The Last Extinction
The Real Science Behind the Death of the Dinosaurs
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
The story behind Dr. Gerta Keller’s world-shattering scientific discovery that dinosaur extinction was NOT caused by asteroid impact, but rather by volcanic eruptions on the Indian peninsula, a discovery that highlights today’s existential threat of greenhouse gasses and climate change—and one that sparked an all-out war waged by the scientific establishment.
Part scientific detective story, part personal odyssey, The Last Extinction is the definitive account of a radical theory that has reshaped how we understand our planet’s past and, as we face the possibility of a sixth extinction, how we might survive its future.
For decades, the dominant theory held that an asteroid impact caused the dinosaurs’ extinction. But Princeton Geologist Dr. Gerta Keller followed the evidence to the truth: Deccan volcanism, a series of massive volcanic eruptions in India, triggered a long-term climate catastrophe and Earth’s fifth mass extinction. Her findings upended the field and ignited a bitter feud in modern science—what became known as the “Dinosaur Wars.”
Raised in poverty on a Swiss farm and told she could never be a scientist, Keller defied expectations, earning her PhD at Stanford and battling her way into the highest ranks of Geology, eventually becoming a Professor of Paleontology and Geology at Princeton University. Her refusal to back down in the face of ridicule, sabotage, and sexism makes her story as thrilling as her science, which offers urgent insight into today’s climate crisis: Sustained planetary upheaval—not a single cataclysmic event—can plunge the planet into an age of death.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Geologist Keller debuts with a scathing and illuminating examination of scientific research into what caused the demise of the dinosaurs. She notes that for years, much of the scientific community and the popular press accepted the idea that a meteor colliding with the Earth was responsible for the planet's fifth mass extinction. Keller, however, had her doubts, and worked tirelessly to gather data from field sites in Mexico, India, Morocco, and elsewhere. Her results are shocking, and in her telling, demonstrate that the mass extinction was in fact due to climate change arising from volcanic activity in India's Deccan Traps. Furthermore, she argues that the meteor in question hit the Earth approximately 200 thousand years before the mass extinction, and the iridium layer attributed to the meteorite actually came from terrestrial sources. Keller chronicles the harsh treatment she faced from colleagues over her theory, and shows that the controversy has implications for the contemporary climate crisis. Throughout, she's a convincing and impassioned narrator, noting, "It takes time to correct a myth that has been spread for nearly forty-five years, especially one as entertaining as the impact theory." This makes a mark.
