The Last Days of the Dinosaurs

I can't think of many things scarier than the K-Pg extinction. It's always been something that gives me chills to think about. Our brains aren't made to grasp an apocalypse on that scale, and what's always struck me is the absolute freak nature of it: if anything had gone slightly different the last 65 million years would be completely unrecognisable.

This was a really interesting book in detailing before and after the asteroid hit. The first third of the book paints a picture of Hell Creek in the days preceding the asteroid impact, while the remaining chapters detail the aftermath (one hour after impact, one year after impact, and so forth into a million years). While the main focus is on Hell Creek, each chapter also contains a section on a different area of the planet, showing the aftermath on a global scale.

It's quite a unique perspective as most books on dinosaurs mark the end of the Cretaceous as the end of the dinosaurs, while that's decidedly not true. This book not only talks about the avian dinosaur survivors, but also the impact this event had on marine reptiles, insects, flora and fauna as well as, of course, mammals.