The Story of Birds An Evolutionary History of the Dinosaurs That Live Among Us

The Story of Birds: An Evolutionary History of the Dinosaurs That Live Among Us traces birds across more than 150 million years of evolutionary history. Paleontologist Steve Brusatte explains how small carnivorous dinosaurs developed feathers, wings, beaks, warm-blooded metabolisms, enlarged brains, and refined senses—ultimately becoming the birds that live alongside us today. The book explores the origin of flight, early bird groups, the extinction event 66 million years ago, and the reason birds were the only dinosaur lineage to survive it. It then follows their rapid diversification into more than 10,000 living species, from penguins and parrots to tool-using crows, while introducing remarkable extinct forms including giant terror birds, elephant birds, and long-winged seabirds.