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2nd out of 44 books
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14 voters
T. Rex and the Crater of Doom
Sixty-five million years ago a gigantic comet or asteroid as big as Mount Everest slammed into the Yucatan Peninsula, creating an explosion on impact equivalent to the detonation of a hundred million hydrogen bombs. It produced a cloud of roiling debris that blackened the sky for months as well as other geologic disasters--and triggered the demise of Tyrannosaurus rex.
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Paperback, 208 pages
Published
July 28th 1998
by Vintage
(first published 1997)
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Walter Alvarez's purpose in writing T. Rex and the Crater of Doom was to inform. He states his and his colleagues' theories, failed or otherwise, in an attempt to show their thought processes. It is written in an entertaining fashion to be more interesting, but its main purpose is to inform. Alvarez is telling his story of the dinosaurs' extinction.
The theme of this book is simply the theory it is trying to prove. A giant meteor struck the Yucatan Peninsula around 150 million years ago, causing...more
The theme of this book is simply the theory it is trying to prove. A giant meteor struck the Yucatan Peninsula around 150 million years ago, causing...more
I love the cover to this book. I didn't love the material inside the book nearly as much, but it was still pretty interesting.
A bunch of years ago the dinosaurs had a really bad day when a meteor or comet the size of Los Angeles crashed into Mexico and killed them all off, except for the ones that were on Noah's Ark, and the still existing dinosaurs that live in Loch Ness and Lake Champlain, called Nessy and Champy respectively. Those facts aren't in this book. But you learn a lot about rocks a...more
A bunch of years ago the dinosaurs had a really bad day when a meteor or comet the size of Los Angeles crashed into Mexico and killed them all off, except for the ones that were on Noah's Ark, and the still existing dinosaurs that live in Loch Ness and Lake Champlain, called Nessy and Champy respectively. Those facts aren't in this book. But you learn a lot about rocks a...more
9 likes · like · see review
Despite its rather sensationalistic title, ‘T. Rex and the Crater of Doom’ provides a very nice overview of the asteroid impact which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs (and other species) 65 million years ago. It also describes the scientific investigation which led up to the theory’s development and the subsequent search for the impact crater.
The book is written by Walter Alvarez, who along with his father (Nobel prize winning physicist Luis Alvarez) and 2 colleagues, came up with the ast...more
The book is written by Walter Alvarez, who along with his father (Nobel prize winning physicist Luis Alvarez) and 2 colleagues, came up with the ast...more
A well-written book by the geologist who led the discovery of the event that ended the age of dinosaurs. Álvarez explains a fair amount of geology along the way as he tells about the years of detective work spent searching for an explanation of the iridium content and other unusual features of the K-T boundary, a worldwide geological feature that has been known for close to 200 years and appears to precisely match the loss of the dinosaurs, ammonites, and myriad other species. His research event...more
Who could resist a title like this? It's an adventure story, perhaps even a bit of a detective tale (well, investigative, anyway), with plenty of scientific detail but not enough to make my eyes glaze over. Excellent for readers like me - absolutely not scientifically oriented but fascinated nonetheless.
Usually a book like this would be painful to read like most science related books are. I mean I'm a geology/paleo major but lets face it most science related books are not a fun read. But this book I'm glad to say is very well written, and full of fun factual goodies. It goes through the whole 10 year discovery of the reasons for the K/T extinction. If you are interested in the extinction of the dinosaurs or any of earths extinctions I highly recomend reading this book. It gave me a whole new in...more
like "lucy" by johansen, this book gives a clear and engaging account of what scientists know of a popular field of study. in this case the meteor that smacked into the yucatan triggering the "kt" species extinction. a good read.
I chose this to read because the author is in Margie's department at Cal and I wondered if a laywoman could understand it (or get past the first page). It turned out to be a convincing record of the research done to explain the sudden extinction of dinosaurs globally. Alvarez names EVERY scientist who contributed or was consulted and seemed thrilled by the collegiality that followed. He was also impressed by the cooperation of say, physicists and geologists. I felt that Alvarez really wanted me...more
As the first geology book I've read, I found it quite interesting -- even if I wasn't convinced that even with the qualification this sentence could possibly be true: "perhaps the discipline best prepared to lead science into the holistic world of the twenty-first century."
Part of what makes the book so interesting is that it takes you down the cul-de-sacs recounting the promising leads and techniques that did not pan out. The best chapter for this was
Part of what makes the book so interesting is that it takes you down the cul-de-sacs recounting the promising leads and techniques that did not pan out. The best chapter for this was
Dinófilos, este no es un libro para ustedes. En primer lugar no habla de los dinosaurios (y menos del tiranosaurio rex), sino del impacto de un asteroide en Chicxulub, península de Yucatán que causó su extinción.
Además, los muy fijados encontraran la portada del libro chocante por dos razones, primero no pone un T. Rex, sino un Tetanuro y, en segundo, porque no pone una imagen del impacto del meteorito, sino de un volcán.
Esto de principio me causó una mala impresión del libro. Pero en realidad...more
Fascinating and not too technical account of how Alvarez and a large cast of other scientists came to suspect and then to prove that the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by the impact of a gigantic meteor onto the Yucatan Peninsula. Fun watching the sausages get made: the wrong hypotheses and experimental mistakes, the collaborations and feuds, accidental discoveries and dogged searches, and how very important relationships between scientists are to sparking that Aha Moment. He is almost c...more
always been interested in geology and here's a sleuthing tale of a geologist and his peers searching for clues to what happened at the k-t boundary, and finding a massive hidden crater in the yucatan. the so-called alvarez hypothesis.
now there's still talk of the deccan traps related volcano causing it, and that whole story also sounds plausible.
all good sciencing and argumenting. the dartmouth dino death debate indeed.
oh, the k-t boundary? am i not quite the smarty pants? am i not?
now there's still talk of the deccan traps related volcano causing it, and that whole story also sounds plausible.
all good sciencing and argumenting. the dartmouth dino death debate indeed.
oh, the k-t boundary? am i not quite the smarty pants? am i not?
I feel like I didn't do this book justice. Have I forgotten how to read nonfiction, how to take my time instead of whizzing through and getting the big picture?
I know I got impatient and missed a few details. But once the book shifted from background information (a little plodding, a little daunting) to mounting discoveries about the crater... then things got much more fun. Kinda like CSI: Paleontology! Much more my speed.
Still, it reminds me that I don't read enough nonfiction, and that I've be...more
I know I got impatient and missed a few details. But once the book shifted from background information (a little plodding, a little daunting) to mounting discoveries about the crater... then things got much more fun. Kinda like CSI: Paleontology! Much more my speed.
Still, it reminds me that I don't read enough nonfiction, and that I've be...more
Interesting read about the search for truth regarding the extinction of the dinosaurs. No previous knowledge of geology is required; this book reads more like a mystery than a science book, and portrays the story of the successful search for evidence to prove that the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a sudden meteoritic impact with Earth, rather than gradual climate change.
"T. rex and the Crater of Doom" is one of those science books that everyone should read. It's written in plain English and less than 150 pages of actual text. And yet you'll feel like you learned more in those 150 pages than you learned in any science class. Alvarez first describes the spectacularly violent impact that ended the Cretaceous and ushered in the Tertiary, and thus our very existence. Then he carefully but quickly explains how he and a group of international scientists pieced togethe...more
A very readable book about the comet/asteroid impact that brought an end to the Cretaceous Period and the age of dinosaurs on Earth. You don't have to be a scientist to understand the book. I found it to be a very interesting a readable book. It helps one understand the passage of time terms of millions of years rather than a human lifespan. The book explains how the scientists involved arrived at the understanding that a comet/asteroid impact led to the end of the Cretaceous Period. I highly re...more
The first chapter is (I believe) universally fascinating. After that, I suspect it's only interesting to science lovers. Even among that group, perhaps only geologists. I study Earth Science, and it took me a surprisingly long time to get through it. But man! That first chapter really rocked my world (bwahahahaha)!!!
This is a great book for anyone interested in how the Cretaceous extinction happened, and how we know. The author, Walter Alvarez, was one of the Alvarez team who developed and then proved that a meteor collided with the earth, killing the dinosaurs and most other organisms as well.
Apr 05, 2009
Valerie
added it
Walter Alvarez is a fairly eloquent writer (cf the title), and this is probably one of the main reasons his theory of extraterrestrial impactors has achieved such widespread acceptance. The book is clear and detailed, and that's necessary for educated laypersons.
Meh. Good for people who need basics explained, but not very interesting. The writing style also did not appeal to me. If you are at all interested in the impact extinction of the dinosaurs theory, this might interest you. Mr. Alvarez might want to consider not trying to write mysteries. I think had he not attempted to portray this in that manner, this book would have been a very interesting one, and would have remained in my library.
I was promised dinosaurs and I got only scientists searching for a buried crater. A word repeated thrice in a book does not its title make.
>The initial 50 pages or so are worth reading. For the rest, go watch some NatGeo doc.
>The initial 50 pages or so are worth reading. For the rest, go watch some NatGeo doc.
4 likes · like · see review
There was a lot of name-dropping, as this turned out to be more of a recent history book than an ancient history book. But the opening chapter describing the impact was interesting.
A nice little book about what we think happened to the dinosaurs and how we came to figure it out. Alvarez does a good job explaining the science without getting too technical.
1 like · like · see review
This was one of the 1998 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...
Un gran libro acerca del fatídico día del impacto que cambió el curso de la prehistoria de este planeta. EXTINCTION DAY HOLY CRAP.
A great read talking about the solution to one of the great mysteries that was floating around while we were growing up!
A bit silly, but contains some interesting stuff about the discovery of the K-T boundary, and related phenomena.
I would have liked more diagrams and geology detail, but it was a good, if brief, overview of the subject.
Walter Alvarez and his dad came up with the theory and then worked to find the evidence of the impact theory for the K-T mass exinction This book provides a step-by-step through that mystery - from dating fossils and layers, to the excess of iridium, to the discovery and confirmation of the Chicxulub impact site. In case you want to know what it was like for T. Rex, the first chapter provides a blow-by-blow of the object slamming into the earth, melting bedrock and changing the climate in one pu...more
The end of the Cretaceous and the origins of Chicxulub brilliantly imagined.
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May 11, 2013 10:41am