Convention report – DinoCon 2026
The Inquisitive Biologist attends DinoCon 2026: talks, signings, and book news!
The Inquisitive Biologist
Reviewing fascinating science books since 2017
Latest posts
Book review – The Ascent of Birds: How Modern Science is Revealing their Story
The Inquisitive Biologist reaches back in time and finally reads The Ascent of Birds to find a fascinating foray into bird evolution and the many different mechanisms of speciation.
Book review – The Story of Birds: An Evolutionary History of the Dinosaurs That Live Among Us
From Archaeopteryx then to ten thousand species now, The Story of Birds sees Brusatte skillfully and captivatingly recount another chapter of life's evolutionary history.
Book review – The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness
Boiling over with thought-provoking observations, The Savage Landscape offers a discomfiting yet necessary look at the tensions and contradictions that underlie nature conservation.
Book review – The Rise of Mammals in Africa
As this handsomely illustrated book shows, the evolutionary history of mammals in Africa is far more interesting than you would think at first blush.
Book review – In Search of Sea Dragons: A Fossil Hunter’s Odyssey
In Search of Sea Dragons is an engrossing tale of fossils and obsession.
Book review – At the Foot of the Himalayas: Paleontology and Ecosystem Dynamics of the Siwalik Record
Beautiful in presentation and exhaustive in detail, At the Foot of the Himalayas is a technical synthesis of five decades of research on one of the world's most remarkable fossil records.
Book review – The Wake of HMS Challenger: How a Legendary Victorian Voyage Tells the Story of Our Oceans’ Decline
Complementing other recent books on the Challenger expedition, The Wake of HMS Challenger brings a focus all of its own to the subject and firmly stands on its own two feet as a thoroughly enjoyable work of science history.
Book review – The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs (3-volume set): Ornithischians, Sauropods, and Theropods
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs is easily the most comprehensive popular work currently available, combining a pleasingly uncluttered visual presentation with accessible yet nuanced entries for almost every dinosaur under the sun.
Book review – In the Circle of Ancient Trees: Our Oldest Trees and the Stories They Tell
A nicely balanced collection of essays with long-lived trees from around the globe that provides ten different answers to the question: "And what else can you learn from tree rings?"