This book is 16 years old, and somewhat dated by more recent discoveries, such as the Chicxulub meteor crater. Nonetheless, Hsu's excellence as an author/scientific historian and philosopher transcends this seeming defect to a great degree. Although the book's ostensible subject is dinosaur extinction and its causation, it soon becomes apparent that the real messages address the whimsical way of evolution, and the misapplications of Darwinian theory.

Evolution is not a steady gradual process. Instead, it proceeds apace until interrupted by a calamity such as a cosmic impact, enormous volcanic disturbance or climate change, or the like. In such instances, writes Hsu, the list of survivors is a matter of good fortune, not design, and the process of new adaption and speciation begins all over once more. So it was with the dinosaurs, and so it might be again. It is impossible to divine a purpose or reason for such things. The key is to accept them and to understand them, if possible. Hsu's application of Oriental thought to the process is most enlightening. His writing is informal, tight, and obviously very well thought out.

Hsu also addresses that perversion of the theory of evolution known as "Social Darwinism". It is carefully pointed out that Darwin NEVER intended his theories to become a basis for claims of racial or ethnic superiority. Hsu then demonstrates not only the fallacy of such beliefs, but shows why Darwin would have been equally disapproving of them.

You don't have be a scientist or philosopher to read this book, but reading it will give you great insight into both disciplines. I found it fascinating from start to finish, and would recommend it highly to anyone past their early teens. It is a real keeper.

I have read this book twice,and might read it the third time. It's a really excellent science book for nontechnical readers(as well as professionals, perhaps)who are interested in evolutionary biology and/or geology,esp. for those want to know the exploring process in the science research,although it was published early. In order to detect the actual factors causing the dying of dinosaurs, Hsu investigates and analyses a wide variety of seemingly irrelevant first-hand materials, bring to our attention in the process some fascinating and little-known facts. The Great Dying is tightly constructed,and its lucid ,smooth style suggests rigorous and penetrating thinking.

This is the book that could make a geologist out of me, yet. I read it more than a year ago and, because of it, I have gone onto read more and very serious scientific literature regarding evolution and geology. Hsu is candid, entertaining, clear, convincing, and always educative. His assertion that the theory of evolution has been used to justify racism and racist policies took me by surprise and I chose not to believe it until, forced by the excellence of the book to admit that the author could have a point regarding evolution, I checked on Darwin's history. The realization that Darwin was a consumate racist didn't come as a total surprise --most Europeans were at the time--. But the fact that he had designed a great part of his theory to fit his own ideas regarding the superiority of the white "civilized" people against those who were "darker," "barbarian," and "uncivilized", made me see how this man could have been blinded by his own prejudices. Evolution may have happened and probably did, but Hsu presents a very strong case for chance, accident, and pure luck playing a much more important role than the one reserved for them by the established scientific community. His ideas run contrary to the accepted wisdom of evolution, which requires a great amount of time for the mutations to take place, and which didn't take into account the presence of catastrophes in the make up of life. Nevertheless, Hsu has demonstrated that catastrophes play a pivotal role in deciding who dies and who lives as, when the most famous of extintions --but not the largest-- happened about 65 million years ago, the life forms most superbly adapted to the planet, the dominant species of that time, were wiped out most probably by an object impacting Earth and suddenly changing the conditions under which the dinosaurs had been successful. The school of catastrophism has traditionally been dismissed as nonsense by the neo-Darwinist ideologues that dominate our curricula and books. Perhaps this extraordinary work, so faithful to the scientific method and so superb in its scholarship, will contribute to promote more exchanges of ideas in the scientific community. This is, after all, the basis of good science.

For those interested in science, earth sciences or plate tectonics, "The Mediterranean Was a Desert" delivers. The book gives an objective account of one of the most important Glomar Challenger voyages. It gives a nice build-up to the discovery, made over the course of that summer voyage, that the Mediterranean had once virtually dried up. The author is a scientist and focuses on aspects of the science and underplays human relationships although some conflicts and human interactions are mentioned. I most enjoyed the descriptions of the way the Mediterranean Sea had been some 4 or 5 million years earlier, the progression of changes, and the evidence which brought him to this viewpoint and why. I least enjoyed the book's style which sounded a bit too much like it had been written by an average scientist rather than a Carl Sagan scientist. Still, it is a worthy read.