Crossing Over: Where Art and Science Meet

What a jewel! I have read all the essays and most of the other works of Gould but this one, while not the deepest or most technical (in fact it is the lightest of all) - is wondrous. The use of art, the meaning and methods and techniques of art, to explain natural selection and the workings of our universe, was ingeniuous. So many times, scientists (Dawkins, etc) shortchange the artistic side of mankind and this is tragic. This side, much more than our intellectual or specifically, scientific, side is what sets us apart as a species. Our ability to rearrange reality and create new forms and pictures and songs and foods that heighten the senses allows us to respond deeply to these external stimuli. In a way, that is what Gould attempts to do on an intellectual level as he discusses symmetry, layers, size, proportion and other mundane ideas presented in a curiously spectacular but low-keyed fashion. The photographs or paintings or drawings fit almost seamlessly with the prose, illustrating the short, intended point. These do not approach the length or depth of the articles yet they are just as effective, maybe more so. Once again, Gould mixes the human, the personal, with the scientific and the artisitc to produce a unified message. My grade - A