The Rise of Birds: 225 Million Years of Evolution
Among the Dockum fossil beds of West Texas in 1983, paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee made a momentous  discovery: the fossilized remains of a curious creature subsequently dubbed Protoavis, or primordial bird. InThe  Rise of Birds, Chatterjee writes that Protoavis predates Archaeopteryx, previously known as the "first  bird" by some 75 million years, and that it is more closely related to the modern bird than its Johnny-come-lately  rival. But Protoavis is only the starting point for this sweeping, detailed, and beautifully illustrated history of bird  evolution. Chatterjee examines the many recent discoveries of bird fossils all over the world and comes to some  fascinating and often surprising conclusions: the evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs, for instance, or their  near-extinction (along with the dinosaurs) when large meteors fell to earth almost 65 million years ago. From the  distinguishing characteristics of avian anatomy to theories about the first avian flight, Chatterjee's book is a thoughtful  and accessible look at one of the most flourishing products of evolution.