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Title: The Structure of Evolutionary Theory by Stephen Jay Gould ISBN: 0-674-00613-5 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: March, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.79 (48 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: More of the same
Comment: Gould is famous for his writings in Natural History Magazine, and he has many volumes of reprints. Over the 25 years of producing these volumes his style has changed. Originally, he 'taught' evolution, including the enormously valuable historical perspective that simply was not available elsewhere. It was wonderful reading. Gould really shines here.
But over time his style changed; his articles spent more and more column inches trying to demonstrate that his personal ideas in evolutionary theory must be true since he could find so many examples in other fields of human endeavor. Architecture is a favorite. It's not that architecture isn't interesting; I even think spandrels are interesting mathematically, too. The structural origins of spandrels really doesn't contribute as much to evolutionary thought as the presentation would suggest. His recent writing simply go too far out of the way to demonstrate that he can take any field of human knowledge (those in which he has an interest, and numerous they are) and find some connection with evolution. But, as a friend of mine says, "The juice isn't worth the squeeze."
Gould's 'big idea' has been Punctuated Equilibrium. It is an insightful view of the evolutionary record, and an important contribution to the field. It stands shoulder to shoulder with the idea of Population Thinking; how to view the world through the eyes of a biologist.
I think Gould wasn't very happy with the modest reception his big idea received. Many of his later publications, along with those of Eldredge, were more pleading than persuasive. It was A big idea, but not THE big idea. It was not a revolution in evolutionary theory; it is consistent with the modern synthesis.
Gould opens this book by telling us that it, too, is 'one long argument', as Darwin referred to his own "Origin of Species". It is also the title of a recent book by Ernst Mayr. This is an on-going, perhaps unconscious, effort of Gould's to be more Mayr-like in his writing. In many ways "The Structure of Evolutionary Theory" is an attempt to replicate Mayr's "Growth of Biological Thought" and "Towards a New Philosophy of Biology".
In fact, this book begins with almost one hundred pages that seem to be a book within the book; I think Gould finished his 'big book' early and then felt compelled to write an 80 page 'paperback' introduction to it. Feel free to skip these and go right to the meat. Still, the meat is tough.
Reading Gould, the prose always seemed to get in the way of the content. TO a great extent, it still does. If you put in the effort, you will find some great ideas to think about.
Rating: 4
Summary: A must for serious biologists
Comment: After scanning some of the reviews, I find it very difficult to believe that most of the negative reviewers actually *read* the book (the alternative being Creationists simply wanted to slander a book laden with the history and present state of evolutionary theory). True, it is a long and sometimes tedious review of evolutionary theory and thought. But it should be required reading for anybody in the field of biology or paleontology. Dr. Gould (may he rest in peace) worked for 20 years on this book, and it shows through his fine prose and extensive literature review.
For younger students, it might be wise to read this with a couple grains of salt handy; Gould's opinions often overshadow other theories, particularly adaptationists (see Chap. 11).
Gould might have hoped this to be the--dare I say it--"Bible" of modern evolution. It comes close, but I found myself questioning the exclusion of some noteworthy players in the field of biology (Wallace?!) in favor of other, seemingly less important theorists.
Gould's book reads well, and the reader should not be intimidated by the length. He honors Darwinian thought like no other modern biologist could while gently re-structuring some key struts in the edifice of evolutionary theory.
Rating: 4
Summary: More on TSET
Comment: I've been living with this book for a few weeks now. It's big, so it is the sort of book that becomes part of your life for a while if you stick with it, like a piece of furniture (it's certainly big enough to be one).
Anyhow, wanted to report back on a few things: First, on the writing--there are places where TSET needed a stronger editor, most particluarly at the beginning when Gould runs through his philosphical and categorical underpinnings. Here he's rather unnecessarily Germanic, I'd say. And there are times over course of the book where Gould drifts back into this mode: very long, complex sentences that could have easily been pared back in the service of both clarity and readability.
But these are exceptions over the course of a 1400-page book: for the most part Gould gives us his usual engaging, clear, sometimes colorful prose.
Another reviewer remarked the fact that sociobiology wasn't in the index. Niether is evolutionary psychology, but both of these things are talked about, both directly and indirectly. It isn't that Gould is playing "selective history" so much as that the Index is woefully inadequate for a work of this size and complexity.
Complex? Well, aside from the technical nature of much of the book, there is also a fair amount of organizational drift at the micro level. At the macro level the book is pretty effectively divided into logical sections, but within sections Gould tends to digress and return to pages-back points quite a bit. And a lot of the book is NOT really systematically presented. Rather Gould has a few assays (or essays) at a topic from different angles of attack. There is definitely a recognizable "view of life" behind these different sections, and the method works pretty well, really, as exposition, but . . . this sort of discursive style makes a good index an absolute necessity.
There's one chapter that has come in for a bit of criticism, a defense of Gould's theroy of Punctuated Equilibrium with asides on personal jealousy and other things driving his critics.
Self-serving? Yes! But interesting and enlightening, as well, putting the ball pretty solidly in the court of Gould critics.
There are garcious moments as well: his treatment of Dawkins's Selfish Gene theory is generally pretty open-minded, as is his parting exhortation to the budding field of evolutionary psychology.
If you are interested in this field, this is a book you ought to peruse extensively.
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Title: What Evolution Is by Ernst Mayr, Jared Diamond ISBN: 0465044263 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Dawkins vs. Gould : Survival of the Fittest by Kim Sterelny, Jon Turney ISBN: 1840462493 Publisher: Totem Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: I Have Landed: The End of a Beginning in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould ISBN: 0609601431 Publisher: Harmony Books Pub. Date: 14 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox : Mending the Gap Between Science and the Humanities by Stephen Jay Gould ISBN: 0609601407 Publisher: Harmony Books Pub. Date: 08 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species by Lynn Margulis, Dorion Sagan, Ernst Mayr ISBN: 0465043917 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 18 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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