Stephen Jay Gould's writing remains the modern standard by which popular science writing is judged. Throughout his work Gould has developed a distinctive and personal form of essay to treat great scientific issues in the context of biography.
In this book Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale might tell us about evolution and the nature of history. The Darwinian theory of evolution is a well-known, well-explored area.
In 1972 Gould took the scientific world by storm with a paper on punctuated equilibrium that launched the controversial idea that the majority of species originate in geological... Læs mere
Stephen Jay Gould’s subject is nothing less than geology’s signal contribution to human thought—the discovery of “deep time,” the vastness of earth’s history, a history so ancient that we can comprehend it only as metaphor.
More than any other modern scientists, Stephen Jay Gould has opened up to millions the wonders of evolutionary biology. His genius as an essayist lies in his unmatched ability to use his knowledge of the world, including popular culture, to illuminate the realm of science.
"There is no scientist today whose books I look forward to reading with greater anticipation of enjoyment and enlightenment than Stephen Jay Gould."-Martin Gardner
"Scientific analysis intersects with flat-out fandom. [Gould] could write, he was funny, and he loved, loved baseball."-Booklist
In his characteristically iconoclastic and original way, Stephen Jay Gould argues that progress and increasing complexity are not inevitable features of the evolution of life on Earth.
For millennia the animals that populated the earth had four toes on each foot, or six. If evolution had taken a tiny shift - if our ancestors had... Læs mere
Stephen Jay Gould's writings on history - both of the natural world and of the study of that natural world - had made him a household name by the time of... Læs mere
"Gould is a natural writer; he has something to say and the inclination and skill with which to say it." -P. B. Medawar, New York Review of Books
"What pleasure to see the dishonest, the inept, and the misguided deftly given their due, while praise is lavished on the deserving-for reasons well and truly stated."-Kirkus Reviews