Dinosaur in a Haystack.

GOULD, Stephen Jay.

Item Number: 103849

New York: Harmony Books, 1995.

First edition of Gould’s seventh collection of essays which covers a wide range of subjects in natural history, literature, and popular culture–from the wisdom of Charles Darwin to that of the Old Testament Psalms, from the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park to the dinosaurs of the latest scientific theories. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “For Richard and Jude All the best, dear old friends Steve Stephen Jay Gould.” The recipients were Richard Milner and his wife Judy, who was Gould’s editor at The Natural History Magazine and noted Darwin scholar, Milner and Gould were lifelong friends. “In 1953, two sixth graders in Bayside, Queens, became best friends after they discovered their shared passions for Gilbert & Sullivan operas, dinosaurs, the American Museum of Natural History and Charles Darwin. In their pantheon of heroes, Darwin ranked above even Joe DiMaggio. Their classmates, of course, considered them geeks and bestowed appropriate nicknames: Fossilface and Dino. Fossilface grew up to become an evolutionary biologist better known as Stephen Jay Gould” (The New York Times). Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Rick Pracher and Tom Lau. A very nice association.

These 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.