Author | Stephen Jay Gould |
---|---|
Publisher | Harmony Books |
Publication date
|
December 12, 1995 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
Pages | 480 |
ISBN | |
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.
Gould's book received favorable reviews in Publishers Weekly and The New York Times.