Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes

Witty and well-informed as ever. One of the best is on how pioneers of statistics got it all wrong about immigration, moulding their criteria to fit their racist prejudices. Several excursions into Darwin, how wide-ranging he was, what a master of detail as well as grand theory. Strong on, or rather against, creationists - no such thing as "scientific creationism". Seems to be a particularly American delusion, a precursor to our present "post-truth" culture.

A collection of essays, almost all of them originally published in Natural History Magazine, covering various topics in evolutionary biology and related fields. These are from the early 1980s, so some of them are a bit dated, but they're still very much worth reading. Gould is a lucid, thoughtful writer, and his subject matter is always intriguing, at least for those of a scientific mindset. He isn't simply popularizing scientific concepts or offering up interesting scientific factoids for his readers, either. There's a lot of original thought, analysis, and argument here, whether Gould is attempting to dispel over-simplistic myths about important people in the history of science, contesting the popular notion that extinct species are show more necessarily failed or "inferior" species, or -- a favorite theme -- pointing out the ways that biologists often fail to sufficiently take into account the role that chance and contingency play in evolution. Fascinating stuff. show less

Volume 3 of the collected essays of this author was a mix as usual of rather dry ones I found hard to get into, and more interesting topics such as whether all varieties of zebra (there are three, each with distinctive stripe patterns) are actually related and whether the capacity for stripes is inherent in horses as a whole (it is). Another essay deals with the development of the horse leg and how two toes fused to another bone but in some throw backs appear as large toes branching off the leg too high up to actually function as toes.

I was puzzled by the section on the Piltdown Man hoax since the previous volume included a similar article on the subject - it seems that after the one in the present volume was originally published a show more furore resulted with defenders of Teilhard de Chardin launching vicious attacks upon Gould. In this volume, a second article appears where he refuted the arguments of a few more prominent attacks (while drawing a veil over nastier comments which, reading between the lines, might have been anti-Semitic, the author being Jewish). I don't know why they reacted thus after this second essay when seemingly the first very similar one passed unremarked.

One essay discusses the possibility of an asteroid being responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs - this is so well accepted today that it's interesting to see the early stages of the introduction of this idea.

On the whole this balances out as 3 stars. show less

A collection of essays on evolutionary biology by provocative and original thinker Stephen Jay Gould, a paleontologist at Harvard University. A good bit of debunking and setting the record straight on matters pertaining to evolution and evolutionary theory.

Another set of Gould's essays, mostly focused on the theme of evolution in one form or another. Like many of these volumes, some of the essays have dated a bit more than others, but there remain some interesting bits.

I’m going to make an embarrassing confession: when I was a teenager, I attempted to read one of Stephen Jay Gould’s essay collections and didn’t quite make it through. I think it was the baseball; something about it turned me off. Now, twelve years later, I lament not having tried another of his books while younger. I recently read The Mismeasure of Man and thought it was brilliant. Now I have read an actual book of his shorter works, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Full review: http://libwen.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/hens-teeth-and-horses-toes-by-stephen-jay...

Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes written by Stephen Jay Gould introduces the reader to the many and wonderful manifestations of evolutionary biology in this book of essays. Gould wrote many essays for "Natural History" and this book covers thirty of those essays as he takes us on an evolution ride of a tour de force magnitude.Gould is unparalled when it comes to taking complicated theory and having the ability to evoke enlightenment to the general mass public as he brings a passion to his explanations and an understanding par excellence. Reading Gould's rather convesational tone in this book brings a wealth of information to the reader in a painless fashion. Gould is truly a natural philosopher when it comes to show more spinning a story as he brings to the table a wealth of information as you read and the conclusion comes to you in a rather lively and fascinating manor. Gould has hit his stride with these essays. This book was a joy to read and educational, bringing the reader witty learned sense making you follow till you see his conclusion. The prose flows well and you will feel that you are in capable hands as you are guided throughout the book. show less