As with any project of this kind, writing and publishing my story would not have been possible without many people’s encouragement and support. My editor at Columbia University Press, Patrick Fitzgerald, first urged me to make my previous book, Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters, more personal and autobiographical, and I have been encouraged by the reactions to that approach ever since. Writers such as Peter Ward, Mike Novacek, Doug Erwin, Bill Schopf, Andy Knoll, and especially Stephen Jay Gould were my models for integrating personal, social, and professional anecdotes into a broader scientific tale. I thank my former professors and mentors in college and graduate school, including Mike Woodburne, Mike Murphy, Dick Tedford, Niles Eldredge, and especially my graduate adviser, Malcolm McKenna. He passed away only months ago, but the influence he had on me and on my entire profession was and still is enormous. Likewise, after seven years I still feel the pain of the loss of Stephen Jay Gould, who not only was a friend and mentor, but also helped me in my career many times when I needed him. I thank Rich Stucky, Dave Bottjer, Tom Rich, Linda Ivany, and Ellen Thomas for reviewing parts of the book, and Patrick Fitzgerald, Meredith Howard, and Marina Petrova at Columbia University Press for their efforts in producing it. I thank Carl Buell for his amazing drawings.
Finally, this project would never have happened without my family’s love and support: my parents, Shirley and Cliff Prothero, who encouraged my love of animals and dinosaurs and never urged me to seek a practical career when prospects for paleontology employment were bleak; my wonderful sons, Erik, Zachary, and Gabriel, who make it all worthwhile; and especially my amazing wife, Teresa, who is my strongest supporter and closest friend.
Three hypsilophodontid dinosaurs gaze up at the Southern Lights, while an ornithomimid dinosaur sleeps the long, dark winter away in Cretaceous Australia. (Painting by P. Trusler, courtesy T. Rich)
