Le grand Stephen Jay Gould. Hélas il est mort. Fini les histoires de l'oncle Gould, que je lisais le soir avant de dormir. Heureusement, il a beaucoup écrit, et c'est bon, il y a suffisamment d'années - et c'est parfois suffisamment compliqué - pour que j'entame la relecture de l'oeuvre complète. ( )

Gould's first book. A collection of his articles. A cracking good read.

This kind of work is Gould's forte.

A real grab bag mix of subject matter but all told with the same idiosyncratic writing style of a writer born and not made.

Personal claim to fame - the elk skeleton discussed in chapter three is now in a museum not far from me (in Leeds) and has recently been re mounted and put back on display.

Gould picks his subjects seemingly at random, perhaps responding to the misconceptions and false claims of others but in every case uses his careful and reasoned approach to work out a persuasive lesson to be learned.

A must buy.

Now I have read this I can better understand the fuss about Gould's work and his dedicated fans. ( )

I do enjoy Gould's essays, but this is very very clearly his first collection. Two things stood out - the title (it's not bad, but no match for The Panda's Thumb or The Lying Stones of Marrakech or...) and the fact that he accepts and references some of the 'myths of science' that he debunks later - for instance, he makes casual reference to "the meeting where Huxley demolished 'Soapy Sam' Wilberforce...". In a later book (can't remember which), he's examined the actual records and contemporary references to said meeting, and discovered that it didn't happen that way. No comments about being descended from an ape, and no snappy comeback. Since I've read almost all his essay collections and a good many others he's written, I've come to expect that any time he mentions a convenient myth like that it's only for the purpose of debunking it - it quite startled me when he merely referred to it as a fact and moved on. It's still a good book, with a lot of familiar themes and interesting insights into them. Just a little odd to someone thoroughly familiar with Gould's work. ( )

Ever Since Darwin is the first collection of Gould's essays, published back in the 1970s. Thirty years is a long time for a science book, but there's several essays worth reading in this one. Gould writes about Darwin, naturally, about human evolution, odd examples of evolution in practise, history of life, theories of Earth, abouts sizes and shapes, science in society and the science and politics of human nature.

It's a wide selection of topics and Gould sure knows how to write an interesting essay. There's plenty to learn between the covers and a fair dose of entertainment as well. Despite its age, Ever Since Darwin is well worth reading.

(Original review at my review blog) ( )

Ever Since Darwin is a collection of Stephen Jay Gould's essays. As the title suggests these essays deal mainly with various topics relating to Darwin and the understanding and interpretation of evolutionary theory throughout history.

I found his style generally very easy to follow and, in contrast to the articles in many scientific journals, approachable by the lay-reader.

Those who enjoyed this book might also want to check another book of his essays: The Panda's Thumb.

- Peter K. ( )