Rating: 
Summary: A fanciful story to make one think . . . . .
Review: Here we have a great book by a great man on a great issue which really leaves any great answer to the perception and intelligence of the reader, great or otherwise.
In other words, devoid of answers from the three great men who contributed to the book -- it could become a great movie, if anyone in Hollywood is great enough to understand it. Otherwise, it's a great read at any level from the banality of Jurassic Park to the profound meanings of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Speaking of Jurassic Park, the inherent logic of this book reflects one reviewer's comment that the movie was so good it was impossible to tell the fake dinosaurs from the real ones.
The premise of the book is interesting, "If you knew, knew with complete conviction, that nothing you did could possibly be observed by anyone else, would it seem worthwhile to do anything?" In this case, which refutes the original premise, the answer is to leave a message for someone else to find.
It's Robinson Crusoe without the woodsy ingenuity, with dinosaurs instead of pirates. Simpson was widely regarded as the greatest vertebrate paleontologist of the last century; but in this book he seems to realize his dinosaur knowledge was limited to fossil bones and not even as much as the smell of a dinosaur, let alone the flowers of the plants on which they survived.
One interesting issue he raises concerns crocodiles, unchanged for 100 million years. Simpson says, "Here was no failure but an adaptation so successful, so perfect that once developed it never needed to change." Stephen Jay Gould in an afterword, says Simpson "offers the ultimate Darwinian explanation for human success -- not an inherent trend of our innate superiority (as the old anti-Darwinian theorists might have argued), but the good fortune of our ancestors' lives in a challenging and changing environment that required continual evolutionary activity."
Okay, what about accidental genetic change that produces a wide range of options of which only a few, or none, can survive in a changing environment? The "challenging and changting environment" is lip service to the spirit of free enterprise and competition with which we describe our social environment. But what if that's wrong?
Sam Magruder was catapulted 80 million years back in time, and remained very much Sam Magruder -- it's as if Simpson has set out to sly shatter Gould's (and thousands of other scientists) "ultimate Darwinian explanation for human success."
It's what makes this a fascinating quick read which prompts any number of open-ended questions. He offers no rough and ready easy answers, which may be why the book doesn't sit on top of the best-seller lists. But then, how many books (or songs or movies) that make people think have ever topped the charts?
Rating: 
Summary: De-chronicalization of George G. Simpson
Review: An excellent book, even though it has its flowing horribly compromised by old-fashioned theories (e.g. Simpson says dinosaurs are cold-blooded), for it was written on the last decade. I'd give two reasons for you to read it : the explanations concerning chronology (a future discipline) are very neat; and it has a highly philosophical content. Stephen Gould's posface is nearly undispensable while understanding the text.
Worht reading; specially for fans of the so-called "hard SF"...
Rating: 
Summary: Time Travel and Neology
Review: I admit it: I am a sucker for time travel stories. They don't even have to be any good. I'll still read them, and probably like them. This book, however, is quite good. It takes the time-slip convention and turns it into a scientific "fact" by giving it a fancy sounding name: dechronization. Just the fact that it uses a pseudo-term like that would make it a favorite with me even if it was written in gibberish, but I have a thing about neology. Since reading this book, I have started slipping the word "dechronization" and all its variants into conversation whenever possible. It is my hope that one day this word will be common koine. The other notable point of this book the reaction of Magruder to the dechronization. Since he is a chronologist, he knows that the chances of his being re-dechronized are beyond impossible. So he has absolutely no chance of seeing another person. Ever. But he doesn't give in to the hopelessness that I know I would feel. He continues to live. He takes a lesson from Robinson Crusoe, and makes a good life there in the middle of nowhere (or in this case nowhen). All in all, I think this is a must-read for wannabe time travelers like myself. Or maybe just anyone who likes the linguistic oddities inherent in time travel.
Rating:
Summary: Time Travel and Neology
Review: I admit it: I am a sucker for time travel stories. They don't even have to be any good. I'll still read them, and probably like them. This book, however, is quite good. It takes the time-slip convention and turns it into a scientific "fact" by giving it a fancy sounding name: dechronization. Just the fact that it uses a pseudo-term like that would make it a favorite with me even if it was written in gibberish, but I have a thing about neology. Since reading this book, I have started slipping the word "dechronization" and all its variants into conversation whenever possible. It is my hope that one day this word will be common koine. The other notable point of this book the reaction of Magruder to the dechronization. Since he is a chronologist, he knows that the chances of his being re-dechronized are beyond impossible. So he has absolutely no chance of seeing another person. Ever. But he doesn't give in to the hopelessness that I know I would feel. He continues to live. He takes a lesson from Robinson Crusoe, and makes a good life there in the middle of nowhere (or in this case nowhen). All in all, I think this is a must-read for wannabe time travelers like myself. Or maybe just anyone who likes the linguistic oddities inherent in time travel.
Rating:
Summary: Paleontologist Writes About Paleontologist
Review: I just finished a very entertaining little book called THE DECHRONIZATION OF SAM MACGRUDER by George Gaylord Simpson. For those who don't recognize the name, George Simpson was known as the greatest paleontologist of the twentieth century. The story of Sam MacGruder begins in the future but after a time slip encompasses the end of the age of dinosaurs. Sam finds himself in a primitive era with no hope of rescue. Soon he learns how to survive in this early age and then sets about carving some stone tablet memoirs which he later sinks in a swamp. This tale of time travel is framed by a series of weekly gatherings among some intellectuals. As in H.G. Wells's classic, these characters are referred to by title and not by name. This adds a delightful air to this short novel. One of these men sets the stage of Sam's disappearance and of the discovery of the stone memoirs. After the host tells these tales the others are invited to read transcripts of the tablets. This volume also has an entertaining introduction by Arthur C. Clarke, a commentary by Stephen J. Gould and notes from Simpson's daughter who found the manuscript and saw to its publication. All in all a very entertaining little book for anyone interested in time travel and/or prehistory. The one thing many will hold against this book is the "old school" idea that dinosaurs were cold-blooded.
Rating:
Summary: Paleontologist Writes About Paleontologist
Review: I just finished a very entertaining little book called THE DECHRONIZATION OF SAM MACGRUDER by George Gaylord Simpson. For those who don't recognize the name, George Simpson was known as the greatest paleontologist of the twentieth century. The story of Sam MacGruder begins in the future but after a time slip encompasses the end of the age of dinosaurs. Sam finds himself in a primitive era with no hope of rescue. Soon he learns how to survive in this early age and then sets about carving some stone tablet memoirs which he later sinks in a swamp. This tale of time travel is framed by a series of weekly gatherings among some intellectuals. As in H.G. Wells's classic, these characters are referred to by title and not by name. This adds a delightful air to this short novel. One of these men sets the stage of Sam's disappearance and of the discovery of the stone memoirs. After the host tells these tales the others are invited to read transcripts of the tablets. This volume also has an entertaining introduction by Arthur C. Clarke, a commentary by Stephen J. Gould and notes from Simpson's daughter who found the manuscript and saw to its publication. All in all a very entertaining little book for anyone interested in time travel and/or prehistory. The one thing many will hold against this book is the "old school" idea that dinosaurs were cold-blooded.
Rating:
Summary: Enter Time & Space
Review: I love time travel and I loved this book. Incredibly it was way too short, but a masterpiece for its genre.
Rating:
Summary: Read Only Once, Regret Loaning to A Friend
Review: I picked this book up in a used book store about 10 years ago. Was fascinated by the smart time travel story. I generally like to spread the word about good books so I loaned this to a friend who never returned it. Since then I've thought about the nice concise writing and compact story that manages to make one think, especially since I liked how he wraps up the story with a good moral on what it means to be human.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: In the year 2162, the eminent chronologist Sam Magruder mysteriously disappeared while running an experiment. Some years later, while arguing about the possibility of being totally alone, the evidence is produced that Sam Magruder did not die in 2162, but was transported back in time some 80 million years! Engraved upon sandstone slabs, found in a bed of shale, is found the story of Sam Magruder's existence in the late Cretaceous period. Alone, with no hope of ever seeing another human being again, Sam survived, and this is his story. The famous paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson penned this short story, apparently for his own amusement, but it is a masterpiece. Considering Dr. Simpson's field, I would have assumed that this story would be entirely about what Sam found in the Cretaceous, but that's only part of the story. As the opening chapter tells, this is the story of a modern (OK, future) man's coming to grips with his situation, one containing only danger and isolation. I am sure that my words do not do justice to this story. This work is complex and fascinating beyond some lengthy works produced by noted authors. I recommend it to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: A better look at dinasours than Jurasic Park!
Review: Simpson is considered to have been the world's foremost expert in the physiology and functioning of dinasours. As such, his fiction presents a strikingly accurate and fascinating look at the ecosystem of the dinasaur. His look at chronology and time functioning is unscientific and a bit juvenile, but this book is a real adventure!
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