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  • The Rise and Reign of the Mammals

  • A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
  • By: Steve Brusatte
  • Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
  • Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (127 ratings)
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The Rise and Reign of the Mammals

By: Steve Brusatte
Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
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Summary

The passing of the age of the dinosaurs allowed mammals to become ascendant. But mammals have a much deeper history. They—or, more precisely, we—originated around the same time as the dinosaurs, more than 200 million years ago; mammal roots lie even further back, some 325 million years.

Over these immense stretches of geological time, mammals developed their trademark features: hair, keen senses of smell and hearing, big brains and sharp intelligence, fast growth and warm-blooded metabolism, a distinctive line-up of teeth (canines, incisors, premolars, molars), mammary glands that mothers use to nourish their babies with milk, qualities that have underlain their success story.

Out of this long and rich evolutionary history came the mammals of today, including our own species and our closest cousins. But today’s 6,000 mammal species—the egg-laying monotremes including the platypus, marsupials such as kangaroos and koalas that raise their tiny babies in pouches and placentals like us, who give birth to well-developed young—are simply the few survivors of a once verdant family tree, which has been pruned both by time and mass extinctions.

In The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, palaeontologist Steve Brusatte weaves together the history and evolution of our mammal forebears with stories of the scientists whose fieldwork and discoveries underlie our knowledge, both of iconic mammals like the mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers of which we have all heard, and of fascinating species that few of us are aware of.

For what we see today is but a very limited range of the mammals that have existed; in this fascinating and groundbreaking book, Steve Brusatte tells their—and our—story.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Steve Brusatte (P)2022 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Critic reviews

"Steve Brusatte, the author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, brings mammals out from the shadow of their more showy predecessors in a beautifully written book that...makes the case for them as creatures who are just as engaging as dinosaurs." (Sunday Times, Best Books For Summer)

"In this terrific new book, Steve Brusatte...brings well-known extinct species, the sabre-toothed tigers and the woolly mammoths, thrillingly back to life." (The Times)

What listeners say about The Rise and Reign of the Mammals

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not as accessible as his first book

I loved the author's first book on dinosaurs. Sadly, I found this book was a bit of a struggle. There seemed to me much more focus on the complex, technical and scientific detail and the research methods, and less focus on the animals themselves. Because of this, with some notable exceptions, I found that the author struggled to really impart the "Wow" factor of these animlas in the way that he did with the dinosaurs. Hoping for a more accessible third book.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

would have been good to have the extra material

very detailed account only marred by the absence of the pdf additional material promised in the first chapter, seems that audible didn't include this in their offering.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book

Excellent book with plenty of anecdotes to take us away from the science for a bit. Incredibly informative.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating journey of discovery

I knew little about mammalian evolution before I read this. Steve Brusatte tells the engaging story of mammals from unassuming little creatures in the late Carboniferous to the marvellous beasts of the present day, through their weathering of mass extintions, ice ages and fearsome dinosaurs. Absolutely rivetting. This book lived with me for days and still does. Thank you, Steve Brusatte!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book!

Really enjoyed listening to this history of mammals. Goes into the perfect amount of detail while maintaining entertainment throughout. Learnt a bunch in this book and now looking for other tutored by the sam me author

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Mind expanding book / well read / highly recommend

This is a fabulous book, which gives a sense of the epic survival and then triumph of the mammals as the world heats up, cools down, gets hit by asteroids and breaks apart. The time scale this all played out on is mind-bending. There is a good mix between the story of archaeological discoveries, and the science of mammals. The downsides are that there is no accompanying PDF that I could find and you do end up wanting to see pictures of some of the creatures (I bought the book to do this). Also, the names are difficult to remember and understand. But the author doesn't want to patronise us. If you want to understand the history of mammals, sorry kid, but you'll need to deal with some long words. Finally, the reading is excellent. The narrator really inhabits the authors words. Meaningfully improved the experience and stickability of the book. Read it!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great

Too good, very calming reading voice and well written. Written so everyone can understand if they want to

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A compelling account of us and our ancestors

A great book covering from the earliest forms of life right through to we modern mammals
A thought provoking history of where we and all animal forms were and what may become of our future.
I was really hooked on this audio book to such an extent I'm going to get the hardback copy to view the illustrations, which to me sounded really fantastic.
Well written and the narration was very compelling.
Couldn't wait for my private time in the evening to listen to each chapter.
Excellent is my opinion of this book.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I love the book but the narrator ruins it

Will ask about refunds

I previously read the book and absolutely loved both it and the previous title by the same author. I was hoping to listen to this on walks or cycling. But the thin tone of the narrator's and the way he puts emphasis in weird places completely ruined this for me. I want a deeper voice or even a female voice with a more neutral accent and warm tonal quality for audiobooks. l am sure he is a nice man but honestly I wish the author or anyone else had narrated this title. Very disappointed.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A mixed bag

Some really good bits, but I was put off by some odd turns of phrase - calling various extinct creatures hellish or ugly, lots of passages that suggested evolution was a conscious, planned choice on the part of the animals discussed, and various times human beliefs and opinions were attributed to long extinct creatures. Still worth a read, but decidedly strange in places.

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