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Richard Fortey

10 March 2001

Novels with scientific themes can be convincing even if the science isn’t.
Take Jim Crace’s Being Dead (Penguin, 2000). It traces the history of two
corpses, partly through the parasites that feed on them. Its microbial heroes
were good enough to fool palaeontologist Richard Fortey of London’s Natural
History Museum. It’s an even better book because of it, says Fortey.

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