The author wishes to thank the following people for their kind use of the quotations in this book:
Excerpts from “How to Tell a True War Story” from THE THINGS THEY CARRIED by Tim O’Brien. Copyright © 1990 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved
For quote by Wolfram M. Kürschner, Zlatko Kvacˇek, and David L. Dilcher in The impact of Miocene atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuations on climate and the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, p. 452, Copyright © 2008, National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., Kay McLaughlin for Diane Sullenberger, Executive Editor PNAS
For quote by W. David Lambert: with kind permission from Springer Science+Business Media: “Ecosystems”, Functional Convergence of Ecosystems: Evidence from Body Mass Distributions of North American Late Miocene Mammal Fauna, Volume 9, Issue 1, pp 97-118, February 2006, W. David Lambert
For quote by Lester Brown: Earth Policy Institute
For quote by Thomas Berry: The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University
For quote by Peter Raven: Peter Raven, Missouri Botanical Garden
For quote by Björn Kurtén: Marina Kurtén, MA, Translator, Information liaison, Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki
For quotes by S. David Webb: S. David Webb, Florida Museum of Natural History
For quote by Jeremy Rifkin: Christian Pollard, Technical Publications and Media Coordinator, Office of Jeremy Rifkin, Foundation on Economic Trends
For quote by Tim Radford: Helen Wilson, Content Sales Manager, Syndication, Guardian News and Media Ltd.
For quotes by David Rains Wallace: Greta Lindquist, Subsidiary Rights Assistant, University of California Press
For quote by Bruce MacFadden: Bruce MacFadden, Florida Museum of Natural History
For quote by Frederick Crews: Frederick Crews, University of California, Berkeley
For by quote Edwin Way Teale: Deana Dupree, Permissions Manager, St. Martin's Press / Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
For quote by Edward Abbey: Reprint by permission of Don Congdon Associates, Inc.
© 1987 by Edward Abbey.
The Voice was written by Brendan Graham, Peermusic (UK) Ltd.
It’s In the Rain and If I Could Be Where You Are are Enya (Ni Bhraonain) songs, and were written by Roma Ryan, EMI Music Publishing / Sony/ATV
My wonderful daughter, Carissa Rayborne, for finding and correcting errors throughout.
My brother Rod Rayborne, for his outstanding artistry in the creation of the cover of this book and “Miocene California”, and for patiently putting up with my pickiness.
Paleoartist Marianne Collins, for letting me use her beautiful Miocene painting.
My college English instructor, Lynn Steiner, for her inspirational teaching, and for graciously giving me two weeks of her time to edit Opalescence.
Those scientists who kindly allowed me to ask and answered my questions, including (but not limited to):
S. David Webb, Ph.D. Distinguished Research Professor and curator, Florida Museum of Natural History. President, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Jere Lipps, Ph.D., Director of the John D. Cooper Archaeological and Paleontological Center, Santa Ana, and Professor Emeritus, Department of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley
John Wakabayashi, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, California State University, Fresno.
William L. Bilodeau, Ph.D. Professor of Geology and Chair, Geology Department, California Lutheran University.
The lovely Lisa Kelly of Celtic Woman, whose incomparable singing inspired me throughout.
Los Angeles Times Book Reviewer, Michael Harris, for reading and commenting on a draft copy.
The publishing teams at Smashwords and Amazon for patiently walking me through the process.
And finally, to Mother Earth, which has provided so much for so long to her many offspring.