First published 2026
Birds dominate our planet today with tens of billions of individuals across 14,000 species. Steve Brusatte explores how these creatures evolved from dinosaurs, developing feathers, wings, beaks, enlarged brains, sharp senses, and warm-blooded systems piece by piece over millions of years. He examines why birds alone survived the asteroid strike that killed other dinosaurs 66 million years ago, then rapidly diversified across the empty world. The book introduces extinct giants like 10-foot terror birds with flesh-slicing beaks, 1.5-ton elephant birds that laid football-sized eggs, seabirds with 20-foot wingspans, and a Jamaican ibis that clubbed rivals with its wings. Brusatte also celebrates living species like underwater-flying penguins, speech-mimicking parrots, and hummingbirds that hover and dive at 50 miles per hour. This scientific history reveals how fragile-seeming creatures with hollow bones conquered flight and shaped our modern world.
Genres: science, animals, natural-history, evolution, dinosaurs, non-fiction, biology, academic
Vibes: educational, informative, thought-provoking
448 pages · Hardcover · Mariner Books