The Last Days of the Dinosaurs

A lovely and worthy addition to a growing number of excellent layperson's paleontology books released in recent years. The Last Days of the Dinosaurs presents a series of fictionalized scenarios that immerse the reader in various points on the K–Pg extinction timeline. For instance, we follow a Tyrannosaurus specimen before the asteroid impact, then see the world through the perspective of an Edmontosaurus as the bolide hits the Yucatán peninsula, and so on and so forth. The style is reminiscent of a nature documentary, although Black certainly has her own style and tone; the text would feel incongruous if read by, say, David Attenborough. I do find it curious that Black is criticized in Goodreads reviews for employing a speculative, nature documentary-style approach, while other (excellent) authors such as Thomas Halliday are lauded for the same. Black does an excellent job in the appendix of explaining which parts of the book are near-certain and which are more speculative. Notably, the speculative elements are all relatively conservative.

Black weaves a narrative depicting the K–Pg event as not only a time of great destruction, but as a time of growth and recovery. Mammals, non-dinosaurian reptiles, cephalopods, plants, and algae do not go neglected in this telling of the story. While some of Black's prose could have undergone just a bit more revision, make no mistake that this is a worthwhile book that any paleontology fan will enjoy.