Product Description

Gould's seventh collection of essays covers a wide range of subjects in natural history, literature, and popular culture--from the wisdom of Charles Darwin to that of the Old Testament Psalms, from the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park to the dinosaurs of the latest scientific theories, from the thwarted humanity of the Frankenstein monster to the inhuman fallacies of eugenics and other pseudoscience. With black and white illustrations.

"Here is a new collection of Gould's unexpected connections between evolution and all manner of subjects, literature high among them. Gathered from his monthly column in Natural History magazine, these articles should delight, surprise, and inform his vast readership, as have his six prior volumes of essays. Somehow the light bulb pops on every month as his deadline approaches, some glowing fact pulled out of memory--often a line from Shakespeare or Tennyson--that illumines a                    generality Gould wishes to discuss. "Nature, red in tooth and claw" (Lord Alfred's line) induces dilations on the extent science can inform moral matters (not much, Gould believes); a remembrance of the infamous Wansee protocol prompts Gould's denunciation of the genocidal looting of evolutionary theory and, by extension, its vulnerability to ignoramuses in general. These two examples of the Gouldian essay method, fortunately, don't foreshadow a gloomy parade of topics: Gould can as easily alight at the fun house where mass culture absorbs ideas about evolution through movies of monsters run amok from Frankenstein to Jurassic Park. In other essays, he plunges directly into matters of evolutionary interpretation but customarily employs a literary twist: who else but Gould could link Edgar Allan Poe with his own area of professional eminence, the paleontology of snails? A discovery awaits in every essay--in every haystack--which solidifies Gould as one of the most eloquent science popularizers writing today."
--Booklist

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #272652 in Books
• Published on: 1996-12-17
• Released on: 1996-12-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In his seventh volume of witty and erudite essays, Gould casts a wide net, though he always returns to the central theme of evolution. His topics are diverse: Edgar Allan Poe's bestseller, a textbook on shells; Alfred, Lord Tennyson's In Memoriam as an account of the psychology of mourning; the infamous Wannsee Protocol, Hitler's plan for the "final solution of the Jewish question." Gould is a master of making connections?Linnaeus and Erasmus Darwin (Charles's grandfather), the Razumosky brothers, Aleksei and Andrei; King Lear and the importance of negative results. He discusses evolutionary spin-doctoring, fossil whales, movies (Jurassic Park), museums and theme parks. As might be expected, Gould takes a swipe at creationists. Dinosaur measures up in every way to Bully for Brontosaurus; readers will not be disappointed. Illustrations.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Beginning with Ever Since Darwin (LJ 10/1/77), a new collection of Gould's essays from Natural History magazine has appeared every two to three years, and each almost invariably becomes a best seller. Nobody since Lewis Thomas has more successfully worked the genre of the scientific essay to humanize science and promote its understanding than Gould. Fans will seize this book enthusiastically. Gould's explorations of the natural world cover subjects arranged in eight sections, from "Origin, Stability, and Extinctions," to "The Glory of Museums," and even "Writing About Snails." In most pieces, he relates anecdotes from the history of science and demonstrates their relevance to contemporary scientific disputes and social trends. His essays on the fallacies of eugenics, for example, are timely and powerful. Every public and academic library should have broad representation of Gould's works. With this series set to end in 2001, libraries with a continuous set may well want to complete it. A library with no or scant representation of his work should definitely purchase this book. For others in between, it could be considered optional.?Gregg Sapp, Univ. of Miami Lib.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
On a peripatetic journey from Tennyson to Poe, Gould discusses grief, and math, and more. Gould claims that his essays from NATURAL HISTORY magazine achieve the successful strategy of an essay: "the marriage of alluring detail with instructive generality." He professes to write for both a lay and specialized audience, claiming that most scientific writing from Galileo to Darwin was presented for a general readership. The writer's prodigious vocabulary and poetic interludes provide ample material for Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.'s, vocal and theatrical talent. Women will enjoy Gould's chronicle of the advancement of women in science. The subjects and their diversity will provide grist for any mental mill. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine