Dinosaur in a Haystack

Dinosaur in a Haystack
Cover
AuthorStephen Jay Gould
LanguageEnglish
SubjectNatural history
PublisherHarmony Books
Publication date
December 12, 1995
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback)
Pages480
ISBN0-517-70393-9
OCLC33892123
575 20
LC ClassQH366.2 .G659 1995
Preceded byEight Little Piggies 
Followed byLeonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms 

Dinosaur in a Haystack is a 1995 book by the paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. It collects essays culled from Gould's 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 Jurassic Park and Steven Spielberg's blockbuster film of the same name.

Reception

The book received favorable reviews in Publishers Weekly[1] and The New York Times.[2]

References

  1. ^ Publishers Weekly. "Dinosaur in a Haystack review". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  2. ^ Lopate, Phillip (1996). "Snails, Frankenstein and King Lear's Daughter." The New York Times (Jan. 21): 007009.