Occasionally I was overwhelmed with the sheer number of terms in this book, but the author did do a good job with making the book engaging.

From the parasites that fed on them, the their sex lives this book covers it all. The book touches upon various aspects of dinosaur life that I haven't encountered before.

For the study of a creature that lived millions of years ago the knowledge about them is constantly being updated as new discoveries are made. I did enjoy relived my childhood obsessions, and finding out what changed from when I was a child. The history we know went down one leg, but there was another possible outcome.

I like to think of these major events as what fantasy satirist Terry Pratchett once characterized as bifurcations in the trousers of time. But eventually this phase ended, and while I still enjoy learning about them, Brian Switek takes this obsession to a whole new level. My favorite movie was Land Before Time, I took out stacks of books from the library, pouring over them until I had every dinosaur memorized, and I collected figurines, from Brachiosaurus to Tyrannosaurus Rex.Īs I got older, my Dad took me to Dino Town, and to the exhibits when they were in town. I was one of those kids who was obsessed with dinosaurs. Endearing, surprising, and essential to our understanding of our own evolution and our place on Earth, My Beloved Brontosaurus is a book that dinosaur fans and anyone interested in scientific progress will cherish for years to come. With infectious enthusiasm, Switek questions what we’ve long held to be true about these beasts, weaving in stories from his obsession with dinosaurs, which started when he was just knee-high to a Stegosaurus. (And of course, on his journey, he celebrates the book’s titular hero, “ Brontosaurus”-who suffered a second extinction when we learned he never existed at all-as a symbol of scientific progress.) rex’s feather-laden body to just why dinosaurs vanished. Switek reunites us with these mysterious creatures as he visits desolate excavation sites and hallowed museum vaults, exploring everything from the sex life of Apatosaurus and T. Investigating the latest discoveries in paleontology, he breathes new life into old bones. In My Beloved Brontosaurus, the dinosaur fanatic Brian Switek enriches the childlike sense of wonder these amazing creatures instill in us. They loom over museum halls, thunder through movies, and are a fundamental part of our collective imagination. Dinosaurs, with their awe-inspiring size, terrifying claws and teeth, and otherworldly abilities, occupy a sacred place in our childhoods.

My Beloved Brontosaurus by Brian Switek