- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (27 Sep 1990)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140134808
- ISBN-13: 978-0140134803
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.6 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 540,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
In a series of essays and vignettes, this book provides an exploration of the nature of evolution. Topics covered include the panda's thumb, the "Adactylidium" mite which dies before it is born and how multicellular creatures regulate the timing involved in their embrionic growth.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Typical Gould Flair,
By
This review is from: The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History (Penguin science) (Paperback)
Anyone who has read any of Gould's collections of essays before and loved them will know exactly what to expect here.
For those of you that haven't. Gould was a palaeontologist, specialising in the area of evolutionary biology. The essays presented within this book were taken from his monthly column "This View of Life" in Natural History magazine, to which Gould contributed for 27 years. He was an amazingly prolific writer that insantaneously captures the interest of his audience from the first word to ages after the final word has been read (and will be sadly missed by many). As an example of his innovative style; in "A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse" he uses the way Disney have gradually drawn Mickey Mouse more and more child-likesince his debut performance in Steamboat Wille to describe neotony (progressive juvenilisatiom as an evolutionary phenomenon). Other gems within this collection include: "Piltdown Revisited": The "Piltdown Man" is a famous paleontological hoax concerning the finding of the remains of a previously unknown early human. The hoax find consisted of fragments of a skull and jawbone collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, a village in East Sussex (England). Gould tells the most wonderful "whodunnit?" mystery equal to anything written by Authur Connan Doyle and all the more fscinating for being based on fact. "Were Dinosaurs Dumb": Gould investigates the common held belief that dinosaurs brain size rendered them slow and clumsy by extrapolating the brain size associated with modern reptiles to the size of dinosaurs. "Natural Attraction: Bacteria, the Birds and the Bees": A discussion on the use of magnetism by certain bacteria ("magnetotactic" bacteria). Of course Gould can be highly opinionated and cantankerous as shown by his criticism of Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene" (In my opinion one of the most illuminating and important books ever written!). But just like your Granddad making controversial statements after one too many sherries at Christmas, in a weird way it makes him more lovable!!!
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating,
By
This review is from: The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History (Penguin science) (Paperback)
This is a fascinating collection of evolution-based stories. It is very readable and thoroughly absorbing.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful..must read for Darwinians,
By Dustin Ducharme - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History (Penguin science) (Paperback)
Stephen Jay Gould, one of the leading natural scientists of the 20th centry, writes with humour and a knowledge that invites you into his 'world' of Panda's thumbs, Dodo's brains, and Bacteria's compass. Very funny, very interesting, very well writen. A basic overview of many of Darwin's teachings by someone who knows what he's talking about.
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