Dinosaur in a Haystack

Dinosaur in a Haystack is a 1995 book by the paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. It collects essays culled from Gould's monthly column "The View of Life" published in Natural History magazine, which Gould contributed for 27 years. The book deals with themes familiar to Gould's writing: evolution, science biography, probabilities, and strange oddities found in nature.

Dinosaur in a Haystack

Cover
Author	Stephen Jay Gould
Language	English
Subject	Natural history
Publisher	Harmony Books
Publication date	December 12, 1995
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages	480
ISBN	0-517-70393-9
OCLC	33892123
Dewey Decimal	575 20
LC Class	QH366.2 .G659 1995
Preceded by	Eight Little Piggies
Followed by	Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms

His essay "Poe's Greatest Hit" analyzes the controversial conchology textbook The Conchologist's First Book (1839), edited by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe's volume on natural history sold out within two months, and was his only book republished during his lifetime. Essay "Dinomania" is a review of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park and Steven Spielberg's blockbuster film of the same name.

Reception

The book received favorable reviews in Publishers Weekly^[1] and The New York Times.^[2]