The Panda's Thumb Author:Stephen Jay Gould "There is grandeur in this view of life," wrote Charles Darwin in the last line of THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, "with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one." In THE PANDA'S THUMB, Gould delights and instructs while deepening and extending his examination of evolution, a centerpiece of modern science. Were ... more »dinosaurs really dumber than lizards? Why are roughly the same number of men and women born? What do the panda's magical "thumb" and the sea turtle's perilous migration tell us about imperfections that prove the evolutionary rule? "These questions of life lie on a continuum that touches us all. Seldom have their mysteries been explained with such wit, beauty and elegance." (Publisher's Source)« less
A collection of surprisingly layman-friendly articles on evolution. The articles try to explain why some animals have apparently unique structures and how they came into being. The explanations are almost Lamarckian but with periods of accelerated development where random changes unexpectedly help an organism survive.
There are also explanations on how specific complex traits have arisen - essentially refuting some peoples commonly cited examples supporting an anti-evolutionary stance. The book has aged well, unlike some other scientific essays. A good read for anyone interested in evolution.