---
product_id: 523696374
title: "The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us ― A National Bestselling Science Book on Prehistoric Beasts"
price: "129.35 DT"
currency: TND
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/523696374-the-rise-and-reign-of-the-mammals-a-new-history
store_origin: TN
region: Tunisia
---

# The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us ― A National Bestselling Science Book on Prehistoric Beasts

**Price:** 129.35 DT
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us ― A National Bestselling Science Book on Prehistoric Beasts
- **How much does it cost?** 129.35 DT with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/523696374-the-rise-and-reign-of-the-mammals-a-new-history)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

By the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, a "brilliant" and "beautifully told" new natural history of mammals, illuminating the lost story of the extraordinary family tree that led to us [ New Scientist; The Times UK] National Bestseller • Top 10 Nonfiction of the Year: Kirkus • Best Science Book of the Year: The Times UK We humans are the inheritors of a dynasty that has reigned over the planet for nearly 66 million years, through fiery cataclysm and ice ages: the mammals . Our lineage includes saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, armadillos the size of a car, cave bears three times the weight of a grizzly, clever scurriers that outlasted Tyrannosaurus rex, and even other types of humans, like Neanderthals. Indeed humankind and many of the beloved fellow mammals we share the planet with today—lions, whales, dogs—represent only the few survivors of a sprawling and astonishing family tree that has been pruned by time and mass extinctions. How did we get here? In his acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs —hailed as "the ultimate dinosaur biography" by Scientific American —American paleontologist Steve Brusatte enchanted readers with his definitive history of the dinosaurs. Now, in a masterwork of scientific storytelling, he picks up the narrative in the ashes of the extinction event that doomed T-rex and its kind, Brusatte explores the remarkable story of the family of animals that inherited the Earth—mammals— and brilliantly reveals that their story is every bit as fascinating and complex as that of the dinosaurs. Beginning with the earliest days of our lineage some 325 million years ago, Brusatte charts the evolution of mammals, showing how they survived the asteroid that claimed the dinosaurs and made the world their own, becoming the astonishingly diverse range of animals that dominate today’s Earth. Brusatte also brings alive the lost worlds mammals inhabited through time, from ice ages to volcanic catastrophes. Entwined in this story is the detective work he and other scientists have done to piece together our understanding of this rich fossil history using fossil clues and cutting-edge technology. A sterling example of scientific storytelling by one of our finest young researchers, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals illustrates how this incredible history laid the foundation for today’s world, for us, and our future. This landmark work of science writing explores: The Age of Mammals: How our ancestors survived the asteroid impact that doomed the dinosaurs and seized their chance to inherit the Earth. Prehistoric Beasts: A stunning cast of extinct relatives, from saber-toothed tigers and woolly mammoths to car-sized armadillos and Neanderthals. Human Origins: The epic 325-million-year story of the sprawling family tree that ultimately led to us. Scientific Detective Work: A look at the cutting-edge technology and fossil clues paleontologist Steve Brusatte and his colleagues use to uncover the secrets of our past.

Review: Outstanding book about mammal evolution - learn about all the weirdos of the past! - I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did, yet I read it cover-to-cover in 24 hours! The most phenomenal quality of this book is that the author doesn't start from where we are now and look backwards - that is, he doesn't just focus on the familiar present-day mammal lineages. Rather, nearly all of the book is tracing mammals (and Mammaliaforms) from their most distant synapsid origins in the Carboniferous up through the present. The entire world recognizes what mammoths and saber-tooth cats are - we've LIVED with them. But what are those other weird-looking animals? The things that look like rhinos with weird antler-horns (Brontotheres). The things that look like camels but with trunks (Macrauchenia). Those rhino-elephant-giraffe mashups (Indricotheres). How about all the vaguely fuzzy stuff from the dinosaur days? These are the stars of this book. Chapter 1 - Mammal Ancestors - focuses on the split of synapsids and diapsids. We start with pelycosaurs during the Late Carboniferous, and then move into the Permian world of therapsids (such as dicynodonts, dinocephalians, and gorgonopsians). Chapter 2 - Making a Mammal - focuses on the end-Permian and the Triassic. We especially focus on the cynodonts and how they survived and diversified during the early Mesozoic. Chapter 3 - Mammals and Dinosaurs - focuses especially on mammal jaw and teeth evolution, and how mammalian mouthparts are so unique. This sets us up for the next chapter. Chapter 4 - The Mammalian Revolution - flips the script on Mesozoic mammals. Usually this is framed as dinosaurs ruled and kept mammals as small background figures. But the author makes the very convincing case that mammals flourished and diversified during the Cretaceous, but just at small sizes. There were seed-eaters, tree-gliders, fish-predators, a few baby-dino predators, insect-munchers, burrowers. This is when multituberlicates as well as therians emerge. This is also when mammals teeth became even more specialized to grind and shear at the same time. Just as dinosaurs were the reason there were no large mammals, mammals were the reason there were no small dinosaurs. Chapter 5 - Dinosaurs Die, Mammals Survive - is of course about the K-T extinction. I appreciate that the author correctly points out that nobody REALLY won. Every clade on earth was negatively impacted by the extinction event, and mammals almost went extinct as well - thankfully, they happened to survive. He highlights certain factors that gave them SOME mammals better hand of cards such as small size, diverse food base, widespread, fast growth and reproduction. We also explore some topics such as monotremes and placentas. Chapter 6 - Mammals Modernize - is about the flowering of more recognizable clades. This is especially about placental mammals. Afrotheria (which today are golden moles, tenrecs, hyraxes, elephants, hyraxes, aardvarks, manatees). Xenarthra (which today are sloths, armadillos, anteaters). Laurasiatherians (which today are carnivorans, bats, everything with a hoof plus whales, pangolins). And Euarchontoglires (which today are lagomporths, rodents, primates). The chapter mainly focuses on the Paleocene and very early Eocene, and aside from those placental clade also includes all sorts of cool oddities such as marsupials, South American ungulates, and brontotheres. Chapter 7 - Extreme Animals - is basically about the Eocene diversification. Bats, rhinos, elephants, horses, whales, etc. Very neat! Chapter 8 - Mammals and Climate Change - is about the transition from a hothouse Paleocene/Eocene world to a cooler, grassier Oligocene world. This also includes information about grass evolution as well as the hoofed ruminants, and various predators that also evolved to deal with the new climate. Chapter 9 - Ice Age Animals - is about the Ice Age climate, how the Ice Ages continue to cycle between glacial and non-glacial periods, and about the fauna of the Ice Age (especially saber-tooth cats and mammoths, which did NOT really live together) Chapter 10 - Human Animals - is about primates and human evolution. I appreciate that most of this book is about extinct mammals - as in, the focus is not on relating this to contemporary animals or to human beings. Rather, we are learning about these diverse animals as they were and for their own sake. I also appreciate the attention to phylogeny. The author explains how different groups diverged, he explains crown and stem groups, he explained some of the distinguishing features, and he often does compare and contrast. The writing is absolutely solid - I read 400 pages in a day! He has a unique voice that allows him to communicate scientific thinking and terminology in a way that is comprehensible, convincing, and simply fun to read. There is a phylogeny at the front, as well as a timeline and a few maps. I would have preferred more, but I didn't feel that this was lacking. The book is filled with illustrations and photos, and I think he included the perfect amount. The bibliography is fantastic because it is annotated - for each chapter, he spends pages and pages explaining what books and papers he used and how you as the reader may want to use it. (NOTE: Do not read Adrienne Mayor, who shows up twice. Her work is bunk). This is a fantastic book. I learned a lot, the writing is great, and you will enjoy this even if you aren't typically a science reader.
Review: Highly Recommended Sequel to the KT Extinction Event - As good as the Brusatte dinosaur book was, this one is even better. His writing is more mature, more focused, with less personal anecdotes- and the ones that he uses are very much about how he transitioned his scientific focus to early mammals. I really enjoyed this book, one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in the last decade, and am very excited about his forthcoming bird book- so much so that I have already prepurchased it. 1000% recommend this book and this author, he is a brilliant, talented, and ever-improving communicator scientist.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #4,158 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1 in Biology of Mammals #1 in Mammal Zoology #2 in Paleontology (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 2,252 Reviews |

## Images

![The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us ― A National Bestselling Science Book on Prehistoric Beasts - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81kxTLn-kGL.jpg)

## Available Options

This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Outstanding book about mammal evolution - learn about all the weirdos of the past!
*by D***N on May 19, 2024*

I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did, yet I read it cover-to-cover in 24 hours! The most phenomenal quality of this book is that the author doesn't start from where we are now and look backwards - that is, he doesn't just focus on the familiar present-day mammal lineages. Rather, nearly all of the book is tracing mammals (and Mammaliaforms) from their most distant synapsid origins in the Carboniferous up through the present. The entire world recognizes what mammoths and saber-tooth cats are - we've LIVED with them. But what are those other weird-looking animals? The things that look like rhinos with weird antler-horns (Brontotheres). The things that look like camels but with trunks (Macrauchenia). Those rhino-elephant-giraffe mashups (Indricotheres). How about all the vaguely fuzzy stuff from the dinosaur days? These are the stars of this book. Chapter 1 - Mammal Ancestors - focuses on the split of synapsids and diapsids. We start with pelycosaurs during the Late Carboniferous, and then move into the Permian world of therapsids (such as dicynodonts, dinocephalians, and gorgonopsians). Chapter 2 - Making a Mammal - focuses on the end-Permian and the Triassic. We especially focus on the cynodonts and how they survived and diversified during the early Mesozoic. Chapter 3 - Mammals and Dinosaurs - focuses especially on mammal jaw and teeth evolution, and how mammalian mouthparts are so unique. This sets us up for the next chapter. Chapter 4 - The Mammalian Revolution - flips the script on Mesozoic mammals. Usually this is framed as dinosaurs ruled and kept mammals as small background figures. But the author makes the very convincing case that mammals flourished and diversified during the Cretaceous, but just at small sizes. There were seed-eaters, tree-gliders, fish-predators, a few baby-dino predators, insect-munchers, burrowers. This is when multituberlicates as well as therians emerge. This is also when mammals teeth became even more specialized to grind and shear at the same time. Just as dinosaurs were the reason there were no large mammals, mammals were the reason there were no small dinosaurs. Chapter 5 - Dinosaurs Die, Mammals Survive - is of course about the K-T extinction. I appreciate that the author correctly points out that nobody REALLY won. Every clade on earth was negatively impacted by the extinction event, and mammals almost went extinct as well - thankfully, they happened to survive. He highlights certain factors that gave them SOME mammals better hand of cards such as small size, diverse food base, widespread, fast growth and reproduction. We also explore some topics such as monotremes and placentas. Chapter 6 - Mammals Modernize - is about the flowering of more recognizable clades. This is especially about placental mammals. Afrotheria (which today are golden moles, tenrecs, hyraxes, elephants, hyraxes, aardvarks, manatees). Xenarthra (which today are sloths, armadillos, anteaters). Laurasiatherians (which today are carnivorans, bats, everything with a hoof plus whales, pangolins). And Euarchontoglires (which today are lagomporths, rodents, primates). The chapter mainly focuses on the Paleocene and very early Eocene, and aside from those placental clade also includes all sorts of cool oddities such as marsupials, South American ungulates, and brontotheres. Chapter 7 - Extreme Animals - is basically about the Eocene diversification. Bats, rhinos, elephants, horses, whales, etc. Very neat! Chapter 8 - Mammals and Climate Change - is about the transition from a hothouse Paleocene/Eocene world to a cooler, grassier Oligocene world. This also includes information about grass evolution as well as the hoofed ruminants, and various predators that also evolved to deal with the new climate. Chapter 9 - Ice Age Animals - is about the Ice Age climate, how the Ice Ages continue to cycle between glacial and non-glacial periods, and about the fauna of the Ice Age (especially saber-tooth cats and mammoths, which did NOT really live together) Chapter 10 - Human Animals - is about primates and human evolution. I appreciate that most of this book is about extinct mammals - as in, the focus is not on relating this to contemporary animals or to human beings. Rather, we are learning about these diverse animals as they were and for their own sake. I also appreciate the attention to phylogeny. The author explains how different groups diverged, he explains crown and stem groups, he explained some of the distinguishing features, and he often does compare and contrast. The writing is absolutely solid - I read 400 pages in a day! He has a unique voice that allows him to communicate scientific thinking and terminology in a way that is comprehensible, convincing, and simply fun to read. There is a phylogeny at the front, as well as a timeline and a few maps. I would have preferred more, but I didn't feel that this was lacking. The book is filled with illustrations and photos, and I think he included the perfect amount. The bibliography is fantastic because it is annotated - for each chapter, he spends pages and pages explaining what books and papers he used and how you as the reader may want to use it. (NOTE: Do not read Adrienne Mayor, who shows up twice. Her work is bunk). This is a fantastic book. I learned a lot, the writing is great, and you will enjoy this even if you aren't typically a science reader.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly Recommended Sequel to the KT Extinction Event
*by P***O on March 29, 2026*

As good as the Brusatte dinosaur book was, this one is even better. His writing is more mature, more focused, with less personal anecdotes- and the ones that he uses are very much about how he transitioned his scientific focus to early mammals. I really enjoyed this book, one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in the last decade, and am very excited about his forthcoming bird book- so much so that I have already prepurchased it. 1000% recommend this book and this author, he is a brilliant, talented, and ever-improving communicator scientist.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Exceptional Paleontology Presentation of Mammals!
*by S***7 on May 28, 2026*

Dr. Brusatte is a truly exceptional Paleontologist, with a gift for writing in a style that is easily read and understandable for those non-academics who seek to learn more about this extremely interesting subject area. When he "remains in his lane" as an expert paleontologist, he is unquestionably terrific and a true master of the subject area. The reason I do not give this book 5 stars is that, very strangely, Dr. Brusatte decided to "step out of his lane of expertise" in the latter part of this book and wandered off into ice age theory, ice sheet theory, and climate change speculation. If I need to study ice age/ice sheet theory and climate change theory, perhaps it is best to read books written by geologists and climatologists? And, by using ice age theory as a crutch, he very strangely chose to completely ignore the important extinction level event of 11,500 years ago which wiped out all those wonderful mammals, such as mammoths, mastodons, wooly rhinos, dire wolves, and saber-toothed tigers, just to name a few. His dabbling into "man from monkey theory" was expected, but disappointingly shallow, with the usual obligatory salute to "Lucy the tree-ape", a skeleton with a clever facial makeover but with the actual forensics revealing just another tree ape. How many books will have to be hastily re-written, in the event that it is discovered that humans did not originate on Planet Earth? Even so, this book is well worth the time to read, as it contains very valuable paleontological information concerning mammals. Having read several of Dr. Brusatte's books, I notice that he tends to fall back on Charles Darwin, insisting that "natural selection does not plan for the future"; however, the genetic code appears to plan very well for the future. The animals destroyed by the extinction level event at the end of the Permian Period were improving right up to the end. The dinosaurs were also continuing to improve, right up to the end, culminating in the asteroid extinction event. And this book clearly shows how the genetic code keeps working hard to improve mammals. I have, without question, learned a tremendous amount of useful information from Dr. Brusatte!!

## Frequently Bought Together

- The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
- The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of Their Lost World
- Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds

---

## Why Shop on Desertcart?

- 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016
- 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories
- 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price
- 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members)
- 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection
- ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews

**Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/523696374-the-rise-and-reign-of-the-mammals-a-new-history](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/523696374-the-rise-and-reign-of-the-mammals-a-new-history)

---

*Product available on Desertcart Tunisia*
*Store origin: TN*
*Last updated: 2026-10-19*