Carl Mehling is collections manager for Fossil Amphibians, Reptiles, and Birds at the American Museum of Natural History. The collections he oversees include the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the world as well as early synapsids and tetrapods, pterosaurs, crocodiles, turtles and marine reptiles. His work is similar to that of a librarian, and fossils are the “books” from which scientists read the history of life on Earth. He is interested in all aspects of paleontology, especially the fringe areas that normally get little attention, including bizarre modes of fossil preservation, anomalous discoveries, and oddities within the history of paleontology. Carl has collected fossils of all kinds always with an eye towards the next new thing. His fossil hunting has taken him to the Canadian Arctic, the Gobi Desert, Patagonia, and all over the United States. He has written or edited a number of books on fossils, including those for children, as well as scientific papers.