Dinosaur in a Haystack

Dinosaur in a Haystack
Author Stephen Jay Gould
Publisher Harmony Books
Publication date
 December 12, 1995
Pages 480
ISBN 0-517-70393-9
OCLC 33892123
575 20
LC Class QH366.2 .G659 1995
Preceded by Eight Little Piggies
Followed by Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms

Dinosaur in a Haystack (1995) is the seventh volume of collected essays by the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. The essays were culled from his monthly column "The View of Life" published in Natural History magazine, which Gould contributed for 27 years. The book deals with themes familiar to Gould's writing: evolution, science biography, probabilities, and strange oddities found in nature.

His essay "Poe's Greatest Hit" analyzes the controversial conchology textbook The Conchologist's First Book (1839), edited by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe's volume on natural history sold out within two months, and was his only book republished during his lifetime. Essay "Dinomania" is a review of Michael Crichton's novel and Steven Spielberg's blockbuster film, Jurassic Park.

From Publishers Weekly

“ In his seventh volume of witty and erudite essays, Gould casts a wide net, though he always returns to the central theme of evolution. His topics are diverse: Edgar Allan Poe's bestseller, a textbook on shells; Alfred, Lord Tennyson's In Memoriam as an account of the psychology of mourning; the infamous Wannsee Protocol, Hitler's plan for the "final solution of the Jewish question." Gould is a master of making connections--Linnaeus and Erasmus Darwin (Charles's grandfather), the Razumosky brothers, Aleksei and Andrei; King Lear and the importance of negative results. He discusses evolutionary spin-doctoring, fossil whales, movies (Jurassic Park), museums and theme parks. As might be expected, Gould takes a swipe at creationists. Dinosaur measures up in every way to Bully for Brontosaurus; readers will not be disappointed.[1] ”
— Publishers Weekly, review

References

  1. ↑ "Dinosaur in a Haystack review". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 17, 2015.

External links

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