Customer Reviews

Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Comets, Craters, Controversy, and the Last Days of the Dinosaurs

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

James Lawrence Powell's book is a scientific detective story that meticulously, exhaustively, and painstakingly lays out his case for why he thinks the dinosaurs got wiped out by a meteorite impact. And Powell makes his case by combining such disciplines as geology, paleontology, chemistry, ecology, astronomy, and biology.

Although many scientists still think the meteor impact theory is "controversial," Powell's diligent research makes his conclusion appear certain. He convinced me!

But scientists are human, too, and Powell's book recounts how some scientists rejected this theory so strenuously that they lost their sense of proportion, particularly geophysicist Charles Officer.

On pages 216-217, Powell asks, "How far will scientists on the losing end of an argument go? They employ a set of stratagems that seem hauntingly familiar; they are the very ploys used by creationists and others who have no platform or logic."

The following examples paraphrase Powell's findings against Charles Officer:

1. Officer's confident assertion: "There IS no evidence for a meteor impact at the KT boundary." 2. His straw men: "Nobody has found big dinosaur piles." 3. His red herrings: "There are similarities between livestock fatalities and dinosaur extinctions." 4. His plea for equal time: "The journal Science published eleven favorable impact articles, but only two against." 5. His blame of the media: "The Earth science community is biased." 6. His impugned motives: "Scientists fabricate theories and evidence." 7. His false alarms: "The meteor impact theory is pathological and dangerous!"

Ironically, Powell says that Officer's tireless efforts to debunk the meteor impact theory forced geologists to vigilantly reinforce their case. And in the end, the earth science community has a lot to thank Charles Officer for.

But the previous Amazon.com reviewer is wrong when he claims that Powell believes all mass extinctions are attributed to extraterrestrial impacts. Powell does, however, point out that we've found approximately 150 terrestrial impact craters all over the globe, and scientists claim to discover between three and five new craters annually. And these don't include impacts that might've struck the oceans.

Also, you only have to look at the surface of every moon and terrestrial planet in our solar system to see that impacts once occurred regularly. And when a three-mile wide chunk of comet Shoemaker Levy 9 struck Jupiter four years ago, it left a massive impact streak as large as the earth itself! And this bolide was only HALF the size of the rock that bore the Chicxulub crater.

Powell only suggests the POSSIBILITY that periodic impacts triggered mass extinctions. And he thinks this premise deserves a fair hearing instead of being rejected outright.

As a combined scientific detective story and riveting historical account, Powell's book is a masterpiece! Every science student should read it.

This well-written book provides a complete and interesting account of how a brilliant and insightful father-son team scratched their heads, followed their instincts, and opened up a new window of understanding on the processes that have shaped the geological and biological history of the planet. The science itself is well-conveyed. Even the nonscientist will follow the compelling evidence that a large impact occured 65 million years ago in what is now the Yucatan. An impact of this magnitude would lead to such global devastation of the ecosystem that extinction of most forms of terrestrial life would seem an inevitable outcome. The disappearance of the dinosaurs during this same geological blink of an eye, after a reign of over 150 million years, is not plausibly coincidental.

While the science in the book is fascinating, the work is most significant for the insight that it provides into the process of the scientific enterprise. In art, music, and literature, value is fundamentally a matter of taste. In science, on the other hand, nature has the final say as to the ultimate value of an idea. A "more correct" idea should eventually win out over a "less correct" idea, regardless of the prejudices of the people involved. "Night Comes to the Cretaceous" is a testament to that process. The book tells the tale of how an originally unlikely idea successfully faced the challenges of experiment and observation, and in the process displaced scientific orthodoxy. It also tells the very human story of how honest, healthy skepticism on the part of a number of established scientists gradually became instead the unreasoned and sometimes vindictive attacks of those who had been left behind by the advance of knowledge.

One of the most influential books about the history and philosophy of science is Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." In some ways Powell does the job better, simply by providing a blow by blow account of a current-day scientific revolution centering on one of most compelling and generally accessible scientific questions of our time: "Whatever happened to the dinosaurs?"

I don't find this book to be a very good review of the dinosaurs-vs-meteorite controversy. The narrative is clear and captivating, and account of the several open (or closed!) disputes, rooted in disparate fields of Earth sciences, is made accessible to the layreader or those with just a modest background in natural sciences. Nevertheless Powell holds a one-sided approach right from the beginning, pointlessly crusading against some supposedly backward attitude in geologists and paleontologists that actually never was, except for a very few unfortunate cases. Everyone agrees on evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 65 million years ago, but the main issue is presently whether that was the cause of the mass extinction or other earth-bound factors played a role. Powell leaves no room for such developments. In particular, I'd have two main objections to specific cases presented in the book: 1)On pages 172-174 taxonomic analysis of dinosaur diversity in the highest stratigraphic stages of the Cretaceous in Montana is reported as evidence in favour of a sudden crisis of the original ecosystem. Pete Sheehan and co-workers carried on their studies at the taxonomic rank of families, which resulted numerically stable with time approaching the K-T boundary. Only, John Horner recently reviewed their work at a species level, likely to be statistically and biologically more reliable indicator of biodiversity, and found out a steady decrease of dinosaur types through time. Such reconsideration of Sheehan's research thus reverses evidence against the impact hypothesis! 2) The section "Did impact cause all extinctions?" introduces the final part of the book which has absolutely nothing to do with the K-T event per se, and presents us with Raup's "impact-kill curve" which is just an interesting exercise in statistics, lacking a solid connection with the actual geo-paleontological database of major mass extinctions (let alone minor ones..) and thus oversimplifies the subject. Yet the author all too enthousiastically takes sides with the "impactors" and loses objectivity, even falling in contradiction (Page 192:"Not enough firm evidence is available to corroborate the claim that impact is responsible for any other mass extinction boundary than the K-T event..". Page 196:"..how are we to escape the conclusion that not just in theory, but in practice, impact has caused many extinctions?") Without deceiving myself of having read a downright objective account, I'm afraid this is the best available book about the (still ongoing..)debate, together with J.D.Archibald's "Dinosaur Extinction and the End of an Era: What the Fossils Say"

I read this book in conjunction with Alvarez' "T. Rex and the Crater of Doom." The writing style in this book is not very polished but the author does a good job reviewing the evidence and detailing the controversies of the K/T comet and its impact on dinosaurs and on contemporary geologists & paleontologists! It does read rather well as a case history of science (as another reviewer suggested) but it is written very much in the tradition of Karl Popper rather than Thomas Kuhn, with hypotheses explicitly stated, falsifying obsevations articulated, and chapter-end summaries of the consensus interpretation of the evidence. Still, the overall message is Kuhnian: the overthrow of a paradigm (Lyell's geological uniformitarianism) by an outsider (a Nobel lauraute physicist & his geologist son). Engaging, scientifically literate, and a real trip to read for the scientific upset (revolution?) that it caused. Alvarez's "T. Rex" is written much better stylistically and is way more fun to read, so read this one for the science.

Powell's book is a scientific detective story that meticulously, exhaustively, and painstakingly lays out his case for why he thinks the dinosaurs got wiped out by a meteorite impact. And Powell makes his case by combining such disciplines as geology, paleontology, chemistry, ecology, astronomy, and biology.

Although many scientists still think the meteor impact theory is "controversial," Powell's diligent research makes his conclusion appear certain. He convinced me!

But scientists are human, too, and Powell's book recounts how some scientists rejected this theory so strenuously that they lost their sense of proportion, particularly geophysicist Charles Officer.

On pages 216-217, Powell asks, "How far will scientists on the losing end of an argument go? They employ a set of stratagems that seem hauntingly familiar; they are the very ploys used by creationists and others who have no platform or logic."

The following examples paraphrase Powell's findings against Charles Officer:

1. Officer's confident assertion: "There IS no evidence for a meteor impact at the KT boundary." 2. His straw men: "Nobody has found big dinosaur piles." 3. His red herrings: "There are similarities between livestock fatalities and dinosaur extinctions." 4. His plea for equal time: "The journal Science published eleven favorable impact articles, but only two against." 5. His blame of the media: "The Earth science community is biased." 6. His impugned motives: "Scientists fabricate theories and evidence." 7. His false alarms: "The meteor impact theory is pathological and dangerous!"

Ironically, Powell says that Officer's tireless efforts to debunk the meteor impact theory forced geologists to vigilantly reinforce their case. And in the end, the earth science community has a lot to thank Charles Officer for.

But the previous Amazon.com reviewer is wrong when he claims that Powell believes all mass extinctions are attributed to extraterrestrial impacts. Powell does, however, point out that we've found approximately 150 terrestrial impact craters all over the globe, and scientists claim to discover between three and five new craters annually. And these don't include impacts that might've struck the oceans.

Also, you only have to look at the surface of every moon and terrestrial planet in our solar system to see that impacts once occurred regularly. And when a three-mile wide chunk of comet Shoemaker Levy 9 struck Jupiter four years ago, it left a massive impact streak as large as the earth itself! And this bolide was only HALF the size of the rock that bore the Chicxulub crater.

Powell only suggests the POSSIBILITY that periodic impacts triggered mass extinctions. And he thinks this premise deserves a fair hearing instead of being rejected outright.

As a combined scientific detective story and riveting historical account, Powell's book is a masterpiece! Every science student should read it.

From the standpoint of scientific fact, this book gives a generic description of the giant Chicxulub meteorite impact structure, its genesis, and the consequences of that genesis; the extinction of the dinosaurs and thousands of other species in a geologic heartbeat. An excellent book-wide discussion attends the determination of the necessary proofs for what, at the time of its origin, was an extraordinary, heretical theory. Author Powell's review of the background science is thorough and unbiased, and is delivered in a readable, easy-to understand manner. The tempo of the book is seamless and non-distractive.
In short. for the reader who simply wants to learn about the reason behind dinosaur extinction, the book is highly recommended, without more.

The book is far more significant and insightful in other respects, however. It would serve as a singular text for anyone interested in the history and maturation of ideas, particularly in the scientific realm. Author Powell is simply peerless in demonstrating the difficulty proponents of successful new scientific theories face in having those ideas accepted in the face of long-standing, inflexible orthodoxy.

Powell carefully shows the genesis of the Alvarez' impact theory of extinction, as well as cataloguing the tenacious resistance to it. Not only paleontologists, but even some geophysicists, opposed the impact theory of extinction and ridiculed both the theory and its proponents. In the end, however, the sheer weight of demonstative evidence has carried the day for the Alvarez' ideas.

Even as this review is written, however, there are those who deny the the dinosaurs went extinct owing to a catastrophic impact. See Discover magazine's June 2002 issue. Whether the asteroid collision was the SOLE cause seems to be the only bone of contention now.

Perhaps the most poignant character in this ongoing debate is Charles Officer, a Dartmouth geophysicist. Officer has stood steadfast, in face of increasing evidence to the contrary, as an opponent of the impact/extinction theory. As the book was written, some of his arguments had even reached the point of Creationist-style dogma, brought on by his refusal to yield. Powll presents the tale of Officer's resistance as not being negative, but indeed, positive, in that it forced the impact proponents to a vigorous reexamination and stronger proofs.

Any history or science student should read this book. In reading this work, one can gain greater appreciation for the trial and tribulations such scientific pathfinders as Galileo, Newton, Wegener, Bretz, and Shoemaker have faced in advancing our knowledge and understanding of our world, and our place in it.

Unhesitatingly, I give this book a five-star rating, and would even more highly recommend it, were I able.

__________________

This book is an excellent summary of the K-T impactor theory and is highly recommended. Powell not only gives the history of the theory -- including things omitted from Walter Alvarez' book on the topic -- but examines the Officer-Page objections in a very open way, and discusses Dewey McLean's views. While Officer and Page have retreated and jumped on the bandwagon for global warming, McLean has been trying on his website to come to terms with the impact extinction model.

This is a book that every student should read. While there are still those -- even in the sciences -- who could have bumper stickers and t-shirts emblazoned with "My Professor Said It, I Believe It, and That Settles It", there's no intellectual benefit to such an attitude.

See also "Rain of Iron and Ice" by John S. Lewis and "T Rex and the Crater of Doom" by Walter Alvarez, the latter being more geared toward children.

What caused the great terminal Cretaceous extinction of both land and sea species, including the dinosaurs? Does the huge crater buried under half a mile of sedimentary rock on the Yucatán Peninsula have anything to do with the demise of Tyrannosaurus Rex, along with seventy percent of all species that were alive during the last days of its reign?

“Night Comes to the Cretaceous” answers both questions, the latter with an emphatic ‘yes!’ The Chicxulub (which means either ‘red devil’ or ‘place of the cuckold’ in Mayan) impact crater, first reported (and ignored for a decade) at the 1981 annual meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, appears to exactly the right age and the right size to have terminated most of the life on Earth, sixty-five million years ago.

This fascinating book by geologist James Lawrence Powell is the first I’d read on the subject of mass extinctions since “Extinction” by Steven M. Stanley, published in 1987. What a difference two decades of discoveries made! Stanley, although aware of the discovery of the iridium concentrations at the K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) boundary, concluded that global climatic change rather than extraterrestrial catastrophe caused mass extinctions. Chicxulub was not on his event horizon, so he produced a very detailed and convincing argument for what was then the orthodox theory of extinction.

Unfortunately for orthodoxy, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez and his son, geologist Walter Alvarez had already discovered the asteroid-impact iridium layer in 1980, and predicted the discovery of Chicxulub as the death-knell of the dinosaurs.

Powell in “Night Comes to the Cretaceous” details many more discoveries that supported the Alvarez theory of extinction, and changed the way scientists (and the rest of us) look at the night sky. His book provides a comprehensive overview of all the bits and pieces of the dinosaur extinction puzzle that I had been reading about in two decades of science magazines. It is really exciting to see the whole picture and the new orthodoxy as of 1998.

Furthermore, in the last few chapters of his book, Powell asks whether all mass extinctions on Earth were caused by asteroid/comet impacts. He lists the seven known mass extinctions and presents the impact evidence for each. Finally he discusses the theory that cratering and extinctions may be regularly spaced through time.

‘Night’ is pretty scary reading if you had planned to go out with a whimper, not a bang.

This is one of the best science books I have ever read, and a great description of how science works from the inside. Scientists aren't impartial godlike figures, they're human beings just like the rest of us.This book details how a geologist, by bringing his father an interesting rock--a polished specimen that included the K-T boundary layer, deposited when the dinosaurs all vanished--started a controversy that revolutionized and redefined the entire field of earth sciences. Personally, I love it when that happens, that's how science is supposed to work, but people who have built their entire careers on the old view of things can have a very difficult time accepting a new paradigm, and will go to ludicrous extremes to defend the old one to their dying breath. The impact theory of extinctions is one of the scariest concepts I have ever come across, but I am a lot happier knowing how things really work. This is an utterly fascinating read, and I can't recommend it strongly enough. To anyone interested in geology, astronomy, dinosaurs, (who isn't interested in dinosaurs??), or the workings of science, I can only say---READ THIS BOOK!!!!

Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Dinosaur Extinction and the Transformation of Modern Geology wriiten by James Lawrence Powell is a comprehensive work on the powers of scientific reasoning about what happened to the dinosaurs from the information that is available to us.

There has been a lot of controversy about what reallly happened to the dinosaurs, after all they ruled the earth for 160 million years and then...poof... they are gone. Why did this happen and was the... poof... not so all of a sudden, but over and entended period of time. We do not know for sure, but we have some very interesting information from this book that will shead some light on the matter.

Luis and Walter Alvarez found an interesting clue in the geology of the earth itself. Luis is a Nobel Prize winning physicist and Walter is his son, they found something that would turn the scientific community on its collective ear, that a single random event caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. There is an immense impact crater buried deep in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico that was identified as Ground Zero called Chicxulub or red devil

You see what the Alvarez's found was an Iridium layer in the rocks and soil core samples, why would that be so interesting, well, iridium mainly comes from extraterrestrial sources as it is not found in abundance on earth. This iridium layer is found all around the earth at the K-T layer (Cretaceous-Tertiary) at about the right geological time 65 million years ago.

Reading this book will fill in a lot of details as it is a masterful work in scientific reasoning. I found it to be a very educational, entertaining read.