Thanks!

Busy-- just finished an assignment for Shooting Sportsman, starting two pieces on spec for Double Gun Journal, taking notes for my forthcoming Living Bird review, reading galleys of Pete Dunne's new installment in his seasonal birding series, Arctic Autumn (outspokenly pro- hunting, among other virtues, and yes, he gets a blurb!)...

But need to thank whoever got Levy's new "Pleistocene Overkill" book Once & Future Giants from my Wish List, and whoever thought of and sent The Horse, the Wheel, and Language, which also looks close to my heart's obsessions.

Re Overkill: I am aware Paul Martin, who first conceived of the Pleistocene Blitz: an inspiration to multidisciplinary researchers and to me personally though I only met him once, when he handed me a 12,000 year- old chunk of giant sloth dung; Libby's brother's PhD advisor; brave survivor of polio's effects for over 50 years; controversial proponent of "re- wilding", and of, in Michael McClure's and Grayal Farr's phrase, of Bringing Back the Pleistocene, is dead at 82. I hope I can convince busy Reid to put him in some proper paleontological- archaeological context (he crossed boundaries-- Libby's brother was a palynologist!) But meanwhile: Paul Martin, RIP.