Books by Stephen Jay Gould

In this book Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale might tell us about evolution and the nature of history. The Darwinian theory of evolution is a well-known, well-explored area.

The definitive refutation to the argument of The Bell Curve.

He looks at the origins of the term in the Biblical prophecies of the Book of Revelation - if the six ages of man date from 4000BC, will 2000AD signify the end of time? Gould describes how the meaning of the word has evolved to its present day usage and tackles the debate over whether the millennium ends in 1999 or at the end of 2000AD.

"What pleasure to see the dishonest, the inept, and the misguided deftly given their due, while praise is lavished on the deserving-for reasons well and truly stated."-Kirkus Reviews

There aren't many scientists famous enough in their lifetime to be canonized by the US Congress as one of America's 'living legends'. This book selects from across the full range of Gould's writing, including some of the most famous of his essays and extracts from his major books. The introduction sets both the essays and Gould's life in context.

For millennia the animals that populated the earth had four toes on each foot, or six. If evolution had taken a tiny shift - if our ancestors had inherited a couple of genes in a different form - our canonical number, based on our fingers and toes, might be eight instead of ten. This book deploys this, which is one of the oddities of history.

In 1972 Gould took the scientific world by storm with a paper on punctuated equilibrium that launched the controversial idea that the majority of species originate in geological moments (punctuations) and persist in stasis. Here he offers a book-length testament on a theory he fiercely promoted, repeatedly refined, and tirelessly defended.

More than any other modern scientists, Stephen Jay Gould has opened up to millions the wonders of evolutionary biology. His genius as an essayist lies in his unmatched ability to use his knowledge of the world, including popular culture, to illuminate the realm of science.

Stephen Jay Gould's subject is nothing less than geology's signal contribution to human thought-the discovery of "deep time," the vastness of earth's history, a history so ancient that we can comprehend it only as metaphor.

"Gould is a natural writer; he has something to say and the inclination and skill with which to say it." -P. B. Medawar, New York Review of Books

In his characteristically iconoclastic and original way, Stephen Jay Gould argues that progress and increasing complexity are not inevitable features of the evolution of life on Earth.

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.

In this new collection of essays, Gould has once again 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 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 "e;quintessentially American ideal of individual creativity, conviction, dedication, and exuberance."e; 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.

Completed shortly before his death, this is the last work of science from the most celebrated popular science writer in the world. In characteristic form, Gould weaves the ideas of some of Western society's greatest thinkers, from Bacon to Galileo to E.