Rating: 
Summary: The intriguing essays about science and social values
Review: One can argue that no scientific theory has caused more controversies than Darwin's theory. Not to mention the history of the conflicts between religious beliefs and the evolutionary theory, many people today still have trouble accepting it, no matter how all the evidences appear to favor the theory. Ever Since Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould, however, is not a mere collection of praise songs for the triumph of science. In his essays, Darwinian interpretations of evolutionary biology are illuminated in light of the (enjoyable, at least for us) struggles of those thinkers of conflicting theories. Through citing rich evidences in the history of evolutionary biology, Gould emphasizes the inevitability of having human bias in scientific process. This is a kind of book that I strongly recommend to students who tend to develop a misconception that science exists only to make their academic experience at school painful. Textbooks do not teach science as much as Gould's essays do. Why? Science often tends to be seen as the culmination of the infallible facts and evidences deriving from perfectly logical thinking by a few great minds. Gould provides numerous examples to show this is not really the case. In fact, you learn that scientists, who are supposed to thrive for objectivity, suffer quite often from their own agenda and intellectual bias. It is as much a creative, human activity as art and literature, and Gould's excellent essays illuminate that endeavor, not just the bits of accepted facts to regurgitate. All this is done via the discussions of various interesting topics from a baby fly eating its own mother to the dubious attempts to link biological findings to justify racial inequality. The only thing I fear about this great work is that it will inevitably be dated, having written during 1970s. Nevertheless, the essence of Gould's writing should not be tarnished by newer discoveries. After all, Gould's point is to illuminate science as a dynamic activity.
Rating:
Summary: The intriguing essays about science and social values
Review: One can argue that no scientific theory has caused more controversies than Darwin's theory. Not to mention the history of the conflicts between religious beliefs and the evolutionary theory, many people today still have trouble accepting it, no matter how all the evidences appear to favor the theory. Ever Since Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould, however, is not a mere collection of praise songs for the triumph of science. In his essays, Darwinian interpretations of evolutionary biology are illuminated in light of the (enjoyable, at least for us) struggles of those thinkers of conflicting theories. Through citing rich evidences in the history of evolutionary biology, Gould emphasizes the inevitability of having human bias in scientific process. This is a kind of book that I strongly recommend to students who tend to develop a misconception that science exists only to make their academic experience at school painful. Textbooks do not teach science as much as Gould's essays do. Why? Science often tends to be seen as the culmination of the infallible facts and evidences deriving from perfectly logical thinking by a few great minds. Gould provides numerous examples to show this is not really the case. In fact, you learn that scientists, who are supposed to thrive for objectivity, suffer quite often from their own agenda and intellectual bias. It is as much a creative, human activity as art and literature, and Gould's excellent essays illuminate that endeavor, not just the bits of accepted facts to regurgitate. All this is done via the discussions of various interesting topics from a baby fly eating its own mother to the dubious attempts to link biological findings to justify racial inequality. The only thing I fear about this great work is that it will inevitably be dated, having written during 1970s. Nevertheless, the essence of Gould's writing should not be tarnished by newer discoveries. After all, Gould's point is to illuminate science as a dynamic activity.
Rating:
Summary: scientifically probing and highly absorbing
Review: A very rare kind of insight into some of the more complicated "scientific cases" and the commoner subjects is presented in a highly interesting manner; the book acts as a scientific food (a shot!) from kids to professors to housewives without technical jargon. Reading this book makes your heart soar into realms of more subtler thematic fields (such as evolution, geology, paleontology) that play an exhilarating and exciting role in our mundane lives to make it rich and vibrant.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen Jay Gould's First Great Natural History Essay Tome
Review: All of Stephen Jay Gould's admirable traits as a splendid scientist, fine historian of science and gifted writer are prominently on display in this elegant collection of essays; the first of many he published from his celebrated essay column "This View Of Life", which was published for over twenty five years in Natural History, the popular journal of the American Museum of Natural History. Gould brilliantly illustrates the explanatory power of Darwin's theory of evolution via natural selection, discusses some of the most fascinating discoveries from a fresh, more mathematically rigorous, approach to paleontology to which he, himself, contributed, and ruminates on the sociology of science in one exceptional essay after another. He does this in engaging, often lyrical, prose, in which he draws analogies from literature, film and baseball to make his cogent points. Anyone who enjoys great writing, especially on science, won't be disappointed with this tome nor the rest in Gould's essay collection series.
Rating:
Summary: This was one good book
Review: As Gould's earliest book, and the first one I readd, this is still a great book. It clearly discusses a lot of evolutionary topics. I loved this book, as well his numerous other collections of essays(By the way, I have read some reviews calling Gould a betrayer of Darwin, which is downright silly, considering that theories evolve over time. Other people have saud he gets out of controversy by labelling himself a Darwin devotee, which is equally silly, considering his numerous departures from central Darwinian theory in later works, and a complete restructuring of the characteristics of evolution purported by Darwin.)
Rating:
Summary: Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History
Review: Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould is a collection of essays, his first, that brings together his knowledge, wit and intellectual musings to the art of writing a scientific essay as no other can. There are 33 essays in the tome that are unparalleled and are far beyond any of his contemporaries, but brought to us by his unmatched ability, so the common man can understand his intrinsic intuitive profundity. Gould brings us essays on Darwiniana, Human Evoution, Odd Organisms and Evolutionary Exemplars, Patterns and Punctuation in the History of Life, Theories of the Earth, Size and Shape, from Churches to Brains to Planets, Science in Society-- a Historical View, The Scince and Politics of Human Nature. All of these are thought provoking with a sophistication unmatched in the realm of science today. As we read on in the book, we see the knowledge brought to us. Can we who read this comprehend both the lessons and the limits of scientific understanding here? Gould brings us his thoughts, as we read, I can only wonder and learn. This is a remarkable achievement.
Rating:
Summary: Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History
Review: Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould is a collection of essays, his first, that brings together his knowledge, wit and intellectual musings to the art of writing a scientific essay as no other can. There are 33 essays in the tome that are unparalleled and are far beyond any of his contemporaries, but brought to us by his unmatched ability, so the common man can understand his intrinsic intuitive profundity. Gould brings us essays on Darwiniana, Human Evoution, Odd Organisms and Evolutionary Exemplars, Patterns and Punctuation in the History of Life, Theories of the Earth, Size and Shape, from Churches to Brains to Planets, Science in Society-- a Historical View, The Scince and Politics of Human Nature. All of these are thought provoking with a sophistication unmatched in the realm of science today. As we read on in the book, we see the knowledge brought to us. Can we who read this comprehend both the lessons and the limits of scientific understanding here? Gould brings us his thoughts, as we read, I can only wonder and learn. This is a remarkable achievement.
Rating:
Summary: Ever since Gould scientific essays are fun
Review: If I ever have to prove to my son that science can be an entertaining adventure and anything but a reclusive activity, I will give him one of Stephen Jay Gould's books to read. "Ever since Darwin" is the first in a series of collected essays which Gould originally wrote for scientific journals. Some of his favorite subjects are the purposeless, non-progressive nature of evolution (and why we like to deny this fact), the unconscious reflection of social and political ideas in scientific theories, the explanatory power of Darwin's theory, and the peculiar details of the history of science (for example, why Darwin was NOT the naturalist on board of the H.M.S. Beagle). Gould's essays are always full of surprising details, telling anecdotes and witty asides. He would have made an excellent Enlightenment philosopher because he reminds his readers again and again that reason and the scientific method are powerful instruments - if one is aware of their limitations (for example, the "anthropocentric bias", the belief in human "specialness"). Throughout, Gould highlights the human side of science, and the human creativity involved. For him, science is not a "mechanical collection of facts and induction of theories, but a complex process involving intuition, bias, and insight from other fields". Gould has a gentle humor, and an infectious enthusiasm; he likes to play with words (one essay is titled "Is the Cambrian Explosion a Sigmoid Fraud?"), asks interesting questions, never shys away from the odd detail, and takes particular pleasure in theories that contradict common sense. Reading Gould, I get the feeling that his way of arguing could well have been the way Socrates once talked to anyone you cared to listen: ask before you accept anything as "fact", and be aware of your limits. Or to put it in Gould's words: "I will rejoice in the multifariousness of nature and leave the chimera of certainty to politicians and preachers".
Rating:
Summary: Ever since Gould scientific essays are fun
Review: If I ever have to prove to my son that science can be an entertaining adventure and anything but a reclusive activity, I will give him one of Stephen Jay Gould's books to read. "Ever since Darwin" is the first in a series of collected essays which Gould originally wrote for scientific journals. Some of his favorite subjects are the purposeless, non-progressive nature of evolution (and why we like to deny this fact), the unconscious reflection of social and political ideas in scientific theories, the explanatory power of Darwin's theory, and the peculiar details of the history of science (for example, why Darwin was NOT the naturalist on board of the H.M.S. Beagle). Gould's essays are always full of surprising details, telling anecdotes and witty asides. He would have made an excellent Enlightenment philosopher because he reminds his readers again and again that reason and the scientific method are powerful instruments - if one is aware of their limitations (for example, the "anthropocentric bias", the belief in human "specialness"). Throughout, Gould highlights the human side of science, and the human creativity involved. For him, science is not a "mechanical collection of facts and induction of theories, but a complex process involving intuition, bias, and insight from other fields". Gould has a gentle humor, and an infectious enthusiasm; he likes to play with words (one essay is titled "Is the Cambrian Explosion a Sigmoid Fraud?"), asks interesting questions, never shys away from the odd detail, and takes particular pleasure in theories that contradict common sense. Reading Gould, I get the feeling that his way of arguing could well have been the way Socrates once talked to anyone you cared to listen: ask before you accept anything as "fact", and be aware of your limits. Or to put it in Gould's words: "I will rejoice in the multifariousness of nature and leave the chimera of certainty to politicians and preachers".
Rating: 
Summary: Trying to make the ineffable understandable
Review: Jill had been trying to get me to read Gould for over a year. She subscribes to Natural History and so had a fresh dose every month to tackle me with. And I'm not sure of my reluctance. Jill would say that it's because I'm reluctant to do anything that she wants me to do--I'm not ready to admit that (I certainly hope that that's not true!). I think it may have been that I didn't want to add Natural History to my voluminous stack of stuff yet to read-- cleverly forgetting, if I had ever truly realized it, that Gould's column was collected, and continuously being collected, in a series of volumes, of which this one is the first. Maybe I just wanted to start from the beginning. It's a good thing that Jill had introduced me to some later Gould, because this, while genuinely entertaining, and definately intellectually stimulating, is a rougher mix. Gould has grown as a writer (and probably as a scientist) since originally starting his column. This isn't a book to try to read at one sitting (I think it's been at my bedside for the last year) because it is thick and meaty. While Gould attempts to write at a level that a layman can understand, he doesn't simplify things. It's a tough slog through some of these essays, but always worth the effort. I've got the next volume by the bedside now, and I look forward to growing with Gould.
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