The Structure of Evolutionary Theory

This is a triumph.

Gould lays out some of the history of evolutionary theory and the theory's own evolution, clearly sorting out the elements. Then he supplements and complements more recent advances in the field with propositions of hierarchical evolution (in units lower than or higher than individuals, such as species) and of course punctuated equilibrium (evolution realized mostly in occasional modest jumps rather than always gradually).

Gould's emphasis is somewhat on the evolution of form and structure of organisms; their hard structures are all that may remain, long after behavior, immune system, DNA, embryonic development, and many other characteristics disappear from the earth, and so allow a linear perspective in evolutionary show more time. Such other features are considered here as well.

Gould apparently wrote each chapter to stand on its own. That may explain redundancies noted. Gould is ever careful to distinguish between fact and hypothesis.

As an interested layman to the field, I was fascinated by this from start to finish and was convinced by the evidence and analysis. Certainly it should be read by anyone in the field. Gould devoted 20 years to writing it and died two months later.

If you are discouraged by the size of this book, then pick up any collection of Gould's many enjoyable and thoughtful essays. show less

This book is quite a bit of work to get through, both because of its length and because it is not written for a lay audience. From time to time, Gould felt the need to remind his readers that he was a real scientist, and this was his magnum opus. It is a masterful work, though not as fun and light-hearted as some of his other works. It is, in the words of Darwin, "one long argument" for his own preferred explanation of the pace of evolution, Punctuated Equilibrium, together with the idea of constraint and contingency. He begins by reviewing in detail the history of evolutionary theory, with great attention paid to the Modern Synthesis. Once he has finished with where we were, he begins the second section of the book, dealing with his show more own theory and the evidence that supports the idea. While there is not a lot of new stuff in the big picture for a professional biologist, the true meat of this book was in the details, details so completely drawn it took over 1300 pages to detail it. Not a book for a light weekend at the beach, but a worthwhile effort for anyone who is interested in evolutionary theory. For any students doing research in the field, they could do worse than comb through the extensive bibliography. show less

I've been living with this book for a few weeks now. It's big, so it is the sort of book that becomes part of your life for a while if you stick with it, like a piece of furniture (it's certainly big enough to be one).
Anyhow, wanted to report back on a few things: First, on the writing--there are places where TSET needed a stronger editor, most particluarly at the beginning when Gould runs through his philosphical and categorical underpinnings. Here he's rather unnecessarily Germanic, I'd say. And there are times over course of the book where Gould drifts back into this mode: very long, complex sentences that could have easily been pared back in the service of both clarity and readability.

But these are exceptions over the course of a show more 1400-page book: for the most part Gould gives us his usual engaging, clear, sometimes colorful prose.

Another reviewer remarked the fact that sociobiology wasn't in the index. Niether is evolutionary psychology, but both of these things are talked about, both directly and indirectly. It isn't that Gould is playing "selective history" so much as that the Index is woefully inadequate for a work of this size and complexity.

Complex? Well, aside from the technical nature of much of the book, there is also a fair amount of organizational drift at the micro level. At the macro level the book is pretty effectively divided into logical sections, but within sections Gould tends to digress and return to pages-back points quite a bit. And a lot of the book is NOT really systematically presented. Rather Gould has a few assays (or essays) at a topic from different angles of attack. There is definitely a recognizable "view of life" behind these different sections, and the method works pretty well, really, as exposition, but . . . this sort of discursive style makes a good index an absolute necessity.

There's one chapter that has come in for a bit of criticism, a defense of Gould's theory of Punctuated Equilibrium with asides on personal jealousy and other things driving his critics.

Self-serving? Yes! But interesting and enlightening, as well, putting the ball pretty solidly in the court of Gould critics.

There are gracious moments as well: his treatment of Dawkins's Selfish Gene theory is generally pretty open-minded, as is his parting exhortation to the budding field of evolutionary psychology.

If you are interested in this field, this is a book you ought to peruse extensively. (Dec., 2003) show less

Gould's masterwork and the authoritative summation of 20th Century evolutionary biology.

Unfortunately, Gould died of cancer before it could be edited. The result is a meticulous description, defense and extension of Darwinian evolutionary theory that is unfortunately filled with excess verbiage relating to Gould's ego and irrelevant interests such as baseball and religious architecture, and too much pedantic history that I think contribute nothing to the fundamental arguments.

I first met Gould in the Evoluitionary Biology course that Ernst Mayr and he taught at Harvard University, in the late 1960's. I was very put off by Gould's constant wordiness and self-promotion. Over the years I read several of his books, with the only one to show more impress me being his [A Wonderful Life] on the early Cambrian Burgess Shale fossils. Thus, I began reading "The Structure of Evolutionary Theory" with a lot of prejudice, that was reenforced by the plethora of Gould's annoying writing habits and mannerisms that make the book much harder going than it should have been.

However, on perserving, my conclusion is that the work stands as the outstanding masterwork encompassing the development of evolutionary theory from before Darwin through the end of the 20th Century. Anyone who claims to be an evolutionist should have and read this book, bearing in mind that Gould was already sick before it was all written, and that there was simply no time for the rigorous editing that could have turned the masterwork into a book that should also be a best-seller. show less

Gould's last, and by far most important work.

A very, very important, but exceptionally difficult, book to read: 1300 pages of VERY dense reasoning. Do not read this book if you want something light over the weekend; this took me MOST of an entire summer to read (during which I read a couple dozen other books). It takes long, quiet hours of concentration navigate, but is so well written and well structured, you will be able to argue evolutionary theory with the best of them.

Gould explains, in exhaustive detail, the current state of evolutionary theory and, more importantly, demonstrates the overwhelming amount of reasoning, data, and sheer scientist-hours that have been invested in developing evolutionary theory since LONG before Darwin.

It's not just what you learn from reading Gould, its the read itself. He's just a very good writer. This is Gould's magnum opus.

Don't get me wrong, this book is pretty good, but I couldn't finish it in time and I don't feel like taking it out again. I have tried to read it, but now I just can't get into the whole story that is being presented here. At the moment, Gould is going on about the history of Hierarchical Structure in taxonomy and Biology. He repeatedly reiterates his initial idea, but I keep forgetting it. Still, I did get up to page 316 or so before giving up, so that has to count for something, but this book is just too long and dense.

He mentions Darwin and his ideas, along with a number of other historical biologists that had some effect on modern thought with evolution and all of that.

Bottom line is, this book just wasn't for me. It wasn't fun to show more read, and I am deluding myself in trying to finish it. So it has been dropped. Luckily I didn't buy it... show less