Writing tagged: ‘stephen jay gould’

Book review: ‘Hen's Teeth & Horse's Toes’ by Stephen Jay Gould

Science essays. The third of Stephen Jay Gould’s long-running series of popular science essay collections that first appeared in his monthly column in Natural History magazine, Hen's Teeth & Horse's Toes covers topics which include: evolutionary oddities (e.g. the eponymous horse's toes); evolutionary adaptations; essays on a number of scientists; the Piltdown Man forgery; science… Continue reading Book review: ‘Hen's Teeth & Horse's Toes’ by Stephen Jay Gould

Book review: ‘The Panda’s Thumb’ by Stephen Jay Gould

More Reflections in Natural History. The second of Stephen Jay Gould’s long-running series of popular science essay collections that first appeared in his monthly column in Natural History magazine, The Panda’s Thumb covers topics including: how imperfections in organisms’ demonstrate their evolutionary history; Charles Darwin and his theories; human evolution; science and politics; the rate… Continue reading Book review: ‘The Panda’s Thumb’ by Stephen Jay Gould

Urne-burial

by Sir Thomas Browne Reflections on the iniquity of oblivion. I first encountered the seventeenth-century polymath Sir Thomas Browne in an essay by one of my favourite writers, Stephen Jay Gould. Many years later, I encountered him again in W.G. Sebald's mastepiece, The Rings of Saturn. Sebald refers to Browne's essay on an ancient urn-burial… Continue reading Urne-burial