|Page Turners| The Dinosaur Artist by Paige Williams

My first read of 2024, The Dinosaur Artist by Paige Williams is a one of a kind book: it’s the true retelling of the “theft” of a dinosaur skeleton, a T. bataar fossil that ended up on auction in New York in 2012. Subtitled "Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth's Ultimate Trophy", The Dinosaur Artist is a fitting title for a book about constructing skeletons to be sold as works of arts from fossils. Interestingly, I read my first book of the year on my phone, finishing The Dinosaur Artist on the plane.

Do We Want to Turn the Page?

Warning! This next section may contain spoilers about the book. Also, all ratings are based entirely on my opinion and WILL be biased and subjective.

Overall, I loved The Dinosaur Artist. The basics of paleontology were taught to me in a way that allowed me to understand and appreciate the story, while also making me want to learn more about the dinosaurs that once roamed the lands, and about how fossils and other remnants of the past can shape culture and diplomatic relations. The story of fossils, more so than the crime -which you know about from the beginning- is what Williams makes so fascinating, writing about the history and the fossils in such a way that makes it so their role in culture, education, politics, and more is brought to the spotlight of the story. On the other hand, the focus of the book was often derailed by endless details about the origins of certain people or places, which, ultimately, prevented me from fully feeling immersed in the story at times, as the story occasionally got so sidetracked I forgot what the chapter or page was even about. However, even the pages that felt out of place were incredibly interesting, and on the whole, The Dinosaur Artist made me want to go take a trip to the Gobi and learn more about dinosaurs as soon as I can. From me, a 4.5/5 rating, and definitely a recommendation for all those that have ever wanted to learn about dinosaurs, Mongolia, or how an entire dinosaur skeleton can be smuggled internationally. 

 The Summary:

New Yorker staff writer Paige Williams delves into the world of the international fossil trade through the true story of one man's devastating attempt to sell a Gobi Desert dinosaur skeleton from Mongolia, a nation that forbids trafficking in natural history.

The first time Eric Prokopi saw T. bataar bones he was impressed. The enormous skull and teeth betrayed the apex predators close relation to the storied Tyrannosaurus rex, the most famous animal that ever lived. Prokopi's obsession with fossils had begun decades earlier, when he was a Florida boy scouring for shark teeth and Ice Age remnants, and it had continued as he built a thriving business hunting, preparing, and selling specimens to avid collectors and private museums around the world. To scientists' fury and dismay, there was big money to be made in certain corners of the fossil trade. Prokopi didn't consider himself merely a businessman, though. He also thought of himself as a vital part of paleontology--as one of the lesser-known artistic links in bringing prehistoric creatures back to life--and saw nothing wrong with turning a profit in the process. Bone hunting was expensive, risky, controversial work, and he increasingly needed bigger "scores." By the time he acquired a largely complete skeleton of T. bataar and restored it in his workshop, he was highly leveraged and drawing quiet scorn from peers who worried that by bringing such a big, beautiful Mongolian dinosaur to market he would tarnish the entire trade. Presenting the skeleton for sale at a major auction house in New York City, he was relieved to see the bidding start at nearly $1 million---only to fall apart when the president of Mongolia unexpectedly stepped in to question the specimen's origins and demand its return. An international custody battle ensued, shining new light on the black market for dinosaur fossils, the angst of scientists who fear for their field, and the precarious political tensions in post-Communist Mongolia. The Prokopi case, unprecedented in American jurisprudence, continues to reverberate throughout the intersecting worlds of paleontology, museums, art, and geopolitics.

 The Author:

Paige Williams is a staff writer at The New Yorker. At the magazine, her subjects have included suburban politics in Detroit, the death penalty in Alabama, paleoanthropology in South Africa, the misappropriated cultural patrimony of the Tlingit peoples of Alaska, and the White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She won the National Magazine Award for feature writing, in 2008, and was a finalist, in another category, in 2011. Her work has appeared in multiple anthologies of “The Best American Magazine Writing” and “The Best American Crime Writing.” Williams is the Laventhol/Newsday Visiting Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and she has taught at universities including Ole Miss, N.Y.U., and M.I.T., in the Knight Science Journalism program. She has been a fellow of the MacDowell Colony and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. The Dinosaur Artist, her first book, grew out of a 2013 magazine piece, "Bones of Contention."

(From The Dinosaur Artist's Goodreads page)