Rating: 
Summary: No Creationist book rises to this level.
Review: As I read this book, I had one of Philip Johnson's books on the table next to me. (Johnson is a law professor who preaches against Darwinism because the theories cast doubt on his religious beliefs.) What a world of difference! As an example, the Book of Genesis says trees were producing "fruit with seeds in them," then the sun and stars were created, and then animals, in that order (without regard to how long a yom, or day, was.) Gould points out that the first animals appear in the fossil record about 600 million years ago. Trees didn't appear until 150 mya. Common sense would suggest that trees came first, so animals could eat their fruit, but that's wrong. But Gould goes on to offer solid evidence about the origin of animals. Examination of chert (silicon dioxide)reveal another 100 million years of embrionic animal fossils, too small to be seen without a microscope. The Creatinists used to accuse Darwinists of manufacturing fossils, but how do you manufacture microscopic fossils preserved in silicon dioxide? Johnson says that deism (God created the universe and left Nature to run it) is inferior to his brand of theism, which claims that God continues to take an active role by performing miracles. If animals existed as microscopic forms for 100 million years, how exactly does the Genesis account make sense? It doesn't. I was constantly struck by the way Gould gave example after example, while Johnson simply preached his own beliefs, without any regard to them being true or not.
Rating: 
Summary: Gould is gone, but should not be forgotten
Review: Collections of previously published essays are often disappointing. Not so with Gould's "penultimate reflections in Natural History," published in 2000, just two years before his death. I found them entrancing (despite Gould's trademark parenthetical comments). Two factors make Gould's essays stand out from most science writing--the depth of his ideas and his unmatched ability to peel back layers of approximate understanding and convenient storytelling to get to what actually happened. Whether he's detailing the founding moments of palentology and geology or excavating Alfred Russel Wallace's forays into predicting the future, you know that you're going to get the real story, impeccably told, straight from the primary sources. As a science writer, I'm awed as much by Gould's impeccable scholarship as by the quality and originality of his thinking. Gould is absolutely clear-eyed about the progress of science. The tales he tells reflect it as a richly human enterprise, groping its way forward despite misconceptions, hoaxes, and the personal quirks of its protagonists. This book is not a light or easy read, but it is a richly rewarding one. Robert E. Adler
Science Journalist
Author of Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation
Rating:
Summary: The great redeemer
Review: Gould has added another jewel in his diadem of essay collections. With a clear, instructive style, he's able to bring us an array of delightfully informative articles. His outspoken opinions on most subjects deserve our attention and ongoing reflection. He presents arguments well while presenting the foundation for them with enough background to encourage further delving. His real forte, of course, lies in redeeming historical figures whose reputations are tarnished or faded. Here, he restores such luminaries as Lavoisier, Lamarck, and Buffon, showing how fleeting notoriety is at best. He even dares assault the lofty peak of Darwin. Only a idea as profound and modest as natural selection could survive the passage of time and continuing challenges. Yet labelling Darwin a 'dullard' seems inappropriate for the man who struggled for a generation to bolster his idea with available evidence. 'Dullard', after all, is defined as 'mentally slow' and Darwin was anything but that. Flamboyance isn't highly regarded among the research community. Gould's own siege against natural selection is almost overlooked in this collection. One can only wonder how he would fare solely as an historian of science. There are few flaws in this book. The publisher might have taken a hand and compiled a bibliography for faster reference. Certainly, Gould's sales must offset the additional cost. Gould, himself, however, makes one peculiar omission. He uses the term 'sound bites' in one section and refers to 'human cultural change' as a 'powerful mechanism of Lamarckian cultural inheritance of acquired characters' in another. It's easy to visualize him with clenched teeth, pacing before his word processor. 'There's GOT to be a substitute for 'meme'! Richard Dawkins' cultural replicator is superbly described in Susan Blackmore's THE MEME MACHINE, but Gould is unlikely to concede any point to Dawkins. Given that, Gould's writing skills and breadth of subjects makes this book a welcome addition to any library. His frequent asides make delightful reading [the reference to Amtrak is particularly cogent], giving the reader a pause in a sometimes intense flow of information. The lightly conveyed personalizations bring a fine sense of Gould's humanity to these columns. The next volume will be equally welcome.
Rating:
Summary: He does tribute to his subjects while complimenting readers
Review: I am fairly new to the writings of Mr. Gould; happily his writings are extensive, as this book will have newcomers searching for more. Several of the 23 essays threatened at times to go over the head of this reader, this was neatly solved by Mr. Gould as he writes for those who are not equipped with a heavily science-based background, but he never demeans his topics by bringing them down to what some reviewers call "readable". This book made me work a bit, it may require no effort on your behalf, and either way the reader wins. "How the Vulva Stone became a Brachiopod" stands at one end of the spectrum of the book, and his tributes to Carl Sagan and Joe DiMmaggio at the other. That Mr. Gould can collect essays seemingly so disparate is a tribute to his genius, and to his writing. The introductions to various essays are wonderful as well. He mentions the famous note once written in a margin; Fermat's Enigma, and ultimately brings you to his topic of Geology, but he starts with a memory of a teacher who he muses might have kept a box marked "pieces of string not worth saving". At other places it might be Mark McGwire's exploits in a sport the Author clearly loves, or a poem by Robert Frost that beautifully ushers in his message. He gives "Political Correctness" a sharp notation with the paragraph ending "the first time a tragedy, the second as farce". Even the notes he makes in his own margins are stand-alone bits for the reader. His comment on the "illogic and hypocrisy of public attitudes to drugs" starts and ends as a note, the essay hopefully will follow. This is not his last collection of essays but the penultimate, so we have one more to look forward to. One of his introductions refers to Christopher Wren who was laid to rest in what Mr. Gould feels is his finest architectural achievement, the reconstructed St. Paul's Cathedral. Mr. Wren's Son arranged for no great monument rather an inscription that read, "If you are searching for his monument look around". Mr. Gould suggested it was a tad grandiose; someday it may be inscribed for another genius that the person "read around" A great collection from a great mind. Easy, not always, worthwhile, every bit.
Rating:
Summary: Not Quite 4 Stars - Good but Sometimes Long-Winded Essays
Review: I've occasionally read Mr. Gould's essays in Natural History, so I knew what to expect from this book: interesting insights into natural history and human nature accompanied by a tendency to take too long to say something. And that's what we get. Gould's choice of topics and command of the subjects is - with some small but notable exceptions - superb. He is clearly a renaissance man, and his humanistic approach to science is enjoyable to read and thought-provoking. However, some of his essays really needed editing, and one piece on some geological minutae once again proves how dull a topic geology can be. His liberal POV matches mine, but he's yet another scientist sho can't find one nice thing to say about religion. And we don't need any essays from him on baseball. I love baseball too, but I don't read science books to read about Joe DiMaggio any more than I read Mike Lupica to learn about Einstein. I guess it's nice to be so famous that you can be self-indulgent every time. Still, this book has a lot going for it if you like your science hard and your approach to weighty matters light. Just don't expect the same kind of breeziness that Arthur C. Clarke's essay tend to have.
Rating: 
Summary: Only for fans of SJG or fans of the history of science...
Review: Lacks the world-defining punch of his earlier work ("Wonderful Life", for example) and as such probably won't make you wake your spouse up in the middle of the night to edify them. And it's a little long-winded in parts. All that considered, the most important 2 points I can make are: it's very good read and I'll buy anything written by this guy.
Rating:
Summary: Further Natural History Essays of a Master
Review: Stephan Jay Gould was certainly one of the most prolific and interesting of modern essayists on evolutionary theory. He often goes on delightful side trips (a mark of a skillful writer, as such devices can be dangerous to an essay) and rarely (but occasionally) follows the wrong path. Whether you agree with him or not, he is always thought provoking. "The Lying Stones of Marrakech" is no exception. Another one of his series of books of essays from his column "This View of Life" in NATURAL HISTORY magazine, the essays deal with a number of fascinating biological subjects from fake fossils (the lying stones mentioned in the title) to measuring evolution in the real world. While some editing might have made this book even better, it is still a very good read and certainly thought inspiring. Gould is often especially forceful in dealing with biological determinism, as in the (I think) false idea that we are totally what our genes make us. Now to be fair there are few proponents of evolutionary psychology or other biological determinist groups that would make such a statement (just as there are few total blank slate idealists, despite Stephan Pinker's views), but the ideas often expressed by such researchers make one wonder exactly where they are leading. From the "killer ape" mentality to the "naturalness of rape" they often tread close to a position that man is not improvable and so why bother? There are almost no modern scientists (as Gould points out) who would deny genetic influence on behavior. Certain mental diseases, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, have obvious genetic components. Nor would they deny that we are an evolutionary product of our ancestors Pliocene and Pleistocene environments (and even earlier ones). However, humans exhibit a remarkably plastic behavioral ability, which is also evolutionarily derived. What makes us human is exactly that plasticity. Given the current state of the planet we had better hope that we can rise above the pre-civilized part of our brains and alter our collective behavior- otherwise we are dead as a species! These and other fascinating (and often obscure) biological issues are grist for Gould's mill. To follow his interest in the national sport he even throws in a few short pieces on baseball. Essays on the difficulties of predicting the future of technology, the contributions of Lamark, the career of the great French naturalist Buffon, and how vulva stones became brachiopods (they always were of course!), are also among those in this collection. This book is well worth the reading, despite the digressions!
Rating:
Summary: Further Natural History Essays of a Master
Review: Stephan Jay Gould was certainly one of the most prolific and interesting of modern essayists on evolutionary theory. He often goes on delightful side trips (a mark of a skillful writer, as such devices can be dangerous to an essay) and rarely (but occasionally) follows the wrong path. Whether you agree with him or not, he is always thought provoking. "The Lying Stones of Marrakech" is no exception. Another one of his series of books of essays from his column "This View of Life" in NATURAL HISTORY magazine, the essays deal with a number of fascinating biological subjects from fake fossils (the lying stones mentioned in the title) to measuring evolution in the real world. While some editing might have made this book even better, it is still a very good read and certainly thought inspiring. Gould is often especially forceful in dealing with biological determinism, as in the (I think) false idea that we are totally what our genes make us. Now to be fair there are few proponents of evolutionary psychology or other biological determinist groups that would make such a statement (just as there are few total blank slate idealists, despite Stephan Pinker's views), but the ideas often expressed by such researchers make one wonder exactly where they are leading. From the "killer ape" mentality to the "naturalness of rape" they often tread close to a position that man is not improvable and so why bother? There are almost no modern scientists (as Gould points out) who would deny genetic influence on behavior. Certain mental diseases, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, have obvious genetic components. Nor would they deny that we are an evolutionary product of our ancestors Pliocene and Pleistocene environments (and even earlier ones). However, humans exhibit a remarkably plastic behavioral ability, which is also evolutionarily derived. What makes us human is exactly that plasticity. Given the current state of the planet we had better hope that we can rise above the pre-civilized part of our brains and alter our collective behavior- otherwise we are dead as a species! These and other fascinating (and often obscure) biological issues are grist for Gould's mill. To follow his interest in the national sport he even throws in a few short pieces on baseball. Essays on the difficulties of predicting the future of technology, the contributions of Lamark, the career of the great French naturalist Buffon, and how vulva stones became brachiopods (they always were of course!), are also among those in this collection. This book is well worth the reading, despite the digressions!
Rating:
Summary: Gould at the top of his writing skills
Review: Stephen Jay Gould certainly doesn't need any introduction as one of the leading and most convincing voices in evolutionary thinking. However, I'm often surprised that many well-read people haven't heard about him. Not that everybody is obliged to read Gould, but if one wants to round up one's culture, paying attention to some of his ideas, even if one doesn't agree with him, won't do any harm. He always provides good food for thought--and that, at least in my books, marks him as a good writer. 'The lying stones of Marrakech' is no exception to Gould's excellent writing--and it should serve as a good introduction to his world to those that still haven't read him. What strikes the most about this new volume of essays is the humanistic and incisive way in which he debunks some of our most cherished myths, especially those about our perception of science and evolutionary thinking in particular. To be sure, he has done that before--but in this volume he does it with more force. To me, the best essays in this volume are the last three, in the section he calls 'Evolution at all scales'. I was particularly surprised with the one entitled 'Of embryos and ancestors', where he writes about the incredible discovery of fossilized triploblastic embryos that antedate the famous Cambrian explosion of animal morphology and even the so-called Ediacaran fauna that comes before that explosion. That essay, in my estimation, opens up a new world of interpration on the history of life, where the succesion of animal groups seems to follow a more general pattern than previously thought from almost the very inception of life close to 3.5-3.6 billion years ago. Also, the essay 'The paradox of the visibly irrelevant', in the same section, puts the dots on the i's as far as our perception of evolutionary trends is concerned. Certainly, Gould writes in that essay, animals adapt to environments in a few generations visible to our human eyes, but do those adaptations have any ultimate meaning in broad evolutionary trends? I won't spoil it to the readers of this short note by saying what Gould's answer is--but I must say that his anwer is cleverly counterintuitive and very cogent. There are six short pieces about personalities in the world of sport, music, and science. I found this rather uncommon in Gould's collections of essays, but at the same time I found them thoroughly delightful. I was deeply moved by Gould's piece on the death of Carl Sagan, who did so much in popularizing science but who was so scorned by his colleagues because of that. Certainly the 'immortals' of science can deign to talk to plain people about their enterprise; how else can they hope to garner public support for what they do? Carl Sagan took the job--and he did it excellently. Gould's piece is a tribute to a great, humanistic scientist. In short, I recommend Gould's penultimate collection of essays (23 in total). And I'm sure that those who haven't read him before and start with this volume would like to read more from this great man of science.
Rating:
Summary: Essays with a split personality
Review: The first three sections of this book have essays from the magazine Natural History about the history of "natural history." They are drier and of less general interest, covering people and issues in the development of the science. This certainly would not be the perfect introduction to the late Stephen Jay Gould's writing and research styles. . . Nonetheless, they are well-researched and written in Gould's loving detail for the accurate story, in contrast to the historical myth. You might find yourself skimming the details of animal classifications to find the gems that remind us of major shifts in scientific thinking. The second three sections are written to a broader audience and start with obituaries of Carl Sagan, Mel Allen and Joe DiMaggio. These essays are more readable (though Gould continues his love for parenthetical additions at least twice on every page). In this latter half of the book, Gould covers subjects such as social Darwinism; Dolly (the cloned sheep) and the nurture vs. nature argument; ways in which evolution is visible among living species; and competitive equilibrium in nature. Here Gould ensures that his essays are relevant to current social issues.
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