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Didn’t Like It “Like The Panda's Thumb, this is a collection of Steven Jay Gould's essays from Natural History. And, like all his essays, the subject matter is getting dated, but the themes and humor probably never will. ^_^ |
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“Like The Panda's Thumb, this is a collection of Steven Jay Gould's essays from Natural History. And, like all his essays, the subject matter is getting dated, but the themes and humor probably never will. ^_^
Peach wrote this review Thursday, August 30 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This volume of essays sometimes verges on the philosophical (e.g., "Nonmoral Nature," in which Gould pits parasitic wasps against nature in his take on the problem of evil) and economic (e.g., "Phyletic Size Decrease in Hershey Bars," an exploration of how chocolate bars just keep decreasing in size). However, Gould is most at home in biology and he never strays too far from those foundational principles.
This collection of essays also includes in several places his thoughts on punctuated equilibrium, a variation on evolutionary theory which he championed, but could be viewed as antithetical to Darwinism. Gould was deeply saddened when creationists viewed his theory as "anti-Darwin" and used its specter to bolster their rejection of evolution as a whole, and horrified by the reaction of biologists who responded to the debate by a return to strict Darwinism. He likened this return to the biologist's equivalent of religious fundamentalism, and his thoughts on it can be found in this book.”
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