebullient." -- The Observer (London)

"Fun-yet-magisterial...Brusatte has emerged as something of a star in the paleontology world. It helps that he's young, charismatic and has good writing chops." -- Globe and Mail (Toronto)