The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World

At the end of the 19th century, American museums, pressured to create a revenue stream that would sustain them, began to send parties of scientists, excavators, treasure hunters, and adventure seekers to find and extract dinosaur bones. These groups scoured some of the most inaccessible places on the continent and hauled tons of specimens by horse and wagon to the nearest railroad spur. When Barnum Brown discovered the first Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton for the American Museum of Natural History, it changed how people thought about life, extinction, and Darwin’s theory of evolution. The race to find the oldest and the biggest specimens of T. rex was on. Randall (Black Death at the Golden Gate) tells this story of exploration and discovery by following the work of Brown, the museums competing for preeminence, and the millionaires who funded the projects. He underlines the enduring fascination with dinosaurs by describing the Christie’s auction of “Stan” the T. rex in 2020; the skeleton sold for $31.8 million. Narrator Roman Howell offers an enjoyable dramatic reading.