Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs | Donald Prothero

A must-read for anyone interested in paleontology or geology, and a valuable no-nonsense read for anyone considering entering the field.

Regular Skeptic contributor Donald Prothero shares a detail-packed, first-person narrative that allows the reader to experience the personalities, the debates, the controversies, the development of new scientific techniques, and the latest scientific findings.

He begins the book with the “greenhouse of the dinosaurs” — a global-warming episode that dominated the Age of Dinosaurs and the early Age of Mammals — to introduce the science of paleoclimatology, the study of long-term changes in the earth’s climate.

The book covers the possible reasons for past radical climate changes and extinctions — from a jungle climate in the Arctic to the frozen snowball earth — and what this could mean for us and our current climate stituation.

No matter what your view is on climate change, understanding the methods used to analyze past climates will help you understand what the future may hold for the planet.