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Learn about prehistoric life
Do you find yourself wanting to be transported (but protected!) back to the days of the dinosaurs, or even earlier? Do you find yourself wondering what early humans and their ancestors must have been like? Then you should check out the books in this list and learn about pre-history.
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| 1 |
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The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
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4.21 avg rating — 38,929 ratings
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| 2 |
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Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
by
4.14 avg rating — 10,181 ratings
score: 692,
and
7 people voted
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| 3 |
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T. Rex and the Crater of Doom
by
4.04 avg rating — 1,996 ratings
score: 689,
and
7 people voted
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| 4 |
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The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
by
Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author)
4.14 avg rating — 28,498 ratings
score: 600,
and
6 people voted
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| 5 |
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Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution
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4.11 avg rating — 2,386 ratings
score: 588,
and
6 people voted
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| 6 |
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At the Water's Edge: Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea
by
Carl Zimmer (Goodreads Author)
4.08 avg rating — 2,095 ratings
score: 489,
and
5 people voted
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| 7 |
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Once & Future Giants: What Ice Age Extinctions Tell Us About the Fate of Earth's Largest Animals
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3.97 avg rating — 210 ratings
score: 398,
and
4 people voted
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| 8 |
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Dinosaurs Without Bones
by
Anthony J. Martin (Goodreads Author)
4.16 avg rating — 418 ratings
score: 298,
and
3 people voted
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| 9 |
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Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods
by
Danna Staaf (Goodreads Author)
4.08 avg rating — 1,539 ratings
score: 297,
and
3 people voted
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| 10 |
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Prehistoric Life: The Definitive Visual History of Life on Earth
by
4.52 avg rating — 606 ratings
score: 296,
and
3 people voted
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| 11 |
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When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time
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4.10 avg rating — 1,516 ratings
score: 291,
and
3 people voted
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| 12 |
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Weird Dinosaurs: The Strange new fossils challenging everything we thought we knew
by
John Pickrell (Goodreads Author)
4.10 avg rating — 280 ratings
score: 200,
and
2 people voted
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| 13 |
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Written in Stone: The Hidden Secrets of Fossils and the Story of Life on Earth
by
Brian Switek (Goodreads Author)
4.06 avg rating — 901 ratings
score: 198,
and
2 people voted
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| 13 |
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The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
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4.05 avg rating — 17,242 ratings
score: 198,
and
2 people voted
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| 13 |
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The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples
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4.10 avg rating — 927 ratings
score: 198,
and
2 people voted
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| 16 |
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Unearthing the Dragon
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3.67 avg rating — 39 ratings
score: 197,
and
2 people voted
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| 17 |
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Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters
by
4.12 avg rating — 3,164 ratings
score: 196,
and
2 people voted
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| 17 |
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My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs
by
Brian Switek (Goodreads Author)
3.94 avg rating — 1,627 ratings
score: 196,
and
2 people voted
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| 19 |
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The Evolution Underground: Burrows, Bunkers, and the Marvelous Subterranean World Beneath our Feet
by
Anthony J. Martin (Goodreads Author)
4.14 avg rating — 144 ratings
score: 195,
and
2 people voted
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| 20 |
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End of the Megafauna: The Fate of the World's Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals
by
3.97 avg rating — 547 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
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| 21 |
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A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Pithy Chapters
by
Henry Gee (Goodreads Author)
4.05 avg rating — 2,960 ratings
score: 193,
and
2 people voted
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| 22 |
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Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth
by
4.08 avg rating — 3,327 ratings
score: 189,
and
2 people voted
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| 23 |
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Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth's Last Dinosaur
by
Carl Safina (Goodreads Author)
4.26 avg rating — 925 ratings
score: 186,
and
2 people voted
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| 24 |
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The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code
by
Margalit Fox (Goodreads Author)
4.01 avg rating — 3,659 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 24 |
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Ask DG
by
Mark Miller (Goodreads Author)
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 24 |
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I Am God: World's Oldest Story
by
Rahul Badami (Goodreads Author)
3.93 avg rating — 29 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 24 |
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The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Roles of Women in Prehistory
by
3.80 avg rating — 341 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 24 |
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Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Life in the Triassic
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4.07 avg rating — 28 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 24 |
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Gorgon: The Monsters That Ruled the Planet Before Dinosaurs and How They Died in the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth's History
by
3.76 avg rating — 390 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 24 |
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'Dinosaurs' of the Deep: Discover Prehistoric Marine Life
by
Larry Verstraete (Goodreads Author)
4.12 avg rating — 8 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 24 |
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Rancho LA Brea: A Record of Pleistocene Life in California (Science Series, No 37)
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 24 |
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Why Dinosaurs Matter (TED Books)
by
Kenneth Lacovara (Goodreads Author)
3.95 avg rating — 913 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 24 |
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Extinctions: How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves
by
4.08 avg rating — 187 ratings
score: 100,
and
1 person voted
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| 34 |
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Raptor Island (Dinosaur George and the Paleonauts, #1)
by
Mark Miller (Goodreads Author)
4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 34 |
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Earth's Climate: Past and Future
by
4.07 avg rating — 115 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 34 |
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All About Dinosaurs
by
4.09 avg rating — 79 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 34 |
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The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives
by
4.43 avg rating — 175 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 34 |
|
Mammoths and Mastodons of the Ice Age
by
4.21 avg rating — 19 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 34 |
|
The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures
by
4.44 avg rating — 48 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 34 |
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Remarkable Creatures
by
Tracy Chevalier (Goodreads Author)
3.89 avg rating — 54,838 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 34 |
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The Future of Dinosaurs: What We Don't Know, What We Can, and What We'll Never Know
by
4.17 avg rating — 262 ratings
score: 99,
and
1 person voted
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| 42 |
|
Ask DG
by
Mark Miller (Goodreads Author)
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
score: 98,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 42 |
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Fossils
by
4.02 avg rating — 92 ratings
score: 98,
and
1 person voted
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| 42 |
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The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures: A Visual Who's Who of Prehistoric Life
by
4.51 avg rating — 111 ratings
score: 98,
and
1 person voted
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| 45 |
|
Evolution the Human Story
by
4.29 avg rating — 533 ratings
score: 97,
and
1 person voted
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| 45 |
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Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Comets, Craters, Controversy, and the Last Days of the Dinosaurs
by
4.14 avg rating — 65 ratings
score: 97,
and
1 person voted
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| 47 |
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Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution
by
4.08 avg rating — 1,367 ratings
score: 96,
and
1 person voted
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| 47 |
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The Life of a Fossil Hunter
by
3.91 avg rating — 154 ratings
score: 96,
and
1 person voted
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| 49 |
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The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People
by
4.20 avg rating — 933 ratings
score: 95,
and
1 person voted
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| 49 |
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The Sauropod Dinosaurs
by
4.62 avg rating — 42 ratings
score: 95,
and
1 person voted
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