This biography, then, is a posthumous assignment, passed on by an aunt.  Rather than wrestle with print media, which I've worked in or with since I was 14, I am going to use the internet - a sort of blog dedicated to a deceased person. Money I don't seek, so why subject myself to the hassles of editors? I've submitted to that, and I've done that to writers. I'm not interested.  I'm retired, I'm as cantankerous as dad, so I will "publish" this on the internet, like a jillion other people these days, through the medium of Google and a good set of metatags.  It will be disseminated more quickly and broadly than could be done in print at no cost to the family.    I will, however, bow to several editorial strictures that make sense.

           First: why am I writing this?  Because he managed to get at me even from the grave. He told me to write it.  Being the obedient son....ha. Actually, it's a great story and I love to story tell.

         Second: my qualifications? I am his older son who loved and struggled and put up with him for 56 years. In addition, I hunted mammoths on the Yukon with him, visited Dinosaur National Monument with him, hunted for gastroliths in the desert, listened to him carry on about dinosaurs, observed his sculpting of them. I worked several summers with him in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, build the gastralia for an Antrodemus mount in central Utah, and finally, I spent a long, hot, dry, dusty summer as a laborer in the remarkable Dry Mesa Quarry. In case your don’t know, field work is not romantic.  In fact, it’s downright dirty, hot and dry, and no running water with all that follows from that. I had better working conditions as a laborer in concrete.

               Third, the target audience? Anyone interested in dinosaurs and paleontology in general, and in  Dinosaur Jim in particular.
 
             Fourth, the purpose? To provide a history of his life, and his years in paleontology. Dinosaurs are  perennially fascinating, and Dinosaur Jim has assumed a life of its own, appearing in texts and educational materials. This will be the source for details of his background. I want to provide    teachers and kids another kid's view of this extraordinary man and his work.

  A few caveats:

       First, I am not a specialist so don't rely on this volume for reliable scientific information. I will run some of the things past a real paleontologist but descriptions of my own experiences with him in the lab and in the field will be my own descriptions of my own experiences.

       Second, all inaccuracies or errors herein are my responsibility.

       Third, I understand better than most just how controversial he was and how rough his politics were. He sort of didn't take names or prisoners when he was in high dudgeon. Secret: during the era of his smoldering feud with certain elements of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology ((SVP) THE professional organ of the profession) about their  God-given responsibility to enforce the Antiquities Act, and so on, his letters to colleagues were so intemperate  that mom tried to protect him. If she knew he had been scribbling diatribes the night before, she waited until after he had gone to work.  Then she steamed open those letters. If the language was over the top, she just burned the letters.  He was difficult and some of the stories below will reflect that aspect of his career. He basically ostrasized himself from the SVP in the ‘70’s because of his ascerbic tongue.

           Finally, this thing will grow as it can, but don't hold your breath. My personal history is also growing, and Dinosaur Jim had  to share my time.

           Otherwise, if you have questions, I would be delighted to try to answer them.  No, kids, I don't have any specimens to give away, nor do I have any photos to give you, nor are there any copies of his writings. However, I can point you to all of those things if you write. When I am gone, the firsthand knowledge of the man will be gone so ask  me now. My oldest uncle died at 101, which is encouraging but isn't guaranteed.  At 63, I could check out any  time.

                 Happy Reading. His story is most remarkable.                                                                                        Jim Jensen