Book excerpt: Tyrannosaurus rex is everyone’s favorite dinosaur, and in death it plays a central role in this book. But this work is about the voyage through college by eleven students, including their adventures out West with an inspirational Professor Goodspeed, nicknamed “Speedy.” Dubbing themselves “The Mélange,” a group of friends discover a T. rex skull that was stolen, triggering a scandal of international proportions. A mini-reunion for the Mélange is arranged, hoping that a fracas prior to graduation that scattered them will have faded from memories. It has, and the event is a great success. We learn about the Mélangers’ lives since graduation, and there are some surprises. T. rex, Darwin, and Adventures Out West includes aspects of science accessible to nonscientists, sprinkled with fascinating aspects of natural science in order to educate the reader about earth history and evolution. In the process, readers learn how to defend evolution against creationists. About the Author Steven M. Stanley is a paleontologist with an A.B. from Princeton, summa cum laude, and a Ph.D. from Yale. He was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins for many years and the University of Hawaii for a few. He is now a part-time research professor at Florida State University and a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution. Steven has written textbooks and trade books about science. His The New Evolutionary Timetable was nominated for the American Book Award. In an L. A. Times review of his book, Children of the Ice Age: How a Global Catastrophe Allowed Humans to Evolve, Douglas Preston wrote, “Not since the making of the Atomic Bomb have I been so captivated by a nonfiction book.” Steven has recently been featured in The Wall Street Journal as a professor and author. He’s been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and has received many medals and other honors. During the past thirty years, Steven has been the only paleontologist to have received the Penrose Medal, the Geological Society of America’s highest award, "for eminence in pure research." He’s also an amateur landscape architect, building patios and planting trees, shrubs, and perennials, and he has a wonderful daughter, adopted in Russia.