Books on the K–Pg Extinction?

November 30, 2012 3:15 PM

What are some good, current books (or other resources) on the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event?

I want current thinking on what the world may have been like immediately before, during and after the mass extinction that killed off the non-avian dinosaurs. Being a non-scientist doing research for a creative project, I'd prefer something layman-friendly.

posted by brundlefly to science & nature (4 answers total)

We just went over this in the class I'm TAing for. We sent this youtube video to the class as a some basic info. Don't have any book recommendations, sorry.
posted by DoubleLune at 3:28 PM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Peter Ward writes a lot about mass extinctions.
posted by perhapses at 3:46 PM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Haven't read it, but T-Rex and the Crater of Doom might fit your bill. It's by one of the authors of the famous "meteor impact hypothesis" paper.
posted by pont at 4:48 PM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

These are great, guys. Thanks for the recommendations. In case anyone else is interested, Amazon reviews for T-Rex and the Crater of Doom also lead me to Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Dinosaur Extinction and the Transformation of Modern Geology and Rain of Iron and Ice, the later of which is more broadly about comet and asteroid impacts.
posted by brundlefly at 11:21 AM on December 7, 2012