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Tony duncan

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Tony is Currently Reading

Tony duncan is currently reading

The Structure of Evolutionary Theory

by Stephen Jay Gould

bookshelves: science, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in October 2011

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Tony duncan said: " page 815 He has made his case explaining the development of Punctuated Equilibrium, and why it is a valid theory and how the arguments agaisnt it either have not properly understood the theory or have not seen the evidence in support. I can see the e page 815 He has made his case explaining the development of Punctuated Equilibrium, and why it is a valid theory and how the arguments agaisnt it either have not properly understood the theory or have not seen the evidence in support. I can see the end!!!

now almost 400 pages and he has really established his historical premise, that the tension between formalism and selection are enduring themes throughout the history of biology, and that the "consensus" of the modern Synthesis went too far towards the pure selectionist side. I tend to agree, and some of the 19th century views of orthogenesis are quite fascinating and perfectly reasonable considering the degree of knowledge then. And certainly eve deco lends much more credence to the formalist approach (that inherent limitations and organically preferred channels are a constraint on selection).
I think recent b breakthroughs are clearly showing the complexity of interaction between genetics and environment, and that understanding the matrix of how development operates is the key to understanding evolution

Ok, I have only read the first two hundred pages,out of thirteen hundred,. but I have skimmed through various other parts. This is a monumental work, that may have it's flaws (was it actually edited at ALL??). Gould put everything onto this and his historical perspective on scientific thought is really crucial in understanding the science of Evolution.
His views on evolution are extremely well thought out, and I agree with much of his thinking.
The history is fascinating and while parts are a little long and meandering, it is worth reading if you want to know where the science of evolution cam from and how it developed.

It is full of astonishing examples of evolutonary process from a tremendous range of organisms. he was a specialist on mollusks and uses mollusks in some of his explanations, but the incredible range of ideas brings in ecxample after example of unusual species and how evolution operates
I plan to finish this in the next few years

And I have mixed feeling about how accurate his main contention is, that there is a basic trunk to the theory of evolution and that the main branches are basically understood, but the smaller ones keep being moved around. This seems obviously as a defense against creationists and their argument that evolution theory keeps changing so it is not a valid theory.

While Gould is dismissed by many well respected evolutionary biologists as thinking a little too much of his impact on the field some of their arguments seem to mischaracterize his views. Also his views very closely mirror mine and form a strong basis for my theory of comprehensive learning. Clearly his famous contribution of punctuated equilibrium has turned out to be basically accurate, though some argue that he didn't say anything new. I think that is a little disengenious.

This is a magnum opus by one of the most famous scientists of the late 20th century, he is a good writer, if verbose in this case. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone for light reading. But if you see it at someones house pick it up and look through it. you will almost surely learn something that will surprise you, and make you glad you looked ...more "

progress:

(page 980 of 1433)
"Excellent. Very slow going!" — Jun 21, 2017 02:44PM

Oct 25, 2011 03:56PM · see review

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