Review: “Rise and Reign of Mammals: A New History from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us” by Steve Brusatte
Who knew the world of mammals could be so interesting and diverse. Dr. Steve Brusatte’s Rise and Reign of Mammals: A New History from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us is an incredible introduction to the fascinating world of mammal evolution. Working from the very beginning of mammal evolution, during the time of the dinosaurs, until us, Homo sapiens. Brusatte’s elegant prose, witty fictional examples, and compelling details take an incredibly dense topic and make it digestible and engaging for geology students and nerds alike. I myself, coming from a background in anthropology, was familiar with some of the paleoanthropology sections of the book, but had zero understanding of how mammals evolved at all. This was awesome to be walked through from the earliest proto-mammals down the fossil record of how we got to the wonderful and diverse set of mammals that we see today.
Personally, for the nerd and closet geologist that I am, I loved this book. It was the perfect blend of science and story, coupled with reference material at the beginning, which I somehow missed until midway through the book… really helps keep some of the more complex minutia understandable. The beginning of the book is a little dense, and having only made it mid-way through Brusatte’s first book before folding to the weight of dinosaur evolution, I was cognitively more prepared for the complex scientific names and biological terminology than before. However, I was pleasantly surprised that even the most complicated evolutionary lineages and concepts, such as when mammals split off and truly became “mammals” were wonderfully walked through in detail, without getting lost in the weeds. Common in scientific books, I was prepared to have to do a significant amount of googling to understand what was going on, but Brusatte uses the more laid back prose that he writes in to allow breathing room for explanations and review of past material, to keep the reader engaged and on the same page.
I found that as the book went on it became more digestible and I found myself relying less on the reference material and more on my memory of what lineages were from where and who was evolving into what. This is a testament to the writing of Brusatte as I do not have a background in vertebrate paleontology or evolutionary biology, but I felt that I finished the book with a wonderful overview of the major lineages, when things were happening, and most importantly, the context in which it all was set. In my own research, I am particularly interested in ecology, so I was fascinated with the discussions of climate change, grass evolution, and the Carboniferous period that were all discussed throughout the novel. While the book is about mammal evolution, and certainly goes into great detail about different lines and evolutionary trends, like whales and manatees evolving from land creatures; Brusatte does an excellent job of maintaining the context of these changes at the forefront of his book. This ecological context not only provides insight into why certain changes in the fossil record and skeletons are happening, but also fascinating asides about the paleoecology and paleobotany during time.
Overall my favorite part of the book was the chapters on extreme mammals and ice age mammals, which touched on some really interesting ecology and mammal evolution. Focusing on glacial maximums, wooly mammoths, saber tooth tigers, and other famous mammals from pop culture. Additionally, these chapters were particularly interesting because the fossil record is particularly complete for these time periods. This allows for excellent fossil descriptions of evolution, such as the walking whales, as well as how mammoths, both wooly and columbian, evolved in different climatic niches. This excellent fossil record coupled with the DNA phylogeny paints an excellent picture of how mammals were evolving during these tumultuous climatic shifts as well as how megafauna and other bizarre creatures evolved and adapted to their environment.
Brusatte’s novel is an excellent introduction to mammal evolution and has given me a new appreciation for our place in the world and how incredible the different mammals that inhabit Earth are. Never again will I look at a whale or at a rocky canyon again because of the amazing evolution and history written within the rocks that cover our planet. The Rise and Reign of Mammals was an incredible book and I would highly recommend it to both science nerds and interested people looking for an engaging read about the awesome evolution of mammals.
