In 1980 Nobel Laureate Luis Alvarez announced his theory that the dinosaurs met their final demise when a meteorite crashed into Earth. Instantly embraced by the media, this theory became the hottest scientific "fact". However, many in the scientific community did not support Alvarez"s theory. This book chronicles the fantastic story of how this hypothesis became so widespread, reveals the myriad scientific research that proves it wrong, and offers an alternative explanation for the extinctions.