Re: The last dinosaur book- great pix!

[George Leonard <gl91bciiLt@earthlink.net>]

> Indeed, our Dinosaur
>> Culture finds its history there-- in the pix, not the "playful" text.
>
>Can't deny the gorgeous printing or the slick design work. And I
>certainly hold nothing against the University of Chicago Press - among
>the many great works they've published is an incredible study of the
>origins of paleoart, Martin Rudwick's _Scenes of Deep Time_.

Dear Jeff and Matt,
Here's what I think the real significance of Last Dinosaur Book is, for 
all of us who've been taking dinosaurs seriously.  This isn't just some 
guy, like him or not, this is Mitchell, the Arch Druid himself, editor of 
Critical Inquiry, publishing a hardcover book with the prestigious 
University of Chicago Press. In stature, Mitchell is the humanities' 
version of Ostrum or Bakker: the radical whose revolution succeeded.And 
HE says we were smart to get interested in dinosaurs before it was 
fashionable. Mitchell and Chicago had the clout to stare down the kind of 
stupid reactions we're all too familiar with when we mention dinosaurs. 
(So I doubly hate to see him get sniped from behind by any of us.) I 
think he and his book are good for business, speaking very bluntly, and I 
APPRECIATE the end of the "kid stuff" jokes his endorsement of our work 
has already brought about. It has already changed the reactions I get to 
my own dinosaur book in progress. 
Sincerely, 
George

George J. Leonard, Ph.D. 
Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities
San Francisco State University
530 Humanities Hall
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, California, 94132
Ph: (415) 338-7428
FAX: (650) 366-5045
Website: http://www.georgeleonard.com