The Extinction of Megafauna: Exploring the Disappearance of the World's Largest and Most Unique Animals

Kate Blacksmith: A fascinating and accessible examination of prehistoric mammal extinctions and their possible causes, especially in relation to human predation. Anyone curious about mammoths, giant ground sloths, or any number of other animals that became extinct since the last ice age will find this book a scientific page turner.

United States on Jan 03, 2024

Piotr Cuber: What an outstanding book.

United Kingdom on Oct 04, 2023

Mark L. Olson: This one's superb! It's got excellent illustrations, and it manages not to dumb down the technical stuff by explaining it so well that you don't need more than a basic background to appreciate what the author is saying. Perhaps most unusual, the author reviews all the theories about what extincted the megafauna *including his own* with a clear, and as far as I can tell accurate and objective, analysis of each's strengths and weaknesses. One of the best popular books on any scientific subject that I've read.

United States on Apr 10, 2023

Grady L. Valentine: The author has effectively written a lengthy review paper, summarizing the research conducted to date on what is known about near time extinctions (including species that have been lost), conclusions drawn (or lack thereof) and what is yet to be explained. In doing so he has produced the first (or at least best) work that bridges the gap between the scientific community and the lay adult reader, whereas any previous works that weren't dry reference tomes were directed either at specialists in the field (i.e., scientific journal articles) or children. Prior to discovering this book I'd learned more about prehistoric mammals from reading Jean Auel's fictional "Earth's Children" series than any scientific works. Otherwise this is a gorgeous book both for its illustrations and readability, suitable for both coffee tables and reading nooks alike. I only wish I'd known sooner how helpful this would be in gaining an overview of prehistoric megafauna as I would have ordered it years ago.

United States on Nov 04, 2022

Marco Saltarin: Al di là del titolo è anche un' ampia descrizione della fauna " strana " che ha caratterizzato l' " Età dei Mammiferi ", il tutto ad un prezzo molto più accessibile rispetto a libri più specialistici, un MUST per tutti gli appassionati. Consegna impeccabile.

Italy on Feb 03, 2020

TW: This is a very nice summary of the discussion to which degree humans were repsonsible for the end-pleistocene mass extinction. Even though the author can't give a definitive answer to this question, he brings up many interesting and relevant points. Furthermore the nice palaeoart and the easy-to-read text make this a really good book.

Germany on Jan 11, 2020

Adriana MoralesAdriana Morales: Las ilustraciones son simplemente hermosas, lo que llevo leído de la tesis del autor respecto a la extinción masiva de la megafauna me ha parecido interesante. En resumen: me encantó.

Mexico on Nov 01, 2019

Jim C: I enjoyed this book 3 1/2 stars. Like many others have said, the illustrations are a key for this book. they show the amazing diversity of megafauna which went extinct and give us context on these amazing animals.

I found the text unsatisfying. The author gives equal weight to every theory that caused extinctions - human caused, meteor, climate change and then goes to lengths to discredit Martin's human caused theory. It seemed that the author is in the archeologist camp that humans could not cause extinctions.

But how can animals that evolved and have lived millions of years blink out when humans suddenly appear. It seems the author could/should have considered more secondary effects. A great case study is likely Australia with human caused burns changing the ecosystem habitat in addition to hunting in times of climate stress and stress to calving grounds that would have caused the megafauna extinctions in Australia. Small changes in ecosystems have large species impacts such a the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone - but this is a context the author does not try to explore.

But I'm still glad I read this book.

United States on Jun 11, 2019

Dino Dan: This beautifully illustrated book covers the two leading theories of the recent extinction of ice age megafauna worldwide (Human Overkill vs Climate Change), and touched on several others. It's quite the page-turner, something rare for this sort of book. It gave me quite a bit more information on the topic without overloading on technical jargon. The author presents as much as is currently known, attempting to remain balanced, offering evidence to support/contradict each theory.

Also, know going in the book is an examination of the extinction event, rather than an in-depth look at megafauna species alive at that time. Certainly noteworthy species are remarked upon, and aspects of animal biology and ecology are addressed at times, but it's not a field guide to Pleistocene wildlife.

In the end, the jury is still out on the final culprit. None of the theories presented perfectly answer the known information. Most likely multiple culprits in different circumstances are to blame. As in so many other things, it's not so cut and dried, but the reader is left with a far greater understanding of the issues.

And did I mention the wonderful illustrations?

I found...

United States on Feb 12, 2019

Maurilio: O livro é magnífico,repleto de ilustrações fantásticas,comprei devido a tamanha art do illustrator Peter Schouten...recomendo aos admiradores da paleoart.

Brazil on Dec 09, 2018