Collected essays. This is what Gould is best at.

Enjoy them for the writing ability, the beautiful linking of apparently disparate facts and anecdotes or the key thought provoking messages that usually involve some form of humbling perspective on the universe or human beings.

Particular highlights for me were the writings on the evolution of the bones of the inner ear and an exposition on the philosophical bond between Darwin and right wing economics.

Well worth a read. ( )

A very human science writer: Gould was an expert in writing about science in a way that ordinary, not-particularly-scientific readers could comprehend, at least in a general way. But more than that, he linked the science to anecdotes that readers could not only understand, but also identify with.

Read as book on tape. Excellent material for those who have old or brief background in science. Presents clear picture of what evolution in varying situations looks like.

First time I've read this one - I read and re-read Gould constantly, but this one was new to me. There were some interesting elements - the essays about the intertwining of new facts and new theories were good. And of course the bit (familiar from other books, but presented in a slightly different way here) about looking at an entire theory rather than a strawman selection from it, to understand why it was wrong and has been superseded. ( )

Essays on nature, evolution, human nature, extinction, anatomy, forgotten or mis-understood figures in science, etc. Well written. ( )