The Dechronization of Sam Magruder
	Author(s):	Simpson, George Gaylord
	Publisher:	St. Martin's Paperbacks
	Date:	1996
	ISBN:	0-312-15514-X
	Cause:	Time Travel
	Creatures:	Extinct Reptiles
	Submitted by:	Mike Riley (02/01/05)
Exerpt: "I did return to my senses. I was shocked back into them sometime during the course of the afternoon by my fist sight of a tyrannosaur .. It was a reptile, a dinosaur fifteen feet high as it poised on its ponderous hind legs, thirty feet long from it obscene snout to the end of its great, tapered tail."
Reviews: "This novella brims with an intellectual vitality .. The Dechronization of Sam Magruder is a small gem, and readers who prize elegance over bombast will be rewarded by seeking it out." (San Francisco Chronicle) "The late George Gaylord Simpson's short novel is an amazing little discovery." (All Things Considered) "Excellent physical descriptions of dinosaurs and their various adaptations .. [but] amid the sauropods and hadrosaurs is a flesh-and-blood man, aching with total and irreversible loneliness." (The New York Times Book Review) "Filled with magnificent descriptions of the dinosaurs as only Simpson himself could render them, The Dechronization of Sam Magruder is not only a classic time-travel tale but a philosophical work that astutely ponders the complexities of human existence and achievement." (Publishers Weekly)

2-1/2 Scars

My Opinion: This is a short, bizarre little fiction novelette written by the eminent paleontologist, George Gaylord Simpson. This book actually consists of a 19 page introduction by Arthur C. Clarke, a 29 page afterword by Stephen J. Gould, and the story itself which is only 99 pages in length. While some of the science is dated, the conclusions debatable, and the length short, the story is quite thought provoking. Most "dinosaur fans" and probably most paleontologists have mused about traveling back in time to experience what the Earth and the animals in it were like during the Mesozoic. However, most of this line of thought is based on the assumption that one could return to the present to share what one discovers with other humans. But what if one was transported back into the "Age of the Dinosaurs", utterly alone with absolutely no hope of ever returning to the present; of ever seeing another human being for the rest of their life? Upon what would one's goals, dreams, and aspirations be based? This is an interesting read which gives credence to the old saying "Be careful what you wish for ... it might just come true".

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