The Common But Less Frequent Loon and Other Essays

Thomson's collection of essays on natural science (from "American Scientist") are contemplative, and conversational, cerebral without being difficult, and concerned with ideas, philosophy and language. Organized in three sections, "The Uses of Diversity," "On Being a Scientist" and "The Future of Evolution," the collection takes a broad perspective. In the title essay he extrapolates from the pair of loons on his summer lake to the character of a place where loons live, their dwindling numbers and what that could mean to humans, practically and aesthetically. On a drive from Kennedy airport, he muses on our attitude toward land. Two other essays explore the perspectives of earlier scientists. In the second section he captures the thrill of discovering how sharks swim and dissects the polarizing effect of "reductionism," the practice of ignoring outside influences in scientific disciplines. Reflections on evolution lead him to explore matters as apparently diverse as the origin of tetrapods and the link between Newton and Darwin. Thomson offers ruminations rather than anecdotes, he looks at where we've been as well as where we're going and worries about how we're getting there.