The Dechronization of Sam Magruder

by George Gaylord Simpson, Stephen Jay Gould (Afterword), Arthur C. Clarke (Introduction)

The Dechronization of Sam Magruder is one of the stranger works of fiction that has appeared in recent years. Its author, George Gaylord Simpson, was widely regarded as the greatest paleontologist of the twentieth century. He died in 1984, but the manuscript of this intriguing novella about a twenty-second-century scientist was not found by his daughter until ten years after his death.
Did Simpson want this time-travel story eventually to be published? Was Sam Magruder Simpson's alter ego, the scientist of his imagination who was able to observe dinosaurs the way they really were?
No one will ever be sure of these answers, but what we do know is that Sam Magruder, a fortyish research chronologist, vanished on February 30, 2162, as he was working on a problem of quantum theory. Thrown back in time eighty million years to the prehistoric Jurassic era, Magruder, endowed with the intelligence of a modern man, discovers that he is the only human being in a valley filled with dinosaurs. Magruder, inventive and resourceful, keeps a stone-slab diary and struggles mightily to survive by feeding on lizards and scrambled turtle eggs, even as menacing tyrannosaurs try to gnaw off his limbs.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Dinosaurs, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Historical Fiction

136 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

George Gaylord Simpson, Ph.D. (Geology, Yale University, 1926), was Professor of Geosciences at the University of Arizona from 1968 until his retirement in 1982. Previously was Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University 1959–1970, Curator of the Department of Geology and Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History 1945–1959, and Professor of Zoology at Columbia University.

He was awarded the Linnean Society of London's prestigious Darwin-Wallace Medal in 1958. Simpson also received the Royal Society's Darwin Medal 'In recognition of his distinguished contributions to general evolutionary theory, based on a profound study of palaeontology, particularly of vertebrates,' in 1962. In 1966, Simpson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Reviews

[El · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason I picked this book up immediately after finishing Ionesco's Rhinoceros and Other Plays. Needless to say by the time I finished this one I felt like someone had slipped a psychedelic into my ginger ale.

First and foremost for those who are wondering - yes, it is that George Gaylord Simpson. The paleontologist. I didn't even make the connection when I snagged this from the library. I was drawn in by the title, and when I saw that the Introduction was provided by Arthur C. Clarke and the Afterword by Stephen Jay Gould, I figured I was in for a treat.

Sadly it didn't live up to my expectations, but really. I read Rhinoceros first. It's hard to compete with that.

The posthumously-published story here is that a 22nd-century scientist is sent back in time to the Jurassic era. Surrounded by dinosaurs he uses his knowledge and wits to survive.

Sounds great, right? I wish it were. I wanted it to be awesome. And maybe it's just that I have insomnia like no one's freaking business right now, and so I'm totally on edge and pretty darn grumpy, and all I can do is read... and, as I've already mentioned, I seem to be on some sort of weird fiction kick right now. And right now might not be the best time for all of that. Still, this novella is a quick read and had I been feeling better I would probably have enjoyed it more. Someone more into paleontology should read this just so I can see if it's just me.

[Silver Thistle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great little story! The bright pink cover is at odds with the storyline but don't let that put you off, I actually quite like the colour...it's 'quirky'. A very quick read and therein lies it's only flaw....it ended too soon. I hung on every word and would have liked to see many, many more of them.

The book was only ever intended as an amusement for the author (the George Gaylord Simson), but by chance it was found after his death and published, and lucky for us that it was.

Short synopsis would be that an academic (Sam McGruder) from the far future (the year 2162), accidentally travels back in time to a place in prehistory where dinosaurs roamed, with no chance of ever getting back. Now, it's not just the story that hooks the reader, it's all the thought provoking ideas that the story presents too. What would I do? How would I cope? Would I cope?!

I wanted it to go on and on and on......

It's very short so any details I give are likely to be spoilers but it's a great book and one not to be missed. From the moment you pick it up it will draw you in. Even if it's not your usual type of reading material, it's still worth the read.

Remember....don't let the pink cover put you off!

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a look, especially for the essays included

This slim novella, by the late and distinguished paleontologist, was found in his papers after his death. It's just so-so as fiction, in my opinion, but the book is worth your attention for the two elegant essays included. The first, by Arthur C. Clarke, outlines the history of time-travel
stories, and includes more recommendations for classic dinosaur tales. Sir Arthur notes, with admirable succintness, that "the most convincing argument against [real] time travel is the remarkable scarcity of [real] time travellers."

Stephen Jay Gould was a student of Simpson's, and contributed a graceful and elegaic essay on Simpson's novella, career and life -- which, I must say, I enjoyed more than the story. An exceptional piece, not to be missed if you have any interest in Gould or Simpson.

Simpson's novella does have its charms -- it has a nice mock-Victorian club-story opening, not unlike Clarke's Tales from the White Hart, and is oddly compelling despite the amateurish writing.
Sam Magruder, a chronologist in 2162, is accidentally "dechronized" into the late Cretaceous, with no possibility of rescue, and spends the rest of his life evading, eating and studying dinosaurs. It's certainly not "the best time travel story since HG Wells" as the cover blurb avers, but it's worth a look. Sadly, the story's paleontology is now quite out of date. Overall, 2.5 stars, rounded up because of the essays. Which are 4 stars or better!

[Tamara Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the story of Sam Magruder, a chronologist from the year 2162 who ends up eighty million years in the past due to a time slip. His story is shared with a group of men through stone slabs which were discovered and covers his early days in his new surroundings, finding food, creating clothing and his death by Tyrannosaur attack at the age of sixty.

I liked this book because it explores how man can overcome even the most dire circumstances to survive. I was also impressed that despite Magruder realizing that he was never going to return to the twenty second century, he chooses to live on and create a record for others to find sometime in the future. Overall an interesting read if for not other reason due to the detail provided on the dinosaurs and his surroundings.

[This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella has a strange background. It is written by George Gaylord Simpson, the greatest paleontologist and one of the best evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. The manuscript wasn't discovered by his daughter until 10 years after his death. It is the story of a 22nd century scientist who accidentally ends up 80 million years in the past, during the Cretaceous. It is the story of his observations of the dinosaurs and mammals of the time, and how a (post) modern man survives with no modern resources and as the only human being.

It's a short, interesting tale, as much about evolution as anything else. It is not the sharpest written story, but easy to read and educational.

[Bastian Greshake Tzovaras · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is a treat. A time-travel novella written by the George Gaylord Simpson, found by his family after his death. Which then managed to win Stephen Jay Gould and Arthur C. Clarke for an afterword and the introduction!

The novella itself is solid, maybe a bit slow at length, given how short the overall text is. But the slow parts are there for some interesting reasons, as SJ Gould points out nicely in his afterword.

Definitely worth a read if you are a) interested in time travel stories b) like dinosaurs c) have a keen interest in paleontology/evolutionary biology d) all of the above.

[Page Wench · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam Magruder takes a fascinating trip both physically and philosophically. I don't want to say more than that because I would ruin it. Suffice to say I was impressed with the mode of time transport and anyone who is even the least bit intrigued by time travel should read this story.

[Michael Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Supposedly the best time travel book since HG Wells’s Time Machine, I had trouble finding anything compelling about it. Other than sending himself back 80 million years to a dinosaur filled past and surviving a very lonely existence, nothing much happened. I didn’t find the philosophical insights the story offered to be at all unique.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting little read. I wish it had a bit more depth (based on some of the interesting ideas) but for a short read it was a clever story. Interesting idea and some interesting concepts with a different delivery. Worth checking out.

[Brian Beatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a vertebrate paleontologist, this book is especially important to me. And reading it, I can easily imagine Simpson’s thoughts… just fascinating.

[MJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I accidentally found this small book hidden on a library shelf, in a generic, untitled dust jacket. I judged the book entirely by its genre and title, and I was not disappointed. I initially thought that it was quite a bold statement in claiming this book as being the greatest time-travel story in more than a hundred years; however, I now believe that claim to be accurate.

In reading previous reviews, one may not entirely get the true depth of what this story is really about. It is much more than a simple time-travel tale, meant to entertain and lose ourselves for a few hours (although, you will lose yourself). This book touches on philosophy, psychology, scientific research, history and problem-solving.

It is always interesting to find a story that puts all of its focus on one main character, very much in the tradition of "The Old Man and the Sea. This is certainly a story of Man versus Nature, as well as Man versus Himself. How do we deal with all of the feelings that come from isolation? How do we learn in a new environment? How can we as human beings transmit our thoughts into the future, in order to get our message across that barrier of time? George Gaylord Simpson clearly shows the importance of words and language, especially in written form, as a system of relaying past knowledge.

Simpson's manuscript for The Dechronization of Sam Magruder was not discovered until ten years after his death. However , just like the discovery of Sam Magruder's message after he was long gone, I believe that Simpson knew that his manuscript would be discovered in the same way -- long after he had left this Earth.

[Pete Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simpson was the most famous paleontologist in the world with a specialisation in the early period of when dinosaurs and mammals co-existed, so with the posthumous publication of Magruder he surprised everyone with what is essentially a short but very competent science fiction novel in which a 22nd century time experiment throws a chronologist back to the Cretaceous Period. It was probably written for Simpson’s own amusement in the 1970s, given that that decade is bracketed by a 1970 theory on the possibility of warm-blooded dinosaurs (something that Simpson disagreed with) and the lack of any mention of the ‘asteroid impact’ cause of their demise, a theory which first surfaced in 1980. Magruder is very much in the reliable H.G. Wells Time Machine tradition, and the novel comes with an introduction from Arthur C. Clarke that puts the novel in its science fictional context and an afterword from Stephen Jay Gould that does the same for it paleontologically, and Gould also demonstrates why there’s far more going on in the novel than you thought. An unexpected find, and a good, quick read.

[Christopher Roth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only two stars. This book was touted as the best book on time travel since Wells's "Time Machine." So I expected it would have, you know, character development or some interesting philosophical ideas in it. I'll never learn.

[Gary Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not normally a Sci-Fi fan but this remarkable novel by the last century's leading paleontologist had me hooked right from the start.


(don't skip the forward by Arthur C Clarke and afterword by Stephen Jay Gould)

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story itself is so-so, but the book gives an insight into the mind of a famous and well-known paleontologist. As much of a self-exploration as it is a novel. An interesting read by an author who, like his own protagonist, found himself on the wrong side of history.

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was initially attracted to this because of the hot-pink cover and the author's middle name. It's more tech-heavy than I'd usually read, but I did enjoy its meandering philosophies.

[Joe Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, so I went ahead and reread "The Dechronization of Sam Magruder" by G. G. Simpson. It's short (in 2005 I read it in one day; this time it took me two) and I was intrigued by Simpson biographer Leo F. Leporte's suggestion that it's Simpson's emotional autobiography. I remembered it being a rather doofy story with a pathetically anthropocentric emphasis and outdated views of dinosaurian physiology, kinetic and cognitive capacities. Certainly it is all that but is it something more? Does it lend insight into Simpson's personality and did he intend it to do so? Actually, Simpson's daughter Joan Simpson Burns and Stephan Jay Gould address these questions in afterwords, which perhaps I'd forgotten. Certainly Simpson was conservative in his thinking. He was famously wrong to have rejected plate tectonics and is wrong in "Sam Magruder" for rejecting dinosaurian homeothermy, referring to poikilothermic crocodilians as the closest extant relatives of dinosaurs, ignoring homeothermic birds which ARE therapod dinosaurs. Gould says that "Sam Magruder" had to have been written later than 1970 since Simpson refers to, and rejects, ideas of Bob Bakker published in that year. Laporte does even better detective work by finding that the typewriter the manuscript was written with was one used by Simpson's secretary between 1975 and 1979. By the mid- to late '70s Simpson certainly should have known better and only his conservative intransigence explains his error.

Sam Magruder finds himself "dechronized" back to the late Cretaceous from which there is no hope of ever returning to the 22nd century or of interacting with another human ever again. Thus, the theme of the novella is loneliness. Was Simpson lonely? Despite close family ties and professional accolade Simpson probably felt himself to be isolated from others in essential ways. He was more intelligent and competent than most everyone else and this indeed can be a major isolating factor. Certainly we all may feel isolated inside our own minds. As a kid I wrote a (rather poor) poem that went, in part: "We are the lost who hand in hand / Are led onto the field of slaughter / And hand in hand we die alone..." But this realization of our fundamental isolation is rather trite. We know that we must die alone whether surrounded only by dinosaurs or by loving friends and family. If communication of angst over the deep-seated lonesomeness and melancholy Simpson presumably felt was his reason for writing this silly little novella, it isn't worth the bother of reading. Hell, we all feel that way, don't we?

[Cave Empter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once you shrug off the antiquated trappings of classic wanna-be sci-fi (Capitalised World-Building Words, on-the-nose commentary of our contemporary, primitive vices, ridiculous psuedological number systems), this becomes a wonderful treatise on loneliness and the point of knowledge. Simpson’s passion for palaeontology is immediately apparent, and one of the central selling points of the book. His descriptions of the dinosaurs Sam Magruder runs into are entertaining and lightly educational. Sometimes it dips into being too didactic – an afterword by Stephen Jay Gould reveals this is Simpson using his fictional self to critique his stronger grudge. This metatextual reading is more entertaining than the book, at times.

The real root of the story, though, is that Magruder wrestles with the pointlessness of his existence: Thrust 80 million years into the past, with no hope of returning, he is faced with complete loneliness for the rest of his natural lifespan. He busies himself with extending that lifespan beyond the first few days, but after achieving that he has to grapple with the fact that he’ll never have a conversation with another person ever again. Gould writes that this is Simpson revealing and exploring one of his deepest fears, but I feel this is a pretty general one. I don’t know if it’s possible to imagine that level of isolation, that level of hopelessness. Even the starkest Normal People Scare Me introvert would have a hard time with that life. Anyway, all this to say that the book’s heart is in reading the struggle of someone completely cut off from society who, despite his best protestations, still manages to find hope in the idea that someone, somewhere will read his diary. And they do. Simpson tells you you’re in for a story about hopelessness and seclusion, and ends up enforcing the idea that it is practically impossible for people to imagine themselves as fully cut-off, that there is always value in reaching out.

A charming read even at its most Scientist Writing Sci-Fi (even when he calls it Scientifiction).

[Diego Barbera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Era il 15 gennaio del 1994 a Colombo nello Sri Lanka quando Arthur G. Clarke – autore, tra gli altri lavori, anche di 2001: Odissea nello spazio – stava già allungando quasi meccanicamente la mano verso la pila di fogli prestampati con la breve risposta di rifiuto da allegare all’ennesimo dattiloscritto non presentato. Ma si soffermò sul nome dell’autore ovvero George Gaylord Simpson, tra i più importanti paleontologi di sempre e all’epoca già defunto, e anche su quello di chi aveva già preparato la postfazione, Stephen Jay Gould, pluripremiato biologo, zoologo, paleontologo e storico della scienza. Scoprì, così, che quello scritto di appena 25000 parole circa non era alla ricerca di una raccomandazione per la pubblicazione, ma si chiedeva a Clarke di occuparsi dell’introduzione.

L’uomo che restò solo sulla Terra – titolo originale The Dechronization of Sam Magruder – è un breve romanzo che non nasconde l’ispirazione alla Macchina del Tempo di H.G. Wells sia per la costruzione sia per l’uso di nomi stereotipati per i personaggi, come Lo Storico Universale, il Pragmatista o l’Uomo comune. La trama è semplice quanto intrigante: il 29 febbraio 2162 (non il 30, come erroneamente riportato sula quarta di copertina dell'edizione 1999 di Bur) lo scienziato e cronologo Sam Magruder scompare all’improvviso mentre sta conducendo inediti esperimenti di teoria quantistica, catapultandosi suo malgrado 80 milioni di anni prima, nel Cretaceo popolato dai dinosauri, in un ambiente ostile e spesso ben differente dalle aspettative, nel quale deve sopravvivere ogni ora di ogni giorno scoprendo quanto siano spesso inutili le conoscenze acquisite nel 22esimo secolo dal quale proviene. Soprattutto, si trova a combattere con la poderosa solitudine di essere l’unico essere umano sull’intero pianeta.

Recensione completa su https://naufragar.it/2021/12/26/recen...

[Lil S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Questo libro lo presi un po’ alla cieca e in fretta durante un evento a Libraccio. Non conoscevo l’autore, non lessi la trama, ma il titolo mi incuriosì.

Titolo: L’uomo che restò solo sulla Terra
Autore: George Gaylord Simpson
Genere: romanzo di fantascienza
N° pagine: 155

Nel 2162 uno scienziato e cronologo di nome Sam Magruder scompare durante uno dei suoi esperimenti e si ritrova nel Cretacico, circondato dai dinosauri.
Dopo un primo momento di paura e smarrimento, inizia la sua nuova vita in cui dovrà mettersi completamente in gioco, dovrà sopravvivere e noterà molti aspetti curiosi e nuovi sui suoi nuovi concittadini a sangue freddo. Annoterà su delle tavole le sue avventure, le osservazioni in merito ai dinosauri e anche riflessioni interiori. Arrivando a dare una risposta a una delle grandi domande: quale è lo scopo delle nostra esistenza? 🦖⏳

Il fantasy non è solitamente il mio genere preferito, ma questa lettura breve e a tratti spiritosa non mi è dispiaciuta. Alcune parti sono un po’ noiose (descrizioni sui dinosauri) ma altre mi hanno permesso di ricredermi, almeno in parte. Ho trovato divertente e a tratti angosciante la storia di questo uomo del XXII secolo che si ritrova in un mondo totalmente diverso e ostile.

È stato pubblicato dopo la morte dell’autore, il quale non faceva lo scrittore di professione, ma essendo uno dei più grandi paleontologi statunitensi, si pensa che questo abbia rappresento per lui un simpatico esercizio di scrittura, in cui in realtà si ritrovano molti tratti del suo carattere.

Lo avete mai letto? Vi incuriosisce?

#fantascienza#fantasy#luomocherestòsolosullaterra#uomo#solo#terra#dimosauri#lettura#reading#book#libro#cretacico#cretaceo#leggere

[María Greene F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ciencia ficción póstuma de un científico real importante del siglo XX, de hecho el panteólogo mas famoso y relevante de su época. Lo encontró la hija, años después de su muerte y lo encontró súper bueno y lo mandó a publicar porsi.

Es un poco accidentado eso sí quizá para el lector común, porque por un lado es interesante y creativo y melacóncolico y pionero, pero por otro lado, al ser escrito por un científico serio, hay harto dato específico y se nota que no sólo es una novela, sino que más un trabajo de imaginación muy detallado de variantes del pasado que sí podrían ser. De cómo este tema podría quizá realmente suceder en la práctica.

Pero es muy bonito. Y muy triste. Y hace que uno piense, en la comunidad, los sentidos básicos de la vida, en las perspectivas mismas de la mera existencia.

La trama trata de otro científico que, accidentalmente y probando cierta máquina, se traslada al períodos de los dinosaurios, poco antes que desaparecieran, pero donde todavía gozan de plena salud. Vive poder verlos, y también presenciar la geografía antigua del planeta, antecesores biológico, etcétera, hartas cosas. El hombre quizá más solitario del mundo (aunque acompañado de la naturaleza) nunca logra volver pero deja su experiencia grabada en unas tablillas, que luego obviamente se encuentra, si no, no habría novela. *risas pregrabadas.

Es bien cortita, y me dio ternura que más de la mitad eran comentarios de científicos y personalidades varias, tanto en el prólogo, como en un análisis adjunto después de la historia misma. Yo creo que estaban la mar de orgullosos de su colega multifacético :D

[John A Raju · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite some of the heavyweight elements of science fiction and action - time travel and dinosaurs - packed into a short book, the highlight for me of this novel is the more mega question and what the novel is about : the question of isolation and loneliness.

"If you knew, knew with complete conviction, that nothing you did could possibly be observed by anyone else, would it seem worthwhile to do anything? If it were certain that no other human being would ever touch your existence, would you value that existence?"

These aren’t always easy questions. A world where I am transported to dinosaur land is not one where I would survive. Mostly. But even if I do, how long can I go alone when it’s not easy? When survival is the only purpose. This could be a question we face at some point, whatever world we are in. Dwelling on these were my favourite portions of the novel. Sam Magruder’s answer probably reflected the author’s own. And I'm sure the answer to the question of why are we going forward is different for everyone. For a short book, it gave so much to reflect on.

The descriptions of survival against the dinosaurs or reptiles of the time, and palaeontology were interesting but far from the highlight or the engrossing point of the book for me compared to the above.

The essays - by Arthur C Clarke at the beginning, and by Stephen Jay Gould and GG Simpson’s daughter Joan Simpson Burns at the end were excellent embellishments and context setters to the novel and an interesting character in the author.

[Hannah Scanlon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've heard that science fiction can be a creative way to explore large themes of meaning, existence and life. I found this to be accurate with this book. Sam Magruder is a scientist in the 22nd century who, after doing experiments with time travel, finds himself in the Cretaceous age of the dinosaurs and the only person existing in the universe. His unusual circumstances provides context for many existential questions such as: what is the worth of one person's discoveries and scientific progress, if no one else will ever benefit from it? Is there meaning to a human life apart from its relationship to other human lives?

The book is Magruder's documentation of his survival, which includes avoiding being killed by dinosaurs, the acquisition of food, his making of rudimentary instruments/clothes/ shelter. Perhaps the most meaningful of all his endeavors comes at the final pages of the book when he attempts to root out some small mammals that are ransacking his food store. His scientific training tells him that these little mammals are the very early ancestors of all mammals, including humans. He considers that he could mess with the fate of the world by selectively breeding them with other animals, but decides against it, declaring in a moment of moral clarity that "what is holy in mankind is that it has "created itself."

It is an interesting read, and amusing to consider moral and existential questions through this unique and imaginative lens. I would recommend this to folks who are interested in science fiction or philosophy.

[Lawrence · Rating 1 out of 5]

Apologies to the excellent friend who loaned me this book, but . . .

Woe to scholars who decide to write novels! They have lots of knowledge, but little art and sometimes little imagination. That is the case with this short undeveloped book.

Suddenly, the Sam Magruder of the title is hurled back millions of years to the age of the dinosaur. In that world, he is, of course, the only human being. He seems to be quite a lucky man what with successfully dodging those annoying (one of his words) tyrannosaurs. He is also a super "homo handyman" given his ability to make stone blades, fire up pots, and write his story on the stone slabs that are dug up in the time he disappeared from. That he is lonely and depressed is told us without any interesting backstory or reflection. It's more like, "I'm depressed." He sounds like a guy tinkering in his basement shop. The fictional scholars who discovered Sam's "slabs" even expurgate Sam's section on his sex drive and what he does about it. Gee.

I guess there is one seemingly interesting idea -- that Sam is the only man because he's gone back in time to an era before humans evolved. He is not like the man in Morselli's "Dissipatio H.G." who is suddenly alone in a world where men lived just yesterday in a world-wide civilization. But, you know, this is actually a distinction without a difference.

Lawrence says: You can skip this one.

[Uschi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was incredibly fortunate to be able to read this book, considering its rarity. And, I am going to be completely honest here... It was amazing. A short novella, but a great one. I learned more from this than an entire year of school.

Now, I will admit, I wanted to drop the book at first. The beginning is overly boring, not to mention confusing. But, I promise you, if you simply pull through, you will have an amazing story laid out before your very eyes. The overall plot is awesome: A man by the name of Sam Magruder travels back in time to the Jurassic period and writes about his adventures as he attempts survival and studies the impeccable dinosaurs around him. The people of today have found his relics and study them.

I learned a lot about dinosaurs and the Jurassic period from this, as well as some scientific terms that were quite foreign to me! In the chapters where you read Magruder's relics, it is truly an adventure. It is realistic and actually makes you think deeply about things such as morals when it comes to him fighting to survive.

An amazing book I would gladly read again.

[Francesca kikkatnt 'Free Palestine, Stop Genocide' · Rating 3 out of 5]

«Si è mai soffermato a pensare, a pensare veramente, a che cosa è lei? E perché?» domandò lo Storico Universale.


Devo dire che non mi ha entusiasmato più di tanto. Mi aveva incuriosito solo perché avevo letto il CV dell'autore (Ph.D. e Prof di geologia) e quindi mi aspettavo un hard-sci in tema con la suo profilo formativo. Devo dire che in questa novella si sono condensate diverse tematiche: primo fra tutte se siete amanti dei dinosauri ve lo consiglio caldamente, ci sono delle parti con tanto di disegni e piccole curiosità di cui non ne ero a conoscenza (primo fra tutti - Jurassic Park è stato tutto una menzogna XD ). In secondo luogo, tratta della solitudine e di come poter affrontare la vita senza la quotidianità e la routine di cui siamo abituati. (mi chiedo come abbia fatto a vivere fino a 60 anni..)

Spesso mi sono domandato perché continuassi a vivere. Quello, perlomeno, l'ho imparato, e ora che sono alla fine lo so. Potrebbe non esservi né speranza né ricompensa. Ho sempre conosciuto questa amara verità. Ma io sono un uomo, e un uomo è sempre responsabile di se stesso.

Tutto sommato non mi è dispiaciuto, ma più di tre stelle non riesco a dare.

[Grace Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a very fascinating read about time travel and slightly about dinosaurs. I picked up this book thinking that it would be mostly about the dinosaurs and how a person lived back in that time due to time travel. Now, while dinosaurs were a major part of the story, I felt like it was mostly focused on the time traveling and the morality behind it. Now of course, i loved that it was written by a paleontologist, but I also feel like that slightly limited his creativity as is information was so based in facts. With many fictions authors they create, strike out into uncharted waters, put themselves apart with a different way of looking at things. I feel like because Simpson's work was so based on fact that it is not really sci-fi, but a hidden look into the life of a scholar itself. Think of it like a fictional autobiography. It was still an interesting read and dove deep into the thoughts behind loneliness as a concept. It also made you think of the probability and ethics of time travel. All the while throwing in a good bit of dinosaur entertainment.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its teeth were six-inch daggers and gleamed white as it swung its ponderous head to face me. In a sort of hypnotic horror I thought inconsequentially, 'But your teeth should be dark brown!'. I had often seen the tyrannosaur skull in the Museum, and its teeth were deeply coloured. I had never stopped to think ... that in the living animal the teeth would be white. [p. 51]

Published posthumously, this novella is the work of renowned paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson: it comes with a preface by Arthur C Clarke and an afterword by Stephen Jay Gould (who strongly suggests that Simpson wrote this story as a riposte to those whose theories did not chime with his own).

The tale opens in the mid-22nd century, with a group of (male) scholars -- the Universal Historian, the Pragmatist, the Ethnologist, the Common Man, et cetera -- discussing whether it is ever possible to know that one is, and always will be, wholly alone. Why, yes! says the Historian, and provides the text of a testament found chiselled onto rock slabs. The author is Sam McGruder: while performing an experiment on the quantum theory of time, he accidentally sends himself 80 million years into the past with no hope of return. He laboriously records his encounters with various dinosaurs (vivid, but now outdated) and his survival strategies. He is, of course, incredibly lonely (I note that he does not attempt to tame any of the beasts he meets: surely a small herbivore would be better than no company at all?) and frequently wonders whether it would be better to just give up. But he doesn't.

An odd little novella, probably never intended for publication: thought-provoking, nicely described (I found it easy to overlook the aspects that are now outdated) and with intriguing glimpses of the future that McGruder lost.

I have a feeling that I read this -- or at least owned it -- back in the 90s: I borrowed a scanned version from the Internet Archive.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questo racconto lungo inizia nel 2162, quando il cronologo Sam Magruder, nel corso di esperimenti concernenti i suoi studi quantistici, scompare e viene catapultato nel cretacico, 80 milioni di anni prima.
L'espediente narrativo, ossia la discussione tra un gruppo di uomini nel XXII secolo, a seguito del ritrovamento di tavole riportanti la testimonianza di Sam Magruder è interessante e coerente, almeno al mio occhio inesperto.
Gli scritti ritrovati riportano il percorso di ambientamento dello studioso all'epoca dei dinosauri, che peraltro vengono descritti dettagliatamente (ci sono anche dei disegni che li rappresentano).
Le riflessioni legate al ritrovarsi unico uomo sulla Terra, con le certezze di restarlo e dell'impossibilità di tornare al proprio tempo, sono davvero interessanti e hanno rappresentato ciò che ho maggiormente apprezzato di questa breve lettura, che consiglio.

[Emily Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://em-and-emm.blogspot.com/2011/0...

Every now and then, one reads a book that makes the reader simultaneously feel very smart and somewhat stupid. This book is one of those. Written by one of the most celebrated paleontologists to ever live, this novel has an impressive scientific pedigree that's apparent just from reading the author's name on the cover. In addition, the book has an introduction by Arthur C. Clarke (!!!), and an afterword by Stephen Jay Gould (!!!!!!!!!). I don't think you could cram much more nerd/intellectual street cred into a book of this length. So, just by reading a book with these three names on the cover, one automatically feels smart.

The book is really a story within a story. The "outer" story, if you will, involves a group of scholars in the very far distant future. These scholars have no names, and are instead given titles like the Universal Historian, the Pragmatist, the Ethnologist, the Common Man, etc. These scholars are sitting around discussing the curious discovery of stone tablets from the Cretaceous. These stone tablets were engraved with the writings of a man who "slipped" back in time from the year 2162 to 80 MYA. The story within the story, or the "inner" story, is of course the text of these stone tablets.

The scientist who "slipped" is called Sam Magruder, and he was a chronologist, ie, an expert in the study of time. At the time of his accident, he was attempting to differentiate between the concept of linear time vs time-as-a-particle. The Universal Historian describes his studies as the "two time universes. One has motion but is without time dimensions or growth. The other is motionless but has a single dimension and grows steadily in one direction within that dimension" (11). This is where the "this book makes me feel dumb" part comes in, because I had to reread the two pages explaining the time universes multiple times before I really understood it. If you have a good understanding of physics, you might understand it this way: the time-motion universe is akin to the Eulerian description of motion in physics, and the motionless time universe is somewhat more like the Lagrangian description of motion. Sort of. Lagrangian and Eulerian descriptions of motion explained here.

Anyway, so Sam Magruder accidentally finds himself slipping from his lab to a swamp in the Cretaceous. Of course, the time slip only affected Sam himself, and not his clothes, so he not only has to find a way to eat and avoid being eaten, he has to clothe himself and generally keep himself healthy. He knows that there is no way for him to return to his original timeline, so in the interest of science, he records his life in the Cretaceous on stone slabs and hopes that at some point in the future, they will be discovered.

One of the more interesting aspects in the story is how Dr. Simpson's history as a paleontologist really shines through. It is clear that the story is being written by someone who really knows dinosaurs, and knows their anatomy. For the most part, Sam's story reads as a sort of scientific narrative: these are the dinosaurs I have seen, this is what they look like, this is how I avoided being eaten by them. However, in the second-to-last chapter, Sam finds himself pondering some small rodent-like mammals and contemplates himself playing God by selectively breeding them and hopefully speeding up the evolutionary processes that would eventually lead to modern-day mammals. This leads to what is probably the best little bit of text in the whole book:

I have a fair smattering of genetics and of practical animal breeding, learned in citizenship school before I specialized as a chronologist. I toyed long with the idea of selectively breeding the little mammals. I knew their tremendous possibilities, and I have no doubt that I could have speeded up their evolution, perhaps by some millions of years. But for what good? They have the spark, themselves. They are going to make it. Their descendants will be men, and they'll get there under their own power. Interference from one of those same descendants, even as a boost along the way, is not necessary. It would, in fact, be sacrilege. What is holy in mankind is that mankind, through this little beast, and so many others, has created itself. p 102.


The biggest drawback to the book is not really Dr. Simpson's fault. The book was found in his notes by his daughter, who was going through his notes after her father's death. The majority of the story was probably written in the 70s, but between Dr. Simpson's death in 1984 and the time of the book's publication, a lot changed in the field of paleontology. For example, Sam describes the dinosaurs as being incontrovertibly exothermic, ie cold-blooded, when the modern-day general consensus is that dinosaurs were probably at least partially endothermic. There are a few other spots where his knowledge is a little dated, particularly in the nomenclature for certain dinosaurs, but none that really take away from the plot.

The previously mentioned introduction and afterword by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Jay Gould are really integral to the reading of this book. Clarke does a remarkable job writing the introduction, making it a discussion of time travel in fiction and reality. Dr. Gould, who was one of the world's most celebrated paleontologists and evolutionary biologists in his own right, wrote a remarkable afterword, discussing the roles of fiction in science, and the dinosaurs, evolutionary theory, and philosophy seen in the book.

Definitely a recommended read, particularly for anyone with an interest in time travel stories, evolution and dinosaurs, or just good old-fashioned science fiction.