May 18, 2011
Boneheads: A Paleontological Mid-Life Crisis
Boneheads by Richard Polsky
The way a mid-life crisis manifests itself differs from person to person. Some people might suddenly decide to take up sky diving, others are driven to purchase a shiny car they can’t afford. A rare few, as in Richard Polsky’s case, may feel an overwhelming urge to find a Tyrannosaurus rex. With his career as an art dealer in stasis, Polsky writes in the introduction to his travelogue memoir Boneheads, it was time “to experience life all over again,” and a search for the most famous predator of all time seemed like just the thing.
Finding a Tyrannosaurus is no easy task. Even though more than 43 specimens have been found to date and the dinosaur is one of the most completely known of all dinosaurs, you can’t simply walk out into the field and expect to find a complete tyrant skull smiling back at you. Polsky seems to understand this, and so he fashioned himself as a fossil gadfly—buzzing around fossil dealers and commercial fossil hunters in the hope that one of them will lead him to his quarry. His quest was not to discover a Tyrannosaurus for a museum or to understand something about the animal’s biology—Boneheads is almost devoid of any scientific content—but instead merely to find a tyrant to call his own.
Polsky’s journey to secure a Tyrannosaurus winds through hotel rooms, rural bars, greasy spoons and ranches. After getting a little help with initial introductions from his friend Henry Galiano—founder of the New York City natural history store Maxilla & Mandible—Polsky eventually meets up with some of the fossil hunters associated with recent Tyrannosaurus finds in the hope that one of them will take him out into the field. Peter Larson, one of the fossil hunters who excavated the famous Tyrannosaurus known as “Sue,” declines, as do several other fossil hunters, but Polsky does have a measured degree of success. Along the way Polsky meets Maurice Williams—the owner of the ranch where Sue was found—and somehow the wannabe fossil hunter convinces Williams to let him search the ranch for other Tyrannosaurus fossils. The search doesn’t yield much, but soon Polsky latches onto the self-proclaimed “Fossil King” Bob Detrich and his crew. Given to hyperbole and stretching the evidence further than it will go, Dietrich is a man after Polsky’s own heart in that he is seemingly convinced that there is a Tyrannosaurus in almost every fossil deposit, even when more experienced dinosaur hunters say it just isn’t so.
Polsky’s attempts to locate a Tyrannosaurus are about more than the simple thrill of hunting down a prehistoric monster. The Tyrannosaurus acts as a kind of totem of a road left untraveled. Long before he became an author and an art dealer, Polsky confides, he wanted to be a paleontologist. He met with a few paleontologists, went on a fossil-hunting trip at Dinosaur National Monument, and even volunteered prepping fossils at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Polsky saw himself as a brilliant budding paleontologist, but college was a cold bath. “I never realized that majoring in geology was actually majoring in science,” Polsky writes, and after two weeks of studying geology he realized that the field was not for him. Still, the compulsion to collect fossils came back to him later in life, and Polsky believed that finding a Tyrannosaurus would act as an unmistakable confirmation that he was truly meant to be a paleontologist.
Paleontology doesn’t work that way. Simply finding a fossil—even a Tyrannosaurus—does not automatically make you a paleontologist. Anyone can become a paleontologist with effort and dedicated study—a Ph.D. in the field is not a prerequisite—but the passion to learn about the life of the past in a scientific and responsible way must be there. Polsky clearly lacks that. He spends no time educating himself on the science behind the dinosaur he is hunting, and he spends only a few short hours in the field. Boneheads is clearly the memoir of an art dealer after another rare object, not of someone who cares a whit about what fossils actually mean.
Nevertheless, Polsky’s book is a worthwhile read for dinosaur fans because it records the mania that surrounds Tyrannosaurus rex. Discovering one of these famous dinosaurs can be more of a nightmare than a blessing—especially with the complicated nature of land ownership in the West—and Polsky’s story features expert fossil hunters that are well known to those in the field but will be unfamiliar to casual dinosaur fans. The commercial fossil world is a strange place—one of petrified wonders, forgeries, and odd personalities—and Boneheads offers a brief glimpse of this unique world in which every fossil has its price.
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I guess i can relate somewhat. One of the “great” things about depression is i get to have a midlife crisis in my early 20′s, with no solution in site.
“Boneheads is clearly the memoir of an art dealer after another rare object, not of someone who cares a whit about what fossils actually mean.”… pretty harsh words for a man that you clearly emulate. You have no geology degree let alone a masters Mr. Switek, yet you write books yourself. Maybe you should cut the guy a break. He simply wrote about being fascinated. Just because you write about others work, doesn’t make you any better.
John M. Graduate Columbia NY
John: I would say Brian is better. Brian actually cares about what the fossils mean. He didn’t go out to Montana and search for dinosaur bones to satisfy a personal wim. He did it to find fossils for the New Jersey State Museum (where he was a research associate). He does his best to educate himself on the topics he writes about and is always keeping the science and the bigger picture in mind. Maybe you ought to do the same.
I completely agree with you John. Brian does talk in his posts as if he was actually the one doing the research. Doug, Switek copies and pastes, so to speak, others work while adding in commentary. Volunteering for a dig does not make anyone a researcher. My 8 year old can do that. Maybe when you sacrifice 10 years of study as opposed to 10 years of blog posting, you will understand. I wouldn’t mind Brian if his posts were more as fan, rather then a researcher. I love the ocean, but I don’t write a blog as if I’m an researcher on the subject, let alone promote myself as such on my own site as if I write the papers I write about. That is the problem with research clogging and it getting old. I once had a journalist’s work on my work printed. She was applauded as if she write the paper. Please.
Doug… you don’t have a clue about me. I always have the bigger picture in mind. I critized Brian because he writes like he is better then anyone who doesn’t. He has tons of free time to write, which is fine, but STOP with the attitude that you are doing science a favor. I have followed Brian for sometime and he is just fan boy that has become popular. Mainly in part because he has been blogging for so long. He has no field experience outside of a volunteered trip out west. He reads, he summarizes and he writes books based on it all. Give me a break Doug. I have scene enough. His last or only book is a collection of stuff already written. Try reading the original work cited in it.
… and there are far better blogs.
“Doug, Switek copies and pastes, so to speak, others work while adding in commentary.”- Read any paleontology papers? Cause that’s what so many of them do. They cite other people’s and add commentary.
“Volunteering for a dig does not make anyone a researcher. My 8 year old can do that.”- I never said it does. also, I didn’t say he was a volunteer, i pointed out that he was a research associate. Did you forget that? Or did you just ignore it because it was inconvenient to your argument? Looking for fossils and digging them up is not easy. You think it is, so let’s see your kid do it. Or better yet, let’s see you do it.
“Maybe when you sacrifice 10 years of study as opposed to 10 years of blog posting, you will understand.”- Define study. I think you and John make the not insignificant blunder that only academic with lofty credentials can do research. Brian has talked about how people can still make contributions without a degree. Brad Rhiney, a paleontologist at the San Diego Natural History Museum, didn’t get a formal degree. Better yet, Jack Horner was never able to get his bachelor’s degree, yet he was still awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science. A degree helps, but it’s not always necessary. Research doesn’t just have to be hands on in the field or lab. Brian had made clear that he has read enormous amounts of the scientific literature. Writing the way he does takes research. One more thing: Brian has written articles for more than just blogs (like The Guardian, Wired Science, Smithsonian, and the Wall Street Journal) as well as 4 academic papers.
“I wouldn’t mind Brian if his posts were more as fan, rather then a researcher.”- How does he? Specifics please. And i read his stuff because he doesn’t just write as a fan. Instead of “oh man, this paper is awesome.” he actually goes into detail, discussing it’s relevance and importance to the big picture. And i like that he is able to provide the commentary he is able to because of his personal research. It makes him more than just another blogger.
“I love the ocean, but I don’t write a blog as if I’m an researcher on the subject, let alone promote myself as such on my own site as if I write the papers I write about. That is the problem with research clogging and it getting old.”- Again, how does he do so? It helps so much when you can actually provide examples (not just with Brian, but with “research clogging” in general). Or do you not have any and are just senselessly lashing out?
“I once had a journalist’s work on my work printed. She was applauded as if she write the paper. Please.”- Be sure to brush up on your English composition. It makes it much easier to understand what your babbling about. And whose fault would it be for your case? Did she outright say she wrote it? If anything it’s the fault of the reader’s for drawing that conclusion. Or are you just sour that a journalist did sloppy work in reporting your paper and are taking it out on Brian? Brian makes clear who writes the papers and what their ideas are. He does so because he is something that is becoming rare and rarer in this country: a competent journalist. On top of that, as i noted above (again, did you forget or ignored it?), he does it out of passion and interest in science. He looks at the big of the world, the scientific community, and the media. He takes effort to understand the topic at hand, making sure not to fall prey to sensationalism (or commit it) as so many others do.
all right i give up. I am nothing more than an ill informed fanboy with the debating skill of a creationist. sorry to waste your time people.
Good grief … it’s a book, not a Phd thesis – Polsky says way up front he wanted to see if he had taken a wrong path and went about doing it in mid life … he wasn’t trying to re-invent the wheel just get his hands a little dirty … mid life crisis are all about ‘pretending’ to be something and trying out for size …
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