https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2023/08/2023110-dechronization-of-sam-mcgruder.ht... ( )

I have no idea how I came across this book, it's not one you see hanging around the bookshop much. But however I found it, I'm really glad I did. I love time travel stories and this was a good one. And who doesn't love dinosuars? It's a nice, easy read and it's a short book, which is a bit of a pity as I didn't want it to end.

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This is such a great little story! The bright pink cover is at odds with the storyline but don't let that put you off, I actually quite like the colour...it's 'quirky'. A very quick read and therein lies it's only flaw....it ended too soon. I hung on every word and would have liked to see many, many more of them.

The book was only ever intended as an amusement for the author, but by chance was it found after his death and published, and lucky for us that it was.

Short synopsis would be that an academic (Sam McGruder) from the far future (the year 2162), travels back in time to a place in prehistory where dinosaurs roamed, with no chance of ever getting back. Now, it's not JUST the story that hooks the reader, it's all the thought provoking ideas that the story presents too. What would 'I' do? How would 'I' cope? Would I cope?!

I wanted it to go on and on and on......

It's very short so any details I give are likely to be spoilers but suffice to say it's a great book and one not to be missed. From the moment you pick it up it will draw you in. Even if it's not your usual type of reading material, it's still worth the read.

Remember....don't let the pink cover put you off! ( )

This slim novel was found in Simpson's papers 10 years after his death. He was a famous vertebrate paleontologist who wrote lots of scientific books during his illustrious career, but this is fiction. It's the story of Sam Magruder who goes back in time to the age of the dinosaurs. Magruder is alone- the only human for a billion years, and most of the transcendent bits of the novel deal with how he copes. It's a lovely, haunting little book. ( )

An intriguing approach to time travel fiction by a brilliant scientist, probably the leading paleontologist of his day. I really enjoyed seeing what such an exceptional, trained mind could come up with. The introduction, by Arthur C. Clarke, and afterword, by Stephen Jay Gould, add significantly to the book's significance. ( )