{"product_id":"the-dinosaur-artist-obsession-science-and-the-global-quest-for-fossils-paperback","title":"The Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Science, and the Global Quest for Fossils - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003ePaige Williams\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn this 2018 \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003eNotable Book, \u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaige Williams \"does for fossils what Susan Orlean did for orchids\" (Book Riot) in her account of one Florida man's reckless attempt to sell a dinosaur skeleton from Mongolia--a story \"steeped in natural history, human nature, commerce, crime, science, and politics\" (Rebecca Skloot).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 2012, a New York auction catalogue boasted an unusual offering: \"a superb Tyrannosaurus skeleton.\" In fact, Lot 49135 consisted of a nearly complete \u003cem\u003eT. bataar\u003c\/em\u003e, a close cousin to the most famous animal that ever lived. The fossils now on display in a Manhattan event space had been unearthed in Mongolia, more than 6,000 miles away. At eight-feet high and twenty-four feet long, the specimen was spectacular, and when the gavel sounded, the winning bid was over $1 million.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEric Prokopi, a thirty-eight-year-old Floridian, was the man who had brought this extraordinary skeleton to market. A onetime collegiate-level swimmer who spent his teenage years diving for shark teeth, Prokopi's singular obsession with fossils fueled a thriving business hunting, preparing, and selling specimens, to clients ranging from natural history museums to avid private collectors like actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicolas Cage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut there was a problem. This time, facing financial strain, had Prokopi gone too far? As the \u003cem\u003eT. bataar\u003c\/em\u003e went to auction, a network of paleontologists alerted the government of Mongolia to the eye-catching lot. An international custody battle ensued, and Prokopi watched his own world unravel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the tradition of \u003cem\u003eThe Orchid Thief\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Dinosaur Artist\u003c\/em\u003e is a stunning work of narrative journalism about humans' relationship with natural history and a seemingly intractable conflict between science and commerce. A story that stretches from Florida's Land O' Lakes to the Gobi Desert, \u003cem\u003eThe Dinosaur Artist\u003c\/em\u003e illuminates the history of fossil collecting--a murky, sometimes risky business, populated by eccentrics and obsessives, where the lines between poacher and hunter, collector and smuggler, enthusiast and opportunist, can easily blur.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn her first book, Paige Williams has given readers an irresistible story that spans continents, cultures, and millennia as she examines the question of who, ultimately, owns the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaige Williams\u003c\/b\u003e is a staff writer at the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker \u003c\/i\u003eand a Mississippi native. A National Magazine Award winner for feature writing, she has had her journalism anthologized in various volumes of the \u003ci\u003eBest American\u003c\/i\u003e series, including \u003ci\u003eThe Best American Magazine Writing \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e The Best American Crime Writing\u003c\/i\u003e. She is the Laventhol\/Newsday Visiting Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, and has taught at schools including the University of Mississippi, New York University, the Missouri School of Journalism, and, at M.I.T., in the Knight Science Journalism program. Williams has been a fellow of The MacDowell Colony and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. At the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, she has written about suburban politics in Detroit, the death penalty in Alabama, paleoanthropology in South Africa, and the theft of cultural palimony from the Tlingit peoples of Alaska.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 432\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.3 x 8.1 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 10, 2019\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47384926814386,"sku":"9780316382519","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/3891\/1666\/files\/f87a5366a98af808ec40bacf9abf1606.webp?v=1777897248","url":"https:\/\/box.dadyminds.org\/products\/the-dinosaur-artist-obsession-science-and-the-global-quest-for-fossils-paperback","provider":"DADYMINDS BOX","version":"1.0","type":"link"}