My commendation of Stephen Jay Gould is in the way of a class action review. I do not remember reading anything by this author that was not satisfying and worthwhile - though sometimes at odds with my own views. This collection of essays was simply the latest I had found at the library when I wrote this review (some years ago). Gould's explorations of science and its cultural relevance, his clear explanations of arcane points of evolutionary theory, and his evident excitement about learning make him one of my faves. Why is the QWERTY keyboard (on which I am typing this review) a good example of the tendency of evolutionary changes to persist? What can we learn about creationism from the myth that Abner Doubleday invented baseball? How might the popularization of dinosaurs be used to improve science education? Why is birth only a point on a continuum? Why do kiwis lay enormous eggs, and what does that tell us about scientific research? This is brain candy of the first order. Check it out.

I have really enjoyed Stephen Jay Gould. His range of essays and the scope of topics he discusses has always interested me, as has in ability to draw from what is clearly a profoundly wide range of material which covers literature, history, religion as well as natural history. This is I think the thing that most interests me and it is something which we don't often find in intellectual writing now, that ability to draw parallels, or discuss in depth issues outside of a certain subject matter. It reminds me a bit of the late Alistair Cook and his letters from America and these essays are mostly of about the same length.

This collection is 35 essays and collected into 10 loose sections. These include some interesting groupings which you would normally not expect from a natural scientist including Intellectual biography. His biography of Antoine Lavoisier is a case in point. Lavoissier, a renowned scientist of his time, was condemned to death at the guillotine during the French Revolution, and indeed was beheaded. Gould's biography manages to touch on the aspects of his life and death including the myths which remain on his last words and days, the attempted scientific restructuring of France by the revolutionaries (including new measurements and renaming of the months etc) and the revolution's final downfall, it turned out the revolution did need scientists after all.

There are essays on "kiwi eggs and the liberty Bell" or one of my favourites on Glow worms which uses the life of this insect to discuss our understanding of life processes of all insects - is the adult form the ultimate, or, like glowworms which are pupa, should we be reconsidering our adult-centric view of the natural world?

I really enjoy Gould's style, it is easy flowing prose and fairly straightforward to understand. There are a few concepts which I have to re-read to get the actual meaning as some of these issues are complex - the issue of probability in evolution vs creation for instance is complex and takes a bit of consideration from a non-mathematician.

I would certainly recommend this book for those who hold a creationist or intelligent design belief. This provides some fascinating points of discussion which may provide some counterpoint to the Intelligent Design assertions. Gould's letter to President Jimmy Carter and Carter's own respect for Gould would be of interest if nothing else.

This is not an easy thing to sit down and read at once, but it is wonderful to browse in and out of and skip back and forth through.

Stephen Jay Gould writes another volume of essays that are profound in scope. Trying to review essays in book form is difficult, but taking the task at hand, here is what I have to say.

These collected essays are enlightening and thought provoking. They vary in scope and content, but are always stimulating. The author has a knack for making the reader think, as I suppose all good professors should, a task well taken here.

The writing is easily followed and straight forward with a smattering of Gould's wit thrown in for spice. The authou's sense of humor is also apparent. The essays are educational, even as the author brings two apparently different articles and ties them together with a common thread.

I found a cornucopia of disparate objects that fueled my intellectual pleasure, as I read through the book. Anyone interested in Natural History or just curious about life should read this book.

The author's flowing writing style is evident, his teaching skills are there to enjoy and learn from.

Read and enjoy good writing.

This is the sixth of the collections of Gould's essays from the magazine Natural History. Gould has commented that, as he got better at essay writing, he found the earlier volumes less pleasing. Certainly, as he went along, he improved both in literary quality and in the depth of his treatment of issues. Gould is amusing, but always with a serious purpose: to educate the public about how science works, and how, often, it doesn't. In particular, the section of three essays gathered under the heading "Numbers and Probability" is very good at making one think about the real nature of "the odds."

Gould makes clever analogies & comparisons of natural sciences with common things around us. Most of the topics he covered would be a bore to read by itself but Gould masterfully entertains & educates with his adroit prose & humorous side comments.

It is a bit on the long side and some of his comparisons used fads of the early 90's which are not relevant today; but all in all, the book is a winner.