The Hudson Library & Historical Society will host a live virtual streaming event with Paleontologist Steve Brusatte, author of the international bestseller The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs and paleontology advisor on the Jurassic World film franchise. Brusatte will discuss his latest book, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us, hailed by The Washington Post as “a masterpiece of science writing.”

Beginning with the earliest days of our lineage some 325 million years ago, Brusatte charts how mammals 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 using fossil clues and cutting-edge technology.

Steve Brusatte, PhD, is an American paleontologist who teaches at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland. Brusatte has named more than fifteen new species, including the tyrannosaur “Pinocchio rex” (Qianzhousaurus), the raptor Zhenyuanlong, and several ancient mammals. His research and writing have been featured in Science, The New York Times, Scientific American, and many other publications.