Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Comets, Craters, Controversy, and the Last Days of the Dinosaurs

by James Lawrence Powell

What killed the dinosaurs? For more than a century, this question has been one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in science. But, in 1980, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez and his son, Walter, proposed a radical answer: 65 million years ago an asteroid or comet as big as Mt. Everest slammed into the earth, raising a dust cloud vast enough to cause mass extinction. A revolutionary idea that challenged the ice-age extinction theory, the asteroid-impact theory was scorned and derided by the science community. But after years of bitter debate and intense research, an astonishing discovery was made-an immense impact crater in the Yucatán Peninsula that was identified as Ground Zero. The Alvarezes had their proof. A dramatic scientific detective story, Night Comes to the Cretaceous is a brilliant example of science at work-in the trenches, complete with passionate struggles and occasional victories.

Genres: Science, History, Nonfiction, Dinosaurs, Biology, Geology, Natural History

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Dr. James L. Powell graduated from Berea College with a degree in Geology. He holds a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and taught Geology at Oberlin College for over 20 years.

He served as Acting President of Oberlin, President of Franklin and Marshall College, President of Reed College, President of the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, and President and Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.

Powell currently serves as Executive Director of the National Physical Science Consortium. Asteroid 1987 SH7 is named for him.

Reviews

[Zhelana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well. I almost put this book down several times and I am so glad I didn't! I mean, it started out painfully slowly and not written for a popular audience (no single opponent, just a generic "opponents" so no personality to these people other than "obstenent"). The premise of the first 150 pages is proving that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs, which, honestly, I've known since the mid 80s when I was 5 years old. I kept wondering why they bothered to write this book. Then I hit the last two chapters, and goodness! The surprises started hitting for the last 50 pages of this book and didn't stop. It's not just that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs, but asteroids hitting the planet at a predictable rate to within a million years regularly causing mass extinctions. And that has completely revolutionized geology as a field, and is kind of cool.

[Rui · Rating 4 out of 5]

History of the discovery of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, which is surprisingly recent (the theory was still controversial in the last two decades of the twenty century). Lots of story telling and drama, but it's the details of how we know what we know that were interesting to me.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good I've read it twice!! The author does an excellent job explaining the science behind the story of how Luis and Walter Alvarez came up with the theory about the end of the age of the dinosaurs and how they were able to prove it.

[R.L. Manson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very convincing compilation of the evidence that points to impact as the reason for the K-T extinction event. Fascinating story!

[Crbianfool · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read on the history of scientific acceptance of the pro-Impact KT extinction theory. Entertaining and informative.

[Ashley]

Rec'd by Jocelyn

[Anna]

i learned that u can b brave any time