Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History

Reflections in Natural History #6

by Stephen Jay Gould

No one illuminates the wonderful workings of the natural world as perceptively and enjoyably as Stephen Jay Gould. In this volume of reflections on biology, history and culture, Gould addresses the burning issues of ecological crisis and contemporary species extinctions as well as giving us fascinating insights into evolution - such as the fact that the first land vertebrates had up to eight toes on each foot, and that the ichthyosaur had a very significant kink in its tail.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology, Evolution, Natural History, Essays, History

482 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Stephen Jay Gould was a prominent American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Most of Gould's empirical research was on land snails. Gould helped develop the theory of punctuated equilibrium, in which evolutionary stability is marked by instances of rapid change. He contributed to evolutionary developmental biology. In evolutionary theory, he opposed strict selectionism, sociobiology as applied to humans, and evolutionary psychology. He campaigned against creationism and proposed that science and religion should be considered two compatible, complementary fields, or "magisteria," whose authority does not overlap.

Many of Gould's essays were reprinted in collected volumes, such as Ever Since Darwin and The Panda's Thumb, while his popular treatises included books such as The Mismeasure of Man, Wonderful Life and Full House.
-Wikipedia

Reviews

[William2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's easy to think that we are the most ephemeral of creatures, our lifetimes but a blink in the overall scheme. One of the things I get from reading Gould is the knowledge that we are very ancient creatures. I am an ancient creature. On the cellular level "mitochondria and chloroplasts look uncannily like entire prokaryotic organisms (they have their own DNA and are the same size as bacteria). Almost surely, they began as symbionts within cells of other species and later became more highly integrated to form the eukaryotic cell (so that each cell in our body has the evolutionary status of a former colony.)" (p. 320)

So, not only are we each a living record of hundreds of millions of years of ancestry, but the so-called "junk" DNA--the seemingly useless, nonfunctional copies upon copies of genes we possess--may actually permit the evolution of complexity. We are very ancient yet our species contains the mechanism for further evolution. In light of this, it becomes difficult for me to feel for very long any sense of dislocation from my time and place in the world. Such knowledge grounds one in a complex universe. "Life is continuous in the crucial sense that all creatures form a web of unbroken genealogical linkage." (p. 327)

Here, too, is a reason I love reading. Highly recommended.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1993, 'Eight Little Piggies' is Stephen Jay Gould's sixth book of collected essays. These essays, besides being full of fascinating natural science facts and history, discuss Gould's horror at the loss of animals around the world for the first time in a section, Part one:

-The Scale of Extinction

The rest of the book follows Gould's usual thematic stories about evolutionary theory and histories of life.

-Odd Bits of Vertebrate Anatomy
-Vox Populi
-Musings
-Human Nature
-Grand Patterns of Evolution
-Revising and Extending Darwin
-Reversals -- Fragments of a Book Not Written

All of these essays appeared in Natural History magazine.

Gould writes about science with verve! He loves including a huge variety of related science factoids and history whether discussing the variety of shapes of dog skulls, fossil discoveries, the methodology of fourteenth-century proto-scientists who came up with creation dates such as October 23, 4004 bce as the date the earth was created, psychological blubbering over nostalgic pasts that never existed, wrong scientific conclusions which were nonetheless important to the discussion of evolution (including Darwin), probability and randomness, evolutionary Trees of Life, and sociobiology, among many interesting subjects.

There is an Index and a Bibliography.

I love these books.

[Tomomi Landsman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since I read The Panda's Thumb some years ago, I've considered Stephen Jay Gould as one of my personal heroes. Every time I go to a second-hand bookstore, I look in the Science section for some of his books. I picked this one up at Second Story Books near Dupont Circle along with The Lying Stones of Marrakech, which is next on my list to read.

One of the aspects of Gould's writing that I absolutely love is how he uncovers "the other side" of stories that most people don't contemplate. Of course, I don't know what he was like as a person, but the impression I get from his writing is that when he finds that he disagrees with someone, he would truly listen to the other person and try to understand where the disagreement comes from. I feel like this characteristic is something that we should all be trying to cultivate these days.

This paragraph from Essay 29 "Shields of Expectation--and Actuality" is a great representation of what I love about Gould's essays:

"These extreme positions [extreme realism vs. extreme relativism], of course, are embraced by very few thinkers. They are caricatures constructed by the opposition to enhance the rhetorical advantages of dichotomy. They are not really held by anyone, but partisans think that their opponents are this foolish, thus fanning the zealousness of their own advocacy. The possibility for consensus drowns in a sea of changes."

Though Gould is talking about scientific realism and relativism, I feel this applies to any highly divisive topic, and I try to keep this in mind any time I am thinking about these topics.

A small complaint: I feel like there is an error in Essay 30 "A Tale of Three Pictures." Gould writes:

"Agassiz placed Cephalaspis as the first side branch from his central stock of the most "primitive" group--the ganoids (sharks and their relatives)."

I appreciate Gould placing the word "primitive" in quotes as that is another often misunderstood and misapplied adjective in the context of evolution - that's not my concern. I did a double-take at the parenthetical. Ganoids are definitely NOT sharks and their relatives. The figure Gould refers to looks to be in French, but I can tell that the sharks and relatives are in a completely different group from (the right-most, if you have a copy) labeled "Ordre des Placoides" with subgroups like Chimerides (chimeras), rayes (rays), squalides (dogfish), and ...cyclostomes? That last definitely doesn't belong, but makes sense in the historical context.

The group labeled "Order des Ganoides" contains acipenserides (sturgeon), but that's really the only subgroup I recognize as a ganoid. The group names suggest that Agassiz classified the fishes into four groups using the type of scales they have, but I guess there wasn't as much close study on the scales of some of these other subgroups he considers to be ganoids.

I wonder if it was actually Gould who put that in or some editor who felt an explanation was necessary? I'm sure he would have received plenty of letters pointing out this error before the compilation of his essays into a book. Or maybe I am missing something?

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of essays is Gould's last as an author but my first as a reader of him. They are somewhat eclectic, though grouped according to theme and overall evolution and scientific method crop up the most often. Technically, the approach is less diverse, with an opening starting with some personal or topical (at the time of writing) anecdote leading into a more general discussion of a Big Idea. This is somewhat irritating to me, because it reminds me of Radio 4's Thought for the Day, in which a news story is used to lead into some crass attempt to foist religion on to me.

The main body of each essay is well argued and clearly explained and demonstrates that Gould had not only a thorough understanding of his subject but the history of it, too. I learned much about modern ideas about evolution and found his remarks on scientific method interesting and worthwhile. It is also clear that he found an ocean of incomprehension of evolution around him - which he tried to mop up with his books, knowing that they could hardly even have a measurable effect.

I am left, however, with an even stronger desire for a book (preferable by Gould or Eldredge) in which a coherent description of evolution and all scales of operation is given. If anyone knows of one such, please mention it!

[Jase Knuckle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The brilliance of Stephen Jay Gould’s writing stems from the fact that he seems to be smarter than everyone else. He knows more stuff and is better at synthesising it into coherent arguments. But there’s a warmth and a sweetness to Gould’s smartness that makes these comments somewhat misleading. There are very few people of this rank of intelligence that I could imagine eating a donut with. But Gould is one of them.

Gould’s donut of choice would be your standard O with pink icing and sprinkles. Like his understanding of evolution, it lacks a centre, it has a largely stable (though inherently cyclical and variable) form, and the most interesting elements that get the most attention are actually just the toppings. I considered forming a similarly misrepresentative analogy using Richard Dawkins’ ideas about evolution and jam donuts (with the sweet and interesting bits on the inside). But I decided that would just be stupid; since Dawkins does not seem like someone who would indulge in donuts.

I like Gould because he incorporates psychological and aesthetic concepts like ‘frustration’ and ‘fascination’ into his scientific examinations. I like his fundamentally inclusive essay structure, “expan[ding] from anecdote to illumination” through discussions of things like baseball and opera. I like that he makes concerted efforts to disprove sociobiological racism and sexism through logical and fundamentally biological disputations. He just seems like such a terrific guy, I reckon. (And don’t you think Dawkins is a wanker?)

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I enjoyed some of his other collections a little more than this one. The earlier collections seemed more like science for the layman and a few of these essays bog down in some more mundane technical aspects and touch on what is an all too familiar ground Gould had covered before, the evolution drama of all the players who blindly rejected or blindly embraced it.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish he were still alive and could come teach debaters logic.

[Shoshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 1 of my 2021 pledge to Finish the Unfinished Books on My Shelves.
I started this ~2015 reading aloud to my then boyfriend. We got caught up in wedding planning and the reading aloud ceased.
A very readable collection of essays regarding history of science, scientific thought and evolution. Gould was always a wondering approachable proponent of evolution and science.

[Jente Ottenburghs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wonderful collection of essays by Stephen Jay Gould. I really enjoyed the ones about the history of evolutionary ideas.

[Ken Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

See my comments on Ever Since Darwin. Gould tackles fun topics such as memory and ecology in this book of essays on natural history.

[Lorelei · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I can say is that I really liked this book. A lot. Gd is in the details... yeah.

[Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome overview of evolution, and really interesting examples of how life develops, why we have 5 fingers, etc. Great read.

[Lisa Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read for me since I have little knowledge of things palentological, but the insights into evolution are worth wading through. The man was a supreme essayist.

[Richard Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read Stephen Jay Gould in many years. It was nice to pick up a collection I hadn't read and discover, even though it's almost 30 years old, that it's still interesting, informative, and entertaining.

The book collects a number of his essays on natural history, most of which relate stories of scientists trying to make sense of the partial data of paleontology and getting it somewhat right and somewhat wrong. These are personal stories, told in his own voice, and often include events from his own life, including those that don't reflect terribly well on him. There's a lot of zigging and zagging here. You think he's making a case for science, as in "Yay, science, the answer to everything!" and then he writes about the failings and limitations of science. Just as you're getting used to his suggestion that our approach to science is unfailingly pointless and unable to lead to capital T Truth, he hits you with how grand it is after all.

I think he just likes subverting expectations. One of the last essays concludes with this paragraph, including the embedded Newton quote:

Isaac Newton mused on the interaction of fact and theory in his most famous passage:

I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

We would love to fathom that distant ocean, but it is no shabby thing to fondle those pretty pebbles on the shore.

Many of the essays entertainingly demonstrate how scientists reached wrong conclusions or a variety of contradictory conclusions from the same data, and one of the most effective of this type is the last, which shows the effects of missing data on theories. A clam long thought extinct is discovered in the wild, leading to many conjectures about the gap, and it is not until many years later that any fossil examples from the intervening years are discovered, proving some right and some wrong. He compares this missing evidence to Sherlock's dog that didn't bark in the nighttime as well as his own search for a left-spiraling variety of a certain snail--periwinkles--that can only be found spiraling to the right. he concludes the final essay with this line: "I must have looked at a thousand periwinkles this morning. Still no lefties. Maybe someday." It's a nice ending, but he has another tacked on after; in a postscript, he reveals that a leftie had been found, and it forces him to rethink the whole thing.

That unexpected find encapsulates his whole message in a snail shell, and it is something like work hard, pay attention, and don't get too stuck on one idea. Probably good advice in a lot of realms.

Recommended for those interested in the topic.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

GOULD'S SIXTH BOOK OF ESSAYS FROM "NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE"

Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) wrote in the Prologue to this 1993 book, "'Eight Little Piggies' is a book of middle age, and it does contrast, entirely favorably I think (but I am no longer talking to my thirtysomething self) with my youthful 'Ever Since Darwin'... I like to think of these volumes as building rather than replacing... Yet one theme of transcendent (and growing) importance has been almost absent (and shamefully so) from my writings heretofore. How can any naturalist, any self-professed lover of diversity, ignore the subject of anthropogenic environmental deterioration and massive extinction of species on our present earth?... All these essays first appeared as columns in my monthly series, 'This View of Life'... many have been dumped and the other improved ... The many that I now dislike or regard as substandard are on the scrap heap, so I will stand by all items in the present winnowing and reshaping."

He notes, "We must squarely face an unpleasant historical fact. The conservation movement was born, in large part, as an elitist attempt by wealthy social leaders to preserve wilderness as a domain for patrician leisure and contemplation (against the image, so to speak, of poor immigrants traipsing in hordes through the woods with their Sunday picnic baskets). We have never entirely shaken this legacy of environmentalism as something opposed to immediate human needs, particularly of the impoverished and unfortunate. But the Third World expands and contains most of the pristine habitat that we yearn to preserve." (Pg. 50)

He observes, "I should say right up front that neither of these two positions---adaptation or contingency---really addresses the greatest puzzle of all: the recalcitrant stability of five [digits/fingers] once it evolves. I suspect that this is a question for embryologists and geneticists... Why should five, once attained by whatever route and for whatever reason, be so stubbornly intractable as an upper limit thereafter, so that any lineage, again evolving six or more, must do so by a different path? The inquiry could not be more important, for this issue of digits is a microcosm for the grandest question of all about the history of animal life: Why, following a burst of anatomical exploration in the Cambrian explosion some 550 million years ago, have anatomies so stabilized that not a single new phylum [major body plan] has ever evolved since?" (Pg. 76)

He admits, "Our woefully inadequate fossil record is not brimming with intermediary forms... But the origin of mammals represents a happy case of abundant evidence... The cynodont theraspids, our ancestral group among the so-called mammallike reptiles, show numerous trends to reduction and loosening of both quadrate and articular bones in the old reptilian jaw joint... Many cynodonts develop a second articulation between the squamosal and a postdentary element of the lower jaw called the surangular. (This joint is not the later mammalian dentary-squamosal link, but its formation illustrates a multiple evolution of the intermediacy proclaimed impossible by creationists.)" (Pg. 106)

He points out, "Darwin's commitment to gradualism... led him to make at least two prominent, and outstandingly wrong, conjectures: (1) He gave a time of more than 300 million years for the ... (... erosion of the region... between the north and south Chalk Downs in southern England), based on his belief in the steady, grain-by-grain character of geological erosion... (2) Multicellular animals' life begins with geological abruptness at the 'Cambrian explosion' some 550 million years ago. Darwin... predicted that the 'explosion' must be illusory and that the pre-Cambrian history of multicellular animal life must be as long as, or longer than, the 570 million years of success ever since. We now have an excellent record of pre-Cambrian life---and no multicellular animals arise until just before the Cambrian explosion." (Pg. 110)

He explains, "Most of the time... nothing much happens to most species. Niles Eldredge and I have tried to resolve this paradox with our theory of punctuated equilibrium. We hold that most evolution is concentrated in events of speciation, the separation and splitting off of an isolated population from a persisting ancestral stock. These events of splitting are glacially slow when measured on the scale of a human life---usually thousands of years. But slow in our terms can be instantaneous in geological perspective... Thus, if species tend to arise in a few thousand years and then persist unchanged for more than a million, we will rarely find evidence for their momentary origin, and our fossil record will only tap the long periods of prosperity and stability ... when fossils are most common, evolution is most rarely observed." (Pg. 277-278) He adds, "everything happens in largely unrecorded geological moments. We could attribute this pattern to a devious or humorous God, out to confuse us or merely to chuckle at our frustration. But I choose to look at this phenomenon in a positive light." (Pg. 279)

He argues, "Yes, the brain got big by natural selection. But as a result of larger size, and the neural density and connectivity thus imparted, human brains could perform an immense range of functions quite unrelated to the original reasons for increase in bulk. The brain did not get big so that we could read or write or do arithmetic or chart the seasons---yet human culture... depends upon skills of this kind... the fortuitous side consequences of large brains include the defining activities of all people... I can't prove that language was not the selected basis of increasing brain size, but the universals are so different from anything else in nature, and so quirky in their structure, that origin as a side consequence of the brain's enhanced capacity, rather than as simple advance in continuity from ancestral grunts and gestures, seems indicated. (I lay no claim to originality for this argument about language. The reasoning follows directly as an evolutionary reading for Noam Chomsky's theory of universal grammar.)" (Pg. 321)

Besides being a highly creative evolutionary theorist, Gould was also a brilliant writer and an engaged "public intellectual." His presence is sorely missed on the scientific and literary scene.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sixth collection of Gould's essays, and the second I bought as a hardback: a very weighty tome printed on heavy paper. I found some of the contents a bit heavy going too, sadly. In fact, it was more turgid than the previous volume, Bully for Brontosaurus. For some reason, Gould started off in his early columns with a more accessible style: far fewer convoluted sentences and long words used for their own sake. But the overwritten style I found in the previous volume got worse here if possible. Together with the fact that he hardly ever provided a pronunciation guide to the various Latin terms used for the creatures he was discussing, it made for a difficult read and I found the subjects very dry. The only essay I could remember after finishing was the one where he 'revised' the previous take on one of the Burgess Shale life forms which had been obviously (to me anyway and to about 20 of his correspondents it seems) turned the wrong way up. So I can only give this 2 stars.

[amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic collection of essays. Appropriate for anyone, regardless of your knowledge of biology and evolution. Gould uses biological case studies and historical documents to illustrate much broader themes about the natural world, the human experience, and how we interact with one another and life and land around us. Every one of these essays is an absolute gem -- Gould's writing is insightful and complex, and manages to present profound questions that he answers in awe inspiring ways every time. A must read!

[Doug Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Stephen Jay Gould's sixth collection of essays from his columns in Natural History. Again, these are fun bite-size morsels about Darwin, evolution, natural history and an occasional side street.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always read Gould when I want to be inspired by reading someone explaining technical things in accessible language. Whether he was writing about snails, squirrels, or scientists, he had a gift for making the reader both understand and care about the topic.

[Neil Aplin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me ages to read but a little treasure store of science and wonderment. Still not sure how to classify this book although Peguin have labelled it 'Science'; most helpful, but what area of the scientific universe pickle-head?

Read slowly and savour the goodness.

[Jason Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great entry from Stephen Jay Gould. Really enjoyed his technique of feinting from one popular topic into a deeper scientific insight.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lost interest. Too much waffle about baseball scores and suchlike. Gould has written much better.

[Dale Sabo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of essays. Broad and deep. Excellent history of natural history. Connections to other disciplines. The sort of book Dr. Stephen Maturin would read or write.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid collection of essays on natural history by a great writer and thinker of the modern era.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gould was one of the best American essayists of the twentieth century and, to my taste, the best science essayist. This 1993 book is his sixth collection of his monthly articles from Natural History Magazine.

Gould was an accomplished scientist. He was a Harvard paleontologist professor. He wrote significant detailed books and article on his specialty, land snails. He also wrote groundbreaking books and articles on the grand questions of evolutionary theory. He was a public intellectual who spoke out beyond his specialty. He also was a first-class historian of the history of evolution.

It is amazing that on top of all that, every month he wrote a detailed, deeply research essay for educated non-specialists. He had a brilliant ability to explain subtle but important concepts about evolutionary theory, the origin of species, and controversies in his field. He was fun to read. He used baseball and Gilbert and Sullivan musicals and stories of his New York City childhood as ways into the cutting-edge science he wanted to talk about.

I would start with his first collections. By 1993 he was repeating himself somewhat. His key concepts included;

Evolution was not a straight ladder from primitive to modern. It was a big bush with many branches dying out and only a few surviving.

Survival was not based solely on some abstract concept of fitness. It was close to random. Animals which happened to have traits that fit them for wildly changing circumstances, tended to survive.

Evolution was not a gradual process. Long periods of little change were interrupted by sudden changes. A comet hitting the earth, or a massive ice age caused relatively quick and drastic change. He named the theory "Punctuated Equilibrium".

Charles Darwin was the model of what a scientist should be. Even when he was wrong, he came to his conclusions soundly.

Gould also enjoys featuring scientist and thinkers who did great things but just missed. Charles Doolittle Woolcott was the preeminent American paleontologist of the early part of the 20th century. He discovered the Burgess Shale fossils which changed completely the accepted theory of how life evolved. Woolcott never understood the significance of his great find. Gould argues we should appreciate what he accomplished. It is a cheap shot to criticize him from our vantage.

My favorite essay is his defense of the English Archbishop James Ussher.

In 1650 Ussher published a book which proved, based on his close study of the Bible, that the world began at noontime on October 23, 4004 BC. It was accepted as the definitive word on this issue. The authorized version of the King James Bible, as well as the Gideon Bibles, all cited this date.

Ussher has become a symbol of silly Bible fundamentalism. Gould says we have it all wrong. He shows how Ussher actually did his calculation and argues that it was sensible at the time. Gould explains that Ussher was trying to refute the anti-science idea that the earth was infinitely old and therefore not subject to scientific study.

Gould concludes "Ussher's chronology is a work within the generous and humane tradition of humanistic scholarship, not a restrictive document written to impose authority." In a great reversal, he argues that the textbook writers and experts who mock Ussher are actually the closed minded, ignorant ones. As he says in another essay. "The dogmatist within is always worse than the enemy without."

These are good meaty essays. They are written in good spirit and good faith. Gould clearly takes pride and effort in his clear sprightly style, although he does slip into science jargon once in a while. This is excellent make-you-think reading.

[Paleomichi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho letto varie raccolte di saggi di Gould, ma sempre abbastanza vecchie. E' la prima volta che leggo una raccolta fra la più recenti, e mi ha colpito sotto vari aspetti, qualcuno anche negativo.
Innanzi tutto si vede chiaramente che Gould è più maturo. Il suo stile leggendario acquista ancora più profondità, compaiono temi più attuali e "impegnati" (fra cui il rapporto uomo ambiente nella nostra società), e aumentano le incursioni in ambiti inaspettati (bellissimo il saggio sui meccanismi del ricordo). Inoltre c'è una trattazione abbastanza approfondita della sua teoria degli equilibri punteggiati.
Il libro è lunghissimo, sono 31 saggi, più di 500 pagine. Dal mio punto di vista avrei preferito piuttosto due libri, sarebbero stati molto più leggeri e godibili.
Il testo è diviso in varie sezioni. La prima analizza il rapporto uomo ambiente e gli effetti dell'azione antropica su alcuni ecosistemi.
La seconda parte tratta di quattro temi che chiunque abbia studiato paleontologia dei vertebrati conosce molto bene: la convergenza fra rettili marini e pesci, nello specifico ittiosauro e squalo; l'evoluzione degli ossicini dell'udito nel passaggio fra anfibi e rettili e poi fra rettili e mammiferi; il rapporto evolutivo fra polmoni e vescica natatoria e la storia degli arti a 5 dita. E' la sezione che mi è piaciuta di più, mi ha ricordato le meravigliose lezioni di paleontologia dei vertebrati.
La terza parla dell'influsso del contesto storico, filosofico e sociale sulle teorie scientifiche e sulla loro comprensione. Permette una riflessione su alcuni errori che compiamo spesso quando studiamo teorie sviluppate in passato. In questi casi è forte la tentazione di leggerle con i nostri occhi, e non con quelli di chi le ha scritte, con il rischio di fraintendimenti clamorosi. Mi è piaciuta particolarmente la storia della celeberrima cronologia biblica proposta da Ussher che fissa la data della creazione nel 4004 a.C.
La quarta sezione si intitola "Meditazioni" e presenta un Gould che potrei definire filosofo, che si interroga sul rapporto che abbiamo con il passato. Il nostro punto di vista sul passato è condizionato da tutta una serie di preconcetti in parte insiti nella nostra natura, in parte indotti dal contesto storico nel quale viviamo. E' sempre importante conoscere questi nostri limiti e cercare di tenerli in considerazione quando possibile.
La quinta parte è una gradita sorpresa, tratta della condizione e dell'evoluzione umana. Molto interessante il saggio su Mozart, che dimostra una volta di più la grande abilità di Gould nel lavoro interdisciplinare.
Da qui in poi il libro diventa abbastanza tecnico. Se questi capitoli fossero stati inseriti in un saggio più corto l'avrei apprezzati molto di più, invece devo ammettere che l'ho letti con difficoltà e mi hanno un po' annoiato. L'ultimissima parte l'ho letta davvero a forza, per finire il libro, forse dovrei riprenderla in mano con più calma. Doverosa eccezione il saggio sull'Hallucigenia, che ho trovato decisamente interessante.
In breve è un libro molto interessante per gli appassionati e per chi ne sa qualcosa, abbastanza ostico per chi non conosce bene il tema. La maggior parte dei saggi, presi da soli, sono decisamente accessibili, ma non condivido assolutamente la scelta di accorparne così tanti e variegati in un libro così lungo.

10 e lode a Gould, un 6- all'editore

Sul mio blog una recensione più approfondita: http://paleomichilibri.blogspot.com/2...

[Kurtbg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Gould was a Harvard professor and since the early 70's has been writing essays
on natural history, evolution, paleontology (study of prehistoric life). His essays were bundled
and published into books. Dinosaur in a haystack was probably his most notable.

I've liked his works as he's very accessible despite the technically scientific jargon and concepts he introduces. He doesn't dumb it down, but gives the reader enough to understand the importance of a particular essay. TO do this he sprinkles in gilbert & sullivan,baseball, and personal references to help illustrate those points. I pair his writings with Oliver Sacks except with Mr. Gould's essays really shine with his exuberance and passion in his related fields.

Views on evolution? In dinosaurs in a haystack the essays had a common theme of punctuated equalibrium (change happening in quick bursts). Piggies is an earlier work and in it the evolution aspect is depicted as more of a culling of what currently is to shape what will be. He borrows the reference of life being a push and depending on factors certain branches stop developing or die and others continue on.

The title references an essay based on how evolution determined 5 fingers for homo sapiens.
The essay details how it wasn't a developing up to 5 then a stop, but based on a prehistotic creature
that had 8/9 digits and through change developed into 5.

I've felt that essays are an interesting form. The point is basically to provide knowledge and concepts accessible to the non-scientific and non-academic circles. In the technical field this is difficult. For that I give Mr. Gould Kudos.

[Lightreads · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of essays from the evolutionist. Strong writing, as always, with that fire of deep passion for natural history. Unfortunately, its one I dont share (yes, in fact, there are actually subjects Im not interested in, or at least not passionate about). Also, it took me all of Hens Teeth and Horse's Toes and most of this book to realize just what's going on with these essays. It's a strange feeling when you agree wholeheartedly with somebody, as I do in this case, but find their style of argumentation, well, smug and irritating. Many of these essays have the quality of speaking around
his fellow scientists, making very pointed comments on them and their theories in the guise of writing for the public. I'm overstating this sense and his general smugness, but I put the book down unfinished, and frankly I don't do that very often at all.

[ⵎⵓⵏⵉⵔ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! It elucidated many aspects of the history of biology and the theory of evolution that I was unaware of, or about which I only had a sketchy idea. What I liked the most were the chapters where S. J. Gould presented a particular problem in biology, and explained the history of its related research, from the very first studies and hypotheses to answers uncovered by modern research and remaining sub-questions, going through winding paths of questions, hypotheses, research, and debates, and stumbling on dead-ends occasionally. Those chapters in particular showed the beauty and the power of the scientific method better than anything.

It was also interesting to get a better idea about the author as a renowned paleontologist and as a person.

[Daniel Golden · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you absolutely love evolution and you like it when authors use big words, you might like this book. Overall, I found half the essays interesting enough to read, and half boring enough to skip. Occasionally, Gould brings in an interesting annecdote to bring his points home, but there's a whole lot of sleep-inducing talk about skull shapes and such as well. I don't think I'll read another Stephen Jay Gould book for a while.