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In his characteristically iconoclastic
and original way, the bestselling author of Wonderful
Life and Bully for Brontosaurus argues that progress
and increasing complexity are not inevitable features of
the evolution of life on Earth. Further, if we wish to see
grandeur in life, we must discard our selfish and anthropocentric
view of evolution and learn to see it as Darwin did, as
the random but unfathomably rich source of 'endless forms
most beautiful and most wonderful.'
What do a drunkard's walk, the prognosis
for Stephen Jay Gould's own cancer, Goethe's observation
that 'trees cannot grow to heaven', the evolution of the
modern horse, and the continuing dominance of bacterial
life on the planet have in common? In Gould's hands, such
seemingly disparate topics are tools that shape a unified
and rational picture of nature that is often at odds with
what we intuitively 'know' to be true.
Life's Grandeur is abundant with
the fascinating arcana of palaeontology and biology, the
subtleties of mathematical analysis, and the heroic achievements
of baseball players and the occasional scientist. But behind
it all, as always in Gould's popular writing, is a passionate
belief in the completion of an intellectual revolution.
Such a view may encourage us to see ourselves as closer
than a gibbon to the ideal of life; but we flatter ourselves.
We can and should appreciate human glory in human spheres.
But any rational view of nature tells us that we are a simple
branch on an immense bush; and that life on Earth is remarkable
not for where it is leading, but for the fullness and constancy
of its variety, ingenuity and diversity.
Stephen Jay Gould is the Alexander Agassiz
Professor of Zoology and Professor of Geology at Harvard
University, and the Curator for Invertebrate Palaeontology
in the University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His books
include Ever Since Darwin, The Panda's Thumb,
Wonderful Life, Eight Little Piggies and,
most recently, Dinosaur in a Haystack.
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