Stephen Jay Gould - Free Library Land Online - Writing

The Mismeasure of Man

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:00:38 +0200

Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

Wed, 31 Oct 1990 19:00:38 +0300

The Panda’s Thumb

Fri, 31 Oct 1980 19:00:40 +0300

I Have Landed

Sat, 31 Oct 2015 19:00:39 +0200

Stephen Jay Gould's writing remains the modern standard by which popular science writing is judged. Throughout his work Gould has developed a distinctive and personal form of essay to treat great scientific issues in the context of biography. With I Have Landed, Gould once again applied biographical perspectives to the illumination of key scientific concepts and their history. Ranging from the discovery of the new scourge of syphilis by Fracastero in the sixteenth century and Isabelle Duncan's nineteenth-century attempt at reconciling scripture and palaeontology to Freud's weird speculations about human phylogeny and recent creationist attacks on the study of evolution. As always, the essays brilliantly illuminate and elucidate the puzzles and paradoxes great and small that have fuelled the enterprise of science and opened our eyes to a world of unexpected wonders.

The Structure of Evolutionary Theory

Sat, 05 Jan 2002 18:32:51 +0200

The world's most revered and eloquent interpreter of evolutionary ideas offers here a work of explanatory force unprecedented in our time--a landmark publication, both for its historical sweep and for its scientific vision.

With characteristic attention to detail, Stephen Jay Gould first describes the content and discusses the history and origins of the three core commitments of classical Darwinism: that natural selection works on organisms, not genes or species; that it is almost exclusively the mechanism of adaptive evolutionary change; and that these changes are incremental, not drastic. Next, he examines the three critiques that currently challenge this classic Darwinian edifice: that selection operates on multiple levels, from the gene to the group; that evolution proceeds by a variety of mechanisms, not just natural selection; and that causes operating at broader scales, including catastrophes, have figured prominently in the course of evolution.

Then, in a stunning tour de force that will likely stimulate discussion and debate for decades, Gould proposes his own system for integrating these classical commitments and contemporary critiques into a new structure of evolutionary thought.

In 2001 the Library of Congress named Stephen Jay Gould one of America's eighty-three Living Legends--people who embody the "quintessentially American ideal of individual creativity, conviction, dedication, and exuberance." Each of these qualities finds full expression in this peerless work, the likes of which the scientific world has not seen--and may not see again--for well over a century.

The Lying Stones of Marrakech

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 19:00:39 +0200

Stephen Jay Gould's writing remains the modern standard by which popular science writing is judged. Ever since the late 1970s up until till his death in 2002, his monthly essay in Natural History and his full-length books bridged the yawning gap between science and wider culture.In this fascinating new collection of essays from Natural History, Gould applied biographical perspectives to the illumination of key scientific concepts and their history, ranging from the origins of palaeontology to modern eugenics and genetic engineering. The essays brilliantly illuminate and elucidate the puzzles and paradoxes great and small that have fuelled the enterprise of science and opened our eyes to a world of unexpected wonders.

Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes

Mon, 31 Oct 1983 19:00:38 +0300

The Flamingo’s Smile

Thu, 31 Oct 1985 19:00:40 +0300

The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:00:37 +0200

Leonardo’s Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms

Sat, 31 Oct 2015 19:00:39 +0200

The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 19:00:39 +0200

Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville

Fri, 31 Oct 2003 19:00:39 +0200

Eight Little Piggies

Sun, 31 Oct 1993 19:00:39 +0200

Questioning the Millennium

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:00:38 +0200