I thank my supportive editor, Patrick Fitzgerald, for suggesting the idea and making many important contributions. I thank Kathryn Jorge at Columbia University Press for overseeing the production of the book and Ben Kolstad at Cenveo for managing the production. I thank Greg Retallack and Nick Fraser for their perceptive comments and suggestions and Paul Hoffman for comments on chapter 16.
I thank my son, Erik Prothero, for editing and redrawing many of the illustrations in Illustrator and Photoshop. I thank many different people for permission to use their images as credited in the captions.
Finally, I thank my loving and supportive family for all their help: my sons Erik, Zachary, and Theodore, and my amazing wife Dr. Teresa LeVelle.