a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by theadvancedapes
theadvancedapes  ·  4424 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Shoulders of Giants

I will definitely check out that book. To be honest, if there is a gap in my knowledge of the evolutionary literature it would probably be with Stephen J. Gould. I've only read The Mismeasure of Man, which I did enjoy, but it wasn't necessarily a book specifically about evolution.





b_b  ·  4424 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I've read a lot of Gould. Its well known that he and Dawkins didn't get along scientifically or personally, but they both have a lot to offer. One theme that Gould always comes back to is that evolution lacks direction or progress. I would recommend Full House very highly (but that's because I'm a huge basball fan, and baseball is used as a metaphor for life throughout the book). Mismeasure of Man is more a history book than a biology book, but I think its a great lesson in how sociology can influence scientific results, that "truth" often has as much to do with belief as with data.