Mesozoic Meanderings #2 third printing

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

Publication of the third printing of _Mesozoic Meanderings_ #2 is
now imminent enough that I can make the following prepublication
offer. I won't know the final cover price until I finish
inserting the illustrations and cladograms into the layouts, but
it will be _at least_ $35, not including postage. Here is a brief
description of the book:

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            Mesozoic Meanderings #2 (third printing)
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The first book I ever published in paleontology was a little
listing in systematic order of all the Mesozoic archosaurs except
the crocodilians and birds. This was _Mesozoic Meanderings_ #1,
which appeared in 1978. An updated and corrected version,
produced on my original desktop system in 1991, listed those
archosaurs once again. But by then I had become dissatisfied with
archosaur systematics, so I reclassified the archosaurs my way
and published the whole thing as _Mesozoic Meanderings_ #2, a
200-page book, in a 100-copy printing. This sold out rapidly, and
I returned to press in 1992 with a 272-page second printing of
100 more copies. Now I have transferred the document to my new
desktop system, and I've rewritten about half of what has to be
rewritten before I can produce the whopping 300-page-plus third
printing and fill out my list of back orders.

In the meantime, my dissatisfaction with archosaur classification
has turned into what my wife has persuaded me to call the BCF
theory (Birds Came First), as opposed to the "outdated" BADD
theory (Birds Are Dinosaur Descendants). (See my article in the
June 1994 issue of _Omni_ for a pop-sci account of BCF theory.)

The central thesis of BCF is that birds developed more or less
directly from small, arboreal archosaurs that I call "dino-
birds," and that what we call dinosaurs--particularly theropod
dinosaurs--are the giant, ground-dwelling descendants of those
dino-birds. The clade of plant-eating dinosaurs (brontosaurs and
ornithischians: Phytodinosauria) diverged first, followed
serially by such groups as lagosuchids, herrerasaurids,
ceratosaurids, and so forth, right up to ratite birds and moas.
There is not enough space here to explain the whole thing; pick
up _MM_ #2 (third printing) for the whole story.

Dinosaur taxonomists should note that, with a few very difficult-
to-find exceptions, the spellings of all the species names have
been checked against the original descriptions and are better
than 99.99% correct.
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This prepublication offer, effective from now until the book is
actually printed and in my hands (estimated some time in
February, if I can get the galleys finished this month) is $30
per copy. Postage is extra: $3.90 per copy US priority mail;
$4.72 per copy for first-class mail for other North American
orders; and $7.55 third-class surface mail for overseas. If
you're really hot for this book and overseas, overseas air mail
is $20.00 (egad!).

Send check (in US funds drawn on a US bank, payable to me, George
Olshevsky) for $30 + postage to:

                        George Olshevsky
                 Publications Requiring Research
                 PO Box 543 Central Park Station
                     Buffalo, NY 14215-0543

By way of acknowledging receipt of your order, this will also
bring you a detailed order form for all my currently available
publications and will put you on my mailing list, if you're not
already on it. Don't forget to include your address, etc.

If you're a subscriber to _Archosaurian Articulations_, your prepublication
price with subscriber's discount is only $24 + postage. All orders will be
filled in the order received; back orders already prepaid will be filled
first.