Customer Reviews

An Urchin In The Storm

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Gould regularly publishes collections of his quirky but erudite essays which he has eiher written for publication or presented to an audience. The topics covered are the ones he always covers but that does not distract from their excellence or interest. There are discussions about life, evolution in all its variations, several storiettes on particular aspects of the biological kingdom - wasps, trees and urchins.

Once he leaves the scientific world and ventures into the cultural wars, the writing becomes murkier. In his efforts to promote a one-size-fits-all human culture, he often ignores specific traits of subcultures. In his belief on the inherent potential quality of all humans, he discounts (and continues to discount) findings that suggest some groups are smarter than others. He often selects easy targest for his disdain: Rural creationists, UFO nuts, believers in Big Foot, etc. where little effort is required to explain the absurdities of such groups.

One point, perhaps the most salient one made in the entire book, is that nature and evolution limited similarity thereby bestowing on us a multitude of species rather than variations of just a few. All in all, a good read.