Novacek, Michael 1948–

(Michael J. Novacek)

PERSONAL:

Born June 3, 1948, in Evanston, IL; son of Albin John (a jazz musician) and June Shirley Novacek; married Vera Ellen, June 19, 1971; children: Julie. Education: University of California, Los Angeles, B.A., 1971; San Diego State University, M.A., 1973; University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D. (with honors), 1978. Hobbies and other interests: Music, climbing, cycling, skiing, art.

ADDRESSES:

Office—American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West and 79th St., New York, NY 10024. E-mail—novacek@amnh.org.

CAREER:

San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, lecturer, 1976-77, assistant professor, 1977-79, associate professor of zoology, 1979-82; American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, assistant curator, 1983-85, associate curator, 1985-89, curator of vertebrate paleontology, 1989—, vice president and dean of science, 1989-95, provost and senior vice president, 1994—.

MEMBER:

Fellow Explorer's Club, Society for the Study of Evolution, Society of Systematic Biologists (president, 1992-93), Systematics Agenda 2000 (cochair, 1992).

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Needs postdoctoral fellow, National Science Foundation, 1979-80; Grants from the National Geographic Society, 1985-86, 1988-90; Eppley Foundation grant, 1986-88; National Science Foundation grant, 1989-95; Sloan Foundation, 1990.

WRITINGS:

Early Tertiary Vertebrate Faunas, Vieja Group, Trans-Pecos Texas, Insectivora, Texas Memorial Museum (Austin, TX), 1976.

Insectivora and Proteutheria of the Later Eocene (Uintan) of San Diego County, California, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (Los Angeles, CA), 1976.

A Review of Paleocene and Eocene Leptictidae (Eutheria, Mammalia) from North America, Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA), 1977.

Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs (memoir), illustrations by Ed Heck, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Time Traveler: In Search of Dinosaurs and Ancient Mammals from Montana to Mongolia (autobiography), Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York, NY), 2002.

Terra: Our 100-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem—and the Threats that Now Put It at Risk, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York, NY), 2007.

AS EDITOR

(With Quentin D. Wheeler) Extinction and Phylogeny, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 1992.

(With Frederick S. Szalay and Malcolm C. McKenna) Mammal Phylogeny, Springer-Verlag (New York, NY), 1993.

The Biodiversity Crisis: Losing What Counts, New Press (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

After attempting a career in music, Michael Novacek rediscovered a childhood passion for fossils and extinct mammals on a summer dig during his junior year of college. Since then, he has emerged as a world-renowned paleontologist and is particularly well known for his contributions to the study of early mammalian species. In scholarly works such as Extinction and Phylogeny, which "will be of interest to all evolutionists, systematists and paleontologists," stated Ernest Lundelius in a contribution to the Quarterly Review of Biology, Novacek has, with others, made major advances in the study of mass extinctions and diversity, and proposed useful guidelines for conservation.

In The Biodiversity Crisis: Losing What Counts, published to coincide with the 2001 opening of a biodiversity exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, Novacek further explores "the value of variety in ecosystems and the possible dangers, such as discovering fewer medicines, that humanity runs by reducing it," stated Booklist reviewer Gilbert Taylor. Twenty-seven authors explore the dynamics of evolution; the history of mass extinctions, including the ongoing "sixth major mass extinction"; and the possible ways in which such a catastrophe might be averted. In a review for Library Journal, Mary Nickum stated: "The only solutions proposed here are warm, fuzzy ones that don't address … human overpopulation." Still, a Publishers Weekly reviewer commended Novacek for bringing together top experts to "explain what's gone wrong in various ecosystems and how the damage might be mitigated."

While he has contributed to the theoretical understanding of biodiversity and other evolutionary issues, Novacek is primarily known for his hands-on work in the field. In Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, he describes his four-year search for fossils in the Gobi Desert, a story that "manages to deliver adventure and revelation in one book," remarked People reviewer Wayne Kalyn. In 1989 Novacek first led a team to Mongolia, then newly liberated from Soviet control, and he returned for three more frustrating summers. In 1993 they finally stumbled upon one of the richest fossil finds ever, at a place they came to call "Xanadu," where they discovered hundreds of dinosaur, reptile, and mammal skeletons, including a nesting Oviraptor. A Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded: "Novacek has given us a brilliant introduction to paleontology." "While there is a lot of science in Novacek's book, the real fun is in the adventure story, interspersed with sections that explain the paleontological significance of their finds and discuss evolution and classification of species," wrote Ellen Wilson in a review for Carnegie Online.

Novacek expands on the adventurous side of his paleontology career in his autobiography, Time Traveler: In Search of Dinosaurs and Ancient Mammals from Montana to Mongolia. In the book, he tells the story of his boyhood fascination with the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles, California, his growing attraction to the study of paleontology, and ultimately the expeditions he took part in around the world in search of rare fossils. "Novacek mixes heady science … with hard-grit adventure, making for a passionate memoir," wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Library Journal contributor Gloria Maxwell remarked that "most of Novacek's book reads like an Indiana Jones movie script." However, Novacek's adventures were not completely somber and dangerous. "Novacek has combined the comedic with the informative in this entertaining survey of his career," Taylor wrote in another Booklist review. Wes Burnett, writing for PopMatters Online, also noted that "Novacek has an uncommon ability to write about himself naturally and honestly. He makes mistakes, serious ones. His judgment is often poor, very poor. He gets sick, sometimes through his own foolishness…. He has stupid confrontations with drunken caballeros over cigarettes. He has run-ins with bandits. But his modesty and his sense of humor makes all this part of the adventure." "Along the way," noted New York Times reviewer David Papineau, "he also gives us an excellent sense of the way paleontologists have arrived at their world-shaking conclusions."

In Terra: Our 100-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem—and the Threats that Now Put It at Risk, Novacek offers readers an in-depth look at the history of the planet and its evolution. Taking an environmental approach to the balance of the earth's ecosystems, Novacek starts with an overview of the planet's history, including information on the earliest formation of the planet and as much information known regarding the way that it developed over time. He then traces the planet's ecosystem, explaining how it originated and the different phases it has experienced over the life of the planet. Novacek also examines the ways in which the ecosystem has been harmed by the misuse of its natural resources and humankind's ongoing pollution of the atmosphere. According to Novacek, the planet's modern ecosystem first developed approximately one million years ago. Although dinosaurs still roamed the earth at that time, it was the point in the planet's evolution when modern planet life became a possibility, and the first flowering plants emerged. Novacek proceeds to explain how the plants and flowers of the modern world developed, using his own extensive fieldwork and research as background material, and he describes a number of fossils that have been recovered in recent years, which proved very useful in understanding this aspect of evolution. He discusses the process of pollination and how it has resulted in the diversity of flora that populates the planet today. As seeds traveled, different parts of the planet—with their varied ecosystems—served to mutate or further develop the plants.

In Terra, Novacek describes other factors that affected the way the ecosystem as a whole continued to develop, including a major meteor landing at immense speed in the Yucatan. The thermal blast that resulted from the crash increased temperatures significantly and kept temperatures at high levels for several hours. In effect, the majority of Earth's species, including the dinosaurs, were destroyed. Ultimately, it is humankind that has threatened the diverse nature of the planet's wildlife and flora more than any other event or circumstance. This is primarily due to humans' reckless use of resources during modern times, but also through cultivation of the land, overuse of resources, urban development, and pollution. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews commented that "the author … duly notes that we have the capacity but may lack the will and international leadership to slow the planet's biological decline." Donna Seaman, in a review for Booklist, declared that "Novacek writes vividly of emptying oceans, vanishing forests, and threatened freshwater sources." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly stressed the need to "learn to appreciate the history of our ecosystem in all its beauty and complexity, and have the will to reverse our destructive course." In another Library Journal review, Maxwell called the book "an unflinching look at what humans have done over time and in more recent years."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Novacek, Michael, Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, illustrations by Ed Heck, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Novacek, Michael, Time Traveler: In Search of Dinosaurs and Ancient Mammals from Montana to Mongolia, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York, NY), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 2000, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Biodiversity Crisis: Losing What Counts, p. 1421; February 1, 2002, Taylor, review of Time Traveler, p. 913; November 15, 2007, Donna Seaman, review of Terra: Our 100-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem—and the Threats that Now Put It at Risk, p. 11.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2007, review of Terra.

Library Journal, March 1, 2000, Mary Nickum, review of The Biodiversity Crisis, p. 124; February 15, 2002, Gloria Maxwell, review of Time Traveler, p. 175; October 15, 2007, Gloria Maxwell, review of Terra, p. 87.

New York Times, April 21, 2002, David Papineau, "All History Is Prehistory," review of Time Traveler, p. 27.

People, February 17, 1997, Wayne Kalyn, review of Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, p. 36.

Publishers Weekly, June 15, 1996, review of Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, p. 64; March 27, 2000, review of The Biodiversity Crisis, p. 60; January 7, 2002, review of Time Traveler, p. 54; September 10, 2007, review of Terra, p. 53.

Quarterly Review of Biology, June, 1993, Ernest Lundelius, review of Extinction and Phylogeny, p. 265.

ONLINE

Carnegie Online,http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmag/ (September 16, 2008), Ellen Wilson, "Of Once and Future Fossils," review of Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs.

PopMatters Online,http://www.popmatters.com/ (October 21, 2002), Wes Burnett, review of Time Traveler.