Sam Chiarelli’s Dig: A Personal Prehistoric Journey explores why we're so fascinated with dinosaurs and why some people—dinophiles—never outgrow their Mesozoic obsession.

Dig follows Sam on a cross-country Amtrak trip with a final destination of a fossil dig in Colorado. Buried within these pages are encounters in museums big and small, prep labs, robotic dinosaur parks, and prehistoric themed hotels—and interviews with many of Sam’s childhood heroes: paleontologists, artists, and others who’ve dedicated their lives to revealing the distant past.

Part science and nature adventure and part memoir, this book is all dinosaur.

Sam Chiarelli has an MFA in creative writing from Wilkes University and blogs at This Day in Dinosaurs. He's been a dinophile for more than 25 years and has dug for Mesozoic fossils in New Jersey and Colorado. Chiarelli resides in Pittston Pennsylvania.

"Essential reading for the dino-curious and anyone who's ever chased after a dream (or wanted to)." -Helen Scales author of Eye of the Shoal and Spirals in Time

"I liked [Dig] a lot; it reminded me of the writings of Loren Eiseley from years ago a kind of science-literature-immense journey decoction!" -Jack Horner paleontologist and author of How to Build a Dinosaur and Digging Up Dinosaurs

"Sam Chiarelli's Dig is the story of the author's lifelong obsession with dinosaurs-a condition he tells us that most children outgrow by puberty. Some stalwart fans hang on for a few more years but Sam and a few others never outgrow this passion. He takes us on a journey of discovery that is filled with fascinating information humor and personal growth. A highly entertaining and extraordinary read!" -Kaylie Jones author of Lies My Mother Never Told Me

"[Dig] is a fascinating insight into the mind and motivation of a man who is clearly in love with his subject it is unlike any other dinosaur book I have read and all the better for it." -Roger Smith publisher of DinosaurNews.org and GlobalMuseum.org