Win a Copy of ’Relics’: A Gorgeous New Photo Book About Creatures That Have Existed for Millennia

UPDATE: THE CONTEST ENDED FEBRUARY 12, 2012. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED, AND KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR OUR NEXT GIVEAWAY!

We've teamed up with the University of Chicago Press to give away 10 copies of Relics: Travels in Nature's Time Machine, by Piotr Naskrecki; each winner will also receive one print of their choice from the hundreds in the book. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below, and be sure to include a viable email address (it won't show up on the page). The official rules are below. The contest ends at midnight, Sunday, February 12, 2012. In the meantime, here's a little about the book. Click on the image above to see a slideshow of these stunning images.

On many nights in May and June, if you stand on the right beaches of America’s East Coast, you can travel back in time all the way to the Jurassic. For as you watch, thousands of horseshoe crabs will emerge from the foam and scuttle up the beach to their spawning grounds, as they’ve done, nearly unchanged, for more than 440 million years.

Horseshoe crabs are far from the only contemporary manifestation of Earth’s distant past, and in Relics, world-renowned zoologist and photographer Piotr Naskrecki leads readers on an unbelievable journey through those lingering traces of a lost world. With camera in hand, he travels the globe to create a words-and-pictures portrait of our planet like no other, a time-lapse tour that renders Earth’s colossal age comprehensible, visible in creatures and habitats that have persisted, nearly untouched, for hundreds of millions of years.

Naskrecki begins by defining the concept of a relic—a creature or habitat that, while acted upon by evolution, remains remarkably similar to its earliest manifestations in the fossil record. Then he pulls back the Cambrian curtain to reveal relic after eye-popping relic: katydids, ancient reptiles, horsetail ferns, majestic magnolias, and more, all depicted through stunning photographs and first-person accounts of Naskrecki’s time studying them and watching their interactions in their natural habitats. Then he turns to the habitats themselves, traveling to such remote locations as the Atewa Plateau of Africa, the highlands of Papua New Guinea, and the lush forests of the Guyana Shield of South America—a group of relatively untrammeled ecosystems that are the current end point of staggeringly long, uninterrupted histories that have made them our best entryway to understanding what the prehuman world looked, felt, sounded, and even smelled like.

The stories and images of Earth’s past assembled in Relics are beautiful, breathtaking, and unmooring, plunging the reader into the hitherto incomprehensible reaches of deep time. We emerge changed, astonished by the unbroken skein of life on Earth and attentive to the hidden heritage of our planet’s past that surrounds us. 

Relics: Travels in Nature's Time Machine, by Piotr Naskrecki, The University of Chicago Press, 2011.

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PIOTR NASKRECKI/RELICS GIVEAWAY OFFICIAL RULES AND REGULATIONS

1) Sponsors: Audubon Magazine, an operating unit of National Audubon Society, Inc., 225 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014 (“Audubon Magazine” or “Audubon”); and University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St. Chicago, IL 60637 (“UCP”, and together with Audubon and Audubon Magazine, the “Sponsors”). 

2) No purchase necessary.

3) The “Piotr Naskrecki/Relics Giveaway” (“Contest”) is open from 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET”) on February 6, 2012 through 11:59 p.m. ET on February 12, 2012;

4) Eligible entrants must be at least 18 years old as of February 6, 2012, a resident of the contiguous 48 United States.  Employees, officers, and directors of Sponsors, and each of their respective parents, subsidiaries, and any and all entities directly associated with the Contest, including immediate family members and members of the same household, are not eligible to participate (collectively with Sponsor, the “Contest Entities”). Void where prohibited by law. Contest is governed by U.S. law and subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. By entering the Contest, entrants agree to accept and be bound by all the terms of these Official Rules and Regulations (“Official Rules”). 

5) There are two ways to enter:

a) Online: leave a comment by completing the “Your name”, “E-mail” and “Comment” fields (the Submission”) on the following article page of Audubon Magazine’s website: http://audubonmagazine.org/articles/nature/win-copy-relics-gorgeous-new-photo-book-about-creatures-have-existed-millennia. The “Homepage” field on such article field is optional and will have no effect on your chances. Email addresses submitted with any Submission must be valid.  Sponsors reserve the right in their sole discretion to disqualify and remove any Submission at any time in the event it is determined Submission is offensive, inappropriate, not in keeping with Sponsor’s image or if it is determined that the entrant has not otherwise complied with any portion of these Official Rules. 

b) Mail: on a postcard, write the statement, “I agree to the Official Rules”, your name, valid email and postal address, and send it to: Piotr Naskrecki/Relics Giveaway, c/o Publicity Department, University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St. Chicago, IL 60637.  Mailed entries must be postmarked on or before February 13, 2012, and received no later than February 17, 2012.

6) Only one entry permitted per person.

7) Odds of winning depend on the number of entries received.

8) Ten winners will each receive one copy of the book Relics: Travels in Nature’s Time Machine, by Piotr Naskreki, The University of Chicago Press 2011 (value: $45) and one print from the book to be determined at Sponsor’s discretion (value: $50) (Total value of all prizes: $950).

9) Winners will be selected by a random drawing conducted by UCP and notified by UCP via email on or before February 24, 2012.  By entering the Contest, entrant acknowledges that Audubon shall deliver entrant’s name, email and postal address, if any, to UCP, and entrant consents to all actions related thereto. 

10) Sponsors are not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate entry information, viruses, bugs, malfunctions, or other any other errors, human or otherwise, regardless of the cause (collectively, an “Error”).  In the event of any Error, Sponsors reserve the right, in their sole discretion to discontinue, suspend, cancel, or modify the Contest.   In the event of cancellation, Sponsors reserve the right to judge all eligible, non-suspect entries received prior to the Error requiring such cancellation using the selection procedure outlined above.   Any evidence of false or deceptive acts by an entrant, including, but not limited to, multiple Submissions or Submissions generated by script, macro or other automatic means, or failure to comply with any rules may result in the disqualification of entrant by Sponsor.  No substitution or transfer of prizes or cash redemptions permitted, except at Sponsor’s sole discretion. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute for any reason whatsoever a prize (or portion thereof) of comparable or greater value, at their sole discretion.  Sponsors do not have, nor shall have in the future, any duty or liability, direct or indirect, vicarious, contributory, or otherwise, with respect to the infringement or protection of any copyright in and to entrant’s Submission.  Winners are responsible for the reporting and payment of all taxes  as well as any other costs and expenses associated with acceptance and use of their prize not specified herein as being awarded.

11) Contest Entities and their designees have the right, unless prohibited by law, to use entrant’s name, city and state of residence, voice, picture and likeness, without compensation, notification or approval, for the purpose of advertising and publicizing the goods, services and mission of the Contest Entities and all matters related to the Contest, in any manner or medium, now or hereafter known, throughout the world in perpetuity. 

12) Entrants may be required to execute any documents necessary to perfect such rights in the Sponsors.  By entering this Contest and/or accepting the prize, entrant and/or winner agrees to, and hereby does, release the Contest Entities from any and all liability, loss or damage arising from or in connection with participation or attempt to participate in the Contest and/or the awarding, receipt, use or misuse of the prize or participation in any prize related activities, and claims based on publicity rights, defamation or invasion of privacy. The Contest Entities and their parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates and divisions, and their respective directors, officers, employees, attorneys, representatives and agents make no warranties, and hereby disclaim all warranties, express or implied, concerning any prize furnished or awarded in connection with the Contest, including, but not limited to, any winner’s ability to claim a prize awarded in the Contest for reasons of the prize provider’s bankruptcy, insolvency or failure to continue its business.  WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, SUCH PRIZES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND THE CONTEST ENTITIES HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL SUCH WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND/OR NONINFRINGEMENT.

13) You may obtain the name and city of residence of winners by mailing a self-addressed stamped envelope to Piotr Naskrecki/Relics Giveaway, c/o Publicity Department, University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St. Chicago, IL 60637.

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