Riley Black


Riley Black is an American paleontologist and science writer. As “a widely-recognized expert on paleontology,” she is the author of natural history books such as When the Earth was Green, The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, Skeleton Keys, and My Beloved Brontosaurus.

Biography

Black studied Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Rutgers University. She is a prolific author, known for her “accessible and beautiful writing,” who encourages everyone to learn from the experts and embrace the sciences, regardless of educational background.
Black’s books include When the Earth was Green, The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, Skeleton Keys, and My Beloved Brontosaurus. Her engaging style of writing is consistently informed by science. Her work vividly provides the deep knowledge necessary—knowledge of geology, evolution, ecology, paleontology, and more—to understand and appreciate the history and future of life on our planet. She began her career as a science writer by launching the blog Laelaps, eventually branching out to write columns for a number of popular periodicals. Publishers Weekly praises her work on Last Days of Dinosaurs as “top-drawer science writing” that carefully explains to the reader the myriad ways in which scientists reach their conclusions.
Black was hired as "resident paleontologist" for the 2015 film Jurassic World. She is a regular guest on the radio show/podcast Science Friday. She starred in the 2022 documentaries Alaskan Dinosaurs and Dinosaur Apocalypse. She also gives lectures and talks on a regular basis, and was opening speaker at the 82nd annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Black previously wrote under their birth name. In 2019, she came out publicly as transgender and non-binary and started hormone replacement therapy. In the journal Nature she remarks that “palaeontology presents queer people with terrain as challenging as any fossil-flecked desert.” Yet at the same time, “… for Riley, the field is also a place of healing.”

Books

  • Written in ''Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature. New York: Bellevue Literary Press. 2010.
  • My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs. New York: Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2013.
  • The T. Rex Handbook. Kennebunkport, ME: Applesauce Press. 2016.
  • Skeleton Keys: The Secret Life of Bone. New York: Riverhead Books. 2019.
  • Deep Time: An Illustrated Exploration of 4.5 Billion Years of Time Through Artefacts, Places and Phenomena. 2021. London: Welbeck.
  • Dinosaurs: Profiles from a Lost World. New York: Shelter Harbor Press. 2022.
  • The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2022.
  • Prehistoric Predators. Kennebunkport, ME: Appleseed Press Book Publishers. 2022.
  • Deep Water. London: Welbeck. 2023.
  • When the Earth was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance.'' New York: St. Martin's Press. 2025.