The Rise and Reign of the Mammals

 This is a nice parallel to Brusatte's first book, Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. I like how they followed almost similar narrative arcs, while also having similar tones of voice and writing style. I don???t think I???ve ever picked up nonfiction books by the same author that felt so naturally connected as these two do, and it was kind of pleasant to get to experience that here. The same enthusiasm that Brusatte brought to his first book, along with the same respect for his predecessors, colleagues, and students in the field. Those two aspects are the best part of this book - along, of course, with the scientific rigor that Brusatte brings to the table while simultaneously making everything remarkably readable for the layperson. I will say though, that despite this feeling like a natural sequel to Rise and Fall, it doesn't have the same tone. Rise and Fall talks about dinosaurs and how they aren???t really dead: they???ve just evolved into birds, and so in a way, dinosaurs are still with us. This is a fantastic and wondrous line of thought, because isn???t it incredible to think that dinosaurs - which most people think of as long-dead animals (and most of them are) - to still be here with us, and moreover, to be creatures we encounter everyday, and even eat? This book, however, doesn't have that same triumphal feel– Actually, that's incorrect; it DOES have that feeling, especially during the first three-fourths of it, but as it progresses it becomes less triumphant and more solemn. Mammals were able to overcome the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, and they were able to survive the many climate change disasters that came after - but can they survive the current human-made climate crisis? Can we, for that matter? The title Rise and Reign of the Mammals is definitely apt, because mammals did manage to rise and reign over the Earth - us humans in particular. But every rise comes with a fall: just look at the dinosaurs.

This book does a good job of reminding the reader just what???s going to cause that fall, and how it might look like based on previously-explained extinction events. It's not all gloom-and-doom, of course: Brusatte is quick to remind the reader that, unlike previous climate change-caused extinction events, humans are actually in a position to do something about the current one, not least because we're the ones responsible for it. But even if we do manage that change, there is no denying that we've destroyed many species on the way to accomplishing it, and many more will probably die off along the way before this climate change crisis is finally manageable.  As I said, a rather somber ending, but an important one.