Like most kids, I went through a dinosaur phase, though perhaps somewhat less obsessively than some. I always have trouble picking favourites, so I can’t tell you I had a favourite dinosaur. What fascinated me, like so many I suspect, was their extinction. The idea that entire species can disappear—wow. The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs is Riley Black’s attempt to chronicle how these incredible animals evolved, how they lived for hundreds of millions of years, and then of course what happened at the end of the Cretaceous. While I was enamoured of Black’s earlier The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, this one, I am sad to say, felt like more of a slog. I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Though you would expect a history book to be chronological, Black actually chooses a more interesting method of organization. It’s loosely chronological but in a kind of parallel way, for there’s the chronology of the dinosaurs themselves and then the chronology of paleontology as a science. In some ways, the latter is more fascinating to me than the former! Black attempts to explore both of these chronologies, teaching us a little about the origins of her field while also exploring the earliest days of the dinosaurs. Where appropriate, she skips ahead or back through one or both of those timelines—but she makes sure we never get lost.

The best thing about this book is just how new it is! Most of us adults, I suspect, have an understanding of the dinosaurs mired in the blurry knowledge from our childhood, or perhaps from Jurassic Park. Although paleontologists were speculating about dinosaurs with feathers as early as the nineties (when I grew up), that didn’t filter into public consciousness for another ten years. I am aware of this development, but it isn’t a part of me. The same goes for the idea that birds are extant dinosaurs. (OK, OK, it’s more complicated than that, but I’m not the science writer here, just a humble book reviewer!)

Beyond confirming and explaining these new-yet-well-known facts, Black takes us through discoveries that are super fresh. We’re talking stuff from the 2020s, papers that have barely escaped preprint. We’ve learned a lot more about dinosaur youth, for example, by looking at what we have found in terms of eggs and fossilized babies. It was really fascinating to learn about possible social structures among different species of dinosaurs too. In this respect, The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs is worth your time, and it is why I would still recommend it despite my own disappointment.

So let’s talk about that for a moment … why did this book let me down? Honestly, I just thought it digressed a little too much into the technical and scientific for the type of popular science book I was hoping to read. This is not a book for someone who failed—or even someone who took but didn’t like—high school science. Black throws around vocabulary and ideas that require a certain level of grounding in biology. And look, I have that grounding, but sometimes I just want someone to explain things to me like I’m five, OK?

I realize “this book is too smart” is a weird criticism especially in this age of disinformation. Nevertheless, I can’t deny the overwhelming feeling I had as I sat on my deck reading it was—in my best Monty Python imitation—“Get on with it!” I’m as surprised as you are given how captivated I was by Black’s previous book, yet here we are.

Anyway, I don’t want to be overly harsh. I think a lot of people are going to like this book much more than I did, and I want that to happen. The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs brims with a bounty of information and ideas that I think are significant and fascinating. Before you dive in, however, just be prepared to work that brain a little harder.

At 229 pages this is most definitely not short, and it’s certainly not the shortest dinosaur book either. But gimmicky title aside, this is a solidly structured and informative history of dinosaurs.

Those who know the basics will find a lot here that is already familiar, but there’s plenty included even for those who are better informed on the topic. Despite the “short” schtick it’ also doesn’t feel like a quick read, as it’s quite dense. I don’t consider this a problem, but there are less demanding reads on the basics of dinosaurs that more accurately deliver what the “shortest history” books’ advertising implies they do. That didn’t matter to me but I imagine it will to some readers.

That said, this is fun and the tone is terrific, really approachable and readable without being dumbed down. A worthy read.

As an avid historical science fan, I’ve read many books detailing the formation of Earth from its earliest years to the extinction of the dinosaurs. A number of those books were written by Riley Black, and each one contributed significantly to my knowledge and understanding of mammals and dinosaurs. When I came across another Riley Black book, I knew I needed to read it. Perhaps my favorite part of this book is that it seemed to perfectly summarize many of the topics and work from her previous books, while also still introducing new and exciting materials. The subjects are organized well, and the materials have been presented almost conversationally, allowing readers with various levels of dinosaur knowledge to enjoy this book. It is one I would recommend to my friends and family as a great introduction to the topic and history of dinosaurs.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Riley Black for an Advanced Readers Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was good! and a great (and pretty quick) starting place for budding dinosaur enthusiasts to get their foot in the door when learning about these incredible creatures.

Author Riley Black, describes the book in the Acknowledgements section as a sort of Dinosaurs 101 course, and to my limited knowledge (having never actually taken ANY courses on dinosaurs and just reading about them on my own), this book hits that target admirably well. Many of the dinosaur “basics” — such as the main clades and groups of dinosaurs, geologic time periods, the discovery of the Chicxulub crater and an appropriately tragic description of the K/T Extinction event which was the cause of the dinosaur’s demise — are weaved seamlessly into the various other sections of the book.

From past books I’ve read, it seems a lot of this information is accepted theory and not particularly new information in 2025 for any keeping even a loose track of things (like a post once a year on a blog lol), but for somebody coming across these topics for the first time, I would think that they are described well and are easy to grasp. I also feel that the sections on dinosaur pigment would be quite interesting to folks who are new to it, though of course the depth is not quite as much as a book like Remnants of Ancient Life.

What I enjoyed most about the book were the “new” (to me) topics which the (albeit limited) sources I’ve read previously either didn’t include, or I don’t remember them (obviously a very subjective thing). For me, those topics were: dinosaur eggs (that dinos laid a ton of them), parenting (or lack there of), and juvenile behavior (if parents were absent, they’d form small herds to try to stay alive and then break from the herd when they were older).

Also, the book briefly mentions some of the more prominent early female paleontologists such as Mary Anning, but also Elizabeth Philpot, and Mary Buckland who I have not seen mentioned before.

Where I wished the book would have spent some more time, was on discoveries (and dinosaurs) from other countries. Black’s book sticks primarily to North America, with a few exceptions for discoveries happening in China being the most memorable. Compare to Steve Brusatte’s The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs which takes us to various places around the globe — such as Poland, Argentina, and Scotland — and the book feels a bit limited. However, Brusatte’s book is much, much longer, so I suppose it makes sense.

Finally, the book spends a good amount of time attempting to dismantle a few preconceived notions about dinosaurs . . . to varying success. Arguments that iconic battles scenes, promoted when dinosaur science was still burgeoning, between Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex, or Ankylosaurus and T.Rex, are not supported by the fossil record, and that marks on the actual fossils suggest that Trikes and Ankies probably used their formidable armaments to fight each other not predators, is interesting and pretty well defended.

However, other arguments like Deinonychus NOT hunting in packs, and the multiple skeletons found around larger prey explained by the animals just independently finding the dead animal and scavenging it, do not feel as well defended within this text (although sources are provided at the end).

Finally, a recurring theme presented within this work is that dinosaurs did not “rule the earth” as commonly heard in dino media, but that they were just another part of a vast and complicated ecosystem which contained mammals, birds (avian dinosaurs) and crocodilian reptiles all at once. I have no arguments against this point, it just seemed strange that a book ABOUT dinosaurs would work so hard to convince us that dinosaurs aren’t all that special.

This book was interesting and informative. I found the material to not be too dense in terms of writing. Good for anyone who likes paleontology.

As a bone-ified (I refuse to apologize) dinosaur lover growing up, this was a pleasant review/relearning of the basics that I had definitely not forgotten. So many things have changed about what we know about the dinosaurs since I was a child! This book should possibly be required reading for all adults of Millennial age and older.

This book presents a brief history of dinosaurs, spanning 230 million years, from their humble beginnings to their global dominance and eventual extinction. It details key evolutionary developments and explores the diverse environments they inhabited.

I suspect that the less the reader knows about dinosaurs, the more they’ll enjoy the book. Easy to read and understand, it’s rich with interesting and sometimes surprising information. While I’ve read a fair number of books on dinosaurs, I learned a few things. I like that the book is up-to-date with the latest research.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I love learning about dinosaurs and the newest theories and discoveries. This book was just what I was looking for! It was well written and understandable for non-scientists. I enjoyed reading this. Not too short, not too long.

I did not think I was going to love this book as much as I did! Growing up, I was never really a huge fan of dinosaurs like other people were and I didn’t really know much about them at all. I was interested in learning more about dinosaurs and how they lived millions of years ago and I am so glad I got the chance to read this book by Riley Black. I love how this book was written; it was so easy to understand and the author did a great job thoroughly explaining dinosaurs and what we know about them so far, which isn’t very much compared to how much there is still left to learn. The book is very succinct and I did not find the text to be bogged down with technical terms. I learned so much about dinosaurs including how some of them became fossils when they died and how researchers were able to learn more about their social behaviors, along with the different types of dinosaurs there were. I really appreciate how accessible the author made the research literature about dinosaurs to us readers. I think this is an amazing book for those of us who want to learn more about dinosaurs but do not know where to start.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I was never a dinosaur fan-closest I got was the over-the-top enthusiam that my son showed when he was 5 and I bought him dino bedding. But this book absolutely changed my mind-I now even know how to tell a saurischian from an ornithischian (hint its the position of their pubic bones.) Black has written many books on these creatures from millions of years ago, but this is her first stab at "Dinosaurs 101," and it is full of information that you never would have thought about. For example, herbivores ate small animals, and carnivores chomped on vegetation (and often, each other.) The reason birds might have lasted through the asteroid that wiped most of the life from our planet, was because some developed beaks and could eat nuts and seeds that were still on the ground. The horns and protuberances on some of the dinosaurs weren't just armor but probably served to help find mates. Dinosaurs were so prevelant because they hatched from eggs, so some of them had a chance to survive before becoming dino snacks. Baby dinosaurs were often small and cute until age 10, when they started to grow to a size that assured them of not becoming T. Rex's next meal. And the probability of bones becoming fossils, itself is very low, due to the conditions under which they form. There is so much more in this book to chew on, and many references to other sources that can help further your knowledge.
So I ask, why should little kids have all the fun of discovering dinosaurs-I look forward to making the trip to the Natural History Museum and standing in awe at all of ths disappeared life-read this book and come with me!

Excellent and succinct history of dinosaurs. Not too tecnical—it is perfect for a lay reader. Enjoyed it a lot.