Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms: Essays on Natural History

As Stephen Jay Gould's writes another book of thought provoking essays, here he toys with us with the title to this book.The title is about two seperate essays and they are well written. Understanding nature itself is what Gould is doing here... making a point in his customary brillance. There are short biographies, puzzles and paradoxes, all the time Gould is leading us through his thought prossess and reasoning.This is a very good collection of essays and well worth the time to read.Read and enjoy.

Readers of Gould's other collections of science essays will be delighted with most of the material he presents here. With his usual scope and fine prose, he presents us with carefully researched and captivating subjects. All his essays are stimulating exercises in challenging traditional ways of thinking on a wide spectrum of subjects. The opening essay on Leonardo da Vinci provides a picture of a thinker challenged by mysterious evidence, expertly addressed. Da Vinci displays more humanity here than revealed by viewing his works. Fossil seashells at mountain peaks were puzzled over for centuries. Leonardo's vivid analysis might have enhanced scientific inquiry greatly if his ideas had not ran counter to church dogmas.The remaining essays span the usual gamut of resurrecting the reputations of scientists now often lost to view. While restoring some scientists in our estimation, he manages to erode that of others just a bit. Huxley, having been knocked off a high pedestal by an earlier essay of Gould's is subtly chided here once more for racist opinions. Richard Owen, who used some truly underhanded tactics in responding to Darwin's theory of Natural Selection, is given more leniency. Racism is a durable commodity, as Gould himself readily admits in describing his own feelings about taxing pedal-powered vehicles in Africa. It behooves him to grant Huxley a bit of leeway. Huxley, 'Darwin's Bulldog' in his unqualified support for natural selection, must necessarily be besmirched a bit in keeping with Gould's own efforts in evolutionary revisionism.Having addressed NOMA in comments about Gould's bizarre work ROCKS OF AGES, dwelling on the essay here would be inappropriate. Suffice to say, the concept verges on the irrational, a rare circumstance in Gould's otherwise fine collection. Far more impressive are the two essays, As the Worm Turns and Triumph of the Root-heads are among his best work. Every new discovery in biology raises our consciousness of our place in Nature. The description of the bizarre parasites inhabiting the body's of crabs is a superb challenge to rigid thinking about evolution's methods. We're frequently reminded that evolution never works 'backwards', but this essay confirms again how unpredictable life can be in adapting to new environments. Keep this book where the children can reach it. It will provide hours of delightful reading - not just one reading, but many.

Stephen Jay Gould has done it again - Exposes the racist side of the foundation and development of Western Scientific Knowledge, which sadly enough, although to a much lesser degree persists to this day. Fortunately, there are more credible and enlightened men and women of science like Stephen Jay Gould to challenge and expose it. So many of the so-called men of science were heavily influenced by racism - racial and gender. Gould for example mentioned that with the exception of Friedrich Tiedemann, professor of anatomy at Heidelberg University, all early-nineteenth-century European scientists of eminence shared the view that blacks and women belonged to the lower forms of human life, because we have smaller skulls and therefore smaller brains. Gould also, rightfully so, singled out Richard Owen for praise, who although shared the same racist perspective as other eminent men of science, that (African, Papuan/Melanesian) blacks and women belonged to the lower races, wrote that: "Although in most cases the Negro's brain is less than that of the European, I have observed individuals of the Negro race in whom the brain was as large as the average one of Caucasians; and I concur with the great physiologist of Heidelberg, who has recorded similar observations, in connecting with such cerebral development the fact that there has been no province of intellectual activity in which individuals of the pure Negro race has not distinguished themselves." What is even more relevant, is that the negative stereotype against blacks is still wide spread and persists to this day. Gould is such a decent and honest man, that he mentioned, even he is not immune to the persistent stereotypes against blacks, as for example when he narrated an incidence on his last visit to Zimbabwe. Fortunately he caught and corrected himself, which to me is the power of his message - not to deny, bristle and bury our heads in the sand and pretend it does not exist. Although we have undeniably made progress, in some ways things have not changed a ding (I can personally testify to that). In my view, it is human failure, not an American, European or Caucasian alone. Like SJG, we should forever be alert to the distinct possibility that our actions may be harmful, unfair and based on negative stereotypes. Another important issue addressed in the book, is along the same line, namely, the mindset of even men of science to operate from the mistaken belief that human development is linear, in other words, all cultures/ societies, go through same stages of development i.e., based on a blueprint. Gould would have non-of that, in his view, which I share and based on more recent scholarly scientific work, like the rest of nature itself, things don't develop based on human models of how it should be, nature pretty much does its own thing. It will develop regardless of our desire to control it. For sure, we are making progress in many ways to direct, alter and i

A great collection of essays! Brilliantly written and presented scientific thought. Gould cuts through years of misinformation by taking the time to research original reference materials and leaving nothing for granted. I found his approach to issues involving science and religion to be most direct, honest and refreshing. Highly recommended for all readers, and a must have for historians and scientists alike.

Common themes aside, each essay in this collection stands alone well, establishing an interesting point, developing it, and wrapping it up. The issues range all over the place and have their fair share of digressions...But I found that entertaining: Each essay is like a slightly more structured version of a really good conversation with a very intelligent, interesting person over an afterdinner drink (albeit a very one-sided conversation...although I have been known to interject at times). It's all very well written, and readable to the layperson. The jumping around from subject matter to subject matter also keeps it interesting if you're not too hard core about any particular one of them...And I walked away after the 20 or so essays with enough new trivia to make me appear way more well-read than I actually am!