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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.
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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: 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.
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