He makes up those words The rise and reign of the mammals correct. Brusatte, affiliated with the University of Edinburgh, is a great in his field and he can also write. In this book he crawls on his knees with colleagues through wet peat and piles of desert sand, discusses scientific insights and visually describes ‘what it must have been like’.
In the meantime, he manages to maintain the common thread: all those extinct mammals are family. They are hairy, they feed their children with breast milk and they are smart. Much smarter than dinosaurs. Brusatte explains how the earth changed, how species evolved, why they disappeared and why other species seem to have eternal life.
Such as humans, who are currently celebrating their two millionth birthday with the organization of the sixth mass extinction on this planet. Brusatte: ‘Now is not the best time to be a mammal.’ But they are survivors, he knows.
Steve Brusatte, The rise and reign of the mammalsAmbo Anthos, 580 p., 34.99 euros.
