Dinosaurs Freed My Soul

How reading The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte gave me inner peace

I recently finished Steve Brusatte’s book THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DINOSAURS: A NEW HISTORY OF A LOST WORLD. I didn’t mean to time reading this book with the release of JURASSIC PARK DOMINION. I actually wanted to read THE RISE AND REIGN OF THE MAMMALS, Brusatte’s new book about prehistoric mammals, as research for a project I’m writing but it felt weird reading the sequel first.

Either way, I really dug Brusatte’s book. In it, Brusatte, an accomplished paleontologist, details the 200 million history of dinosaurs - from their emergence in pre-Triassic Pangaea to their eventual extinction courtesy of a giant asteroid. Along the way, Brusatte recontextualizes the facts we were all taught about dinos growing up with what science has discovered about the terrible thunder lizards over the last few decades. Yes, dinosaurs have feathers. In fact, modern-day birds are pretty much dinosaurs. Not all pre-historic reptiles are technically dinosaurs. This last one was a surprise - I always just assumed that marine reptiles and prehistoric crocodiles were dinos. Nope - wrong, buddy! Next, you’re going to tell me they didn’t ride skateboards and jam out on electric keyboards.

It turns out, despite being obsessed with the concept of dinosaurs as a kid (who wasn’t?), I actually didn’t know a ton about the logistics of dinosaurs. I had never really stopped to consider just how long dinosaurs lived on the planet. Maybe it’s because I was educated in Texas, but I always just assumed dinosaurs were a blip on the Earth in the not-so-distant past - a small “oopsie” before Adam and Eve made the scene. It turns out, life has existed on this planet for a long, long, long-ass time. Entire dinosaur species have come and gone in periods of time longer than humans have been able to read and write.

The realization of this fact - that Earth’s timeline stretches farther back than I can even rightfully conceive - did two things: It made me feel hopelessly small and alone within the framework of existence and then, almost immediately, I realized that nothing really matters. And I mean that in a good way.

While reading THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DINOSAURS, I recontextualized my own existence. All the things on a day-to-day basis that stress me out or make me feel down or otherwise cause minor or major headaches? They are specks of specks in the grand scheme of life in the universe. What’s the point of fretting about whether or not somebody returns an email in a timely method or if I have enough money to attend a concert I want to see or if I have to park in an inconvenient spot because of my apartment’s garage is too crowded? Compare those worries to the generations of dinosaurs that have come and gone and it all seems so trivial.

Building a legacy? Amassing wealth? Having perfect teeth? None of it matters! And this is freeing! I don’t have to sweat the small stuff because it’s all small stuff. My life is a blip and I’m lucky to have the few decades on this Earth that I’m given. Worrying about what happens tomorrow or the next day or even ten years from now is a pointless endeavor. Do you think T-Rex’s carried about cultivating their online social media presence? No! They cared about eating the 65 pounds of meat a day that they needed to survive and that’s it. I’ve decided I’m going to live my life to the fullest and make the most out of the time I have. Maybe I’ll fall in a tarpit or be buried under ash from an erupting volcano - how can I afford to waste time worrying about what the future might bring?

Maybe this all sounds nihilistic or you’re rolling your eyes at the reactionary philosophical shift I’ve undertaken as the result of reading a freaking book about dinosaurs - and maybe I will revert back to the stressed-out, scurrying personality that’s been my default for the entirety of my adult life - but I’m going to try and ride this carefree wave for as long as I can. I owe it to the dinosaurs.

Rest in peace, my prehistoric homies.