The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History

This is volume 4 of the collected essays by the late Stephen Jay Gould. As before, it is the usual mixture of some rather esoteric ones that go a bit over my head and subjects I find more interesting. I had to skip the article on baseball however, being from the UK and unable to drum up any interest. The discussion of mass extinctions was interesting, given that these essays were written during the period when the theory that the dinosaurs (and many marine invertebrates) had been wiped out by an asteroid strike was beginning to gather sufficient evidence to be accepted. Some of the articles have no doubt been superseded by more recent scientific developments which is problematic when a reader such as myself doesn't know which have been show more affected. So all in all, I rate this at 3 stars. show less

This is another collection of essays loosely based around evolutionary biology (with some inevitable baseball references).

This is what the author is best at. He like language and uses it in his own verbose and slightly pompous manner but once again we can see that he doesn't seem to have a nasty bone in his body.

Having now seen him talk on you tube I can picture him reading the book to me, slightly out of breath, fiddling with his glasses dramatically and pausing for effect quite often. This only helps the enjoyment all the more.

Some of the material covered is getting old now (1987) so bear that in mind, but I particularly enjoyed some of the "period" references e.g. the dino-killing impact theory.

If you haven't read Gould then this show more might be a decent place to start - if you have read him then this is a cracking example of him in the medium he does best. show less

Gould's fourth essays volume, which includes some real crackers. The title essay is a great read, for example. As usual, though, some have aged better than others.

Evolutionary Biology?: Is there any other type of modern biology? Evolution is so deeply interwined in today's biology that it almost seems a tautology to classify this book under Evolutionary Biology. Gould's reflections are masterpieces of rationality and logic heavily supported with facts and exposed with an uneven grace and uniqueness. This, as a lot of other Gould's books, is a collection of essays that don't need to be read in order since they are not chapters, their organization obeys the main subject of each essay, not a unique plot developed along the book. This is an easy and incredibly interesting journey inside reason and natural science, please don't hesitate if you want to be taken by the hand of one of the greatest show more zoologists of the twentieth century. show less

Love Gould, as usual. I can never remember which essays are in which - this is neither one of his first ones, where he's somewhat more accepting of standard stories, nor one of his later ones where his cancer becomes a frequent player, so I have no idea which of his stories are in here. But I enjoyed them! Not the first time I've read this one, either. He always makes me think, even on multiple re-reading.

Another collection of Gould's essays on evolution, natural history, palentology, baseball, etc. I've enjoyed his essays since I first started reading them many years back and this one is just as good. It is an older collection so it was interesting to read about the new at the time theory of mas extinction by asteroid and also an essay on nuclear winter.

Interesting essays, as always, about how science works, evolution and natural history. Reading these essays is a pleasure, tinged with regret that Stephen Jay Gould is no longer writing them.