“T. Rex, Darwin and Adventures in the West,” a new book by Steven M. Stanley, is published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.
Tyrannosaurus Rex is everyone’s favorite dinosaur and plays a central role in this book, even in death. But this work is about the journey of eleven students through college, including their adventures in the West with an inspirational Professor Goodspeed, nicknamed “Speedy.”
A group of friends calling themselves “The Mélange” discover a stolen T. rex skull, sparking a scandal of international proportions. A mini-reunion of the Mélange is arranged in the hope that a pre-graduation fracas that drove them apart will be forgotten. It is, and the event is a great success. We learn about the lives of the Mélangers since graduation, and there are a few surprises. T. Rex, Darwin, and Adventures in the West covers aspects of science accessible to non-scientists, peppered with fascinating aspects of natural science to educate the reader about Earth’s history and evolution. In the process, readers learn how to defend evolution against creationists.
About the author
Steven M. Stanley is a paleontologist with an AB from Princeton, summa cum laude, and a Ph.D. from Yale. He was a lecturer at Johns Hopkins for many years and a few years at the University of Hawaii. He is now a part-time research professor at Florida State University and a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution. Steven has written textbooks and technical books on science. His The New Evolutionary Timetable was nominated for the American Book Award. In a review of his book Children of the Ice Age: How a Global Catastrophe Allowed Humans to Evolve in the LA Times, Douglas Preston wrote, “Not since the invention of the atom bomb has a nonfiction book gripped me so much.”
Steven was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal as a professor and author. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and has received numerous medals and other awards. In the last thirty years, Steven was the only paleontologist to receive the Penrose Medal, the Geological Society of America’s highest award “for outstanding achievement in pure research.” He is also an amateur landscape architect, building terraces and planting trees, shrubs and perennials, and he has a wonderful daughter who was adopted in Russia.
T. Rex, Darwin, and Adventures out West is a 344-page hardcover with a retail price of $36.00 (eBook $31.00). The ISBN is 979-8-89127-947-6. It was published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Members of the press may request a review copy or author interview at https://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/pages/media-requests or purchase the book from our online bookstore at https://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/products/t-rex-darwin-and-adventures-out-west.
