Stephen Jay Gould Poradie kníh

Gould se v knize zabývá počátky paleontologie od 16. do 18. století, ukazuje snahu pochopit fosilie, zabývá se historickými omyly při výkladu nálezů fosilií (včetně samotného Galilea). Další eseje věnuje nejvýznamnějším osobnostem přelomu 18. a 19. st. (Lavoisier, Buffon, Lamarck). Zvláště eseje o historických omylech jsou čtenářsky velmi zajímavé. Gould se stal známým díky svým esejím v časopise Natural History. Zabýval se v nich fosiliemi, geologií, evoluční biologií a historií vědy. Po 27 letech psaní sloupků oznámil, že s nimi na konci roku skončí: těchto 24 esejů představuje poslední, co napsal. První dvě třetiny knihy věnuje neznámým nebo nepochopeným osobnostem renesance, osvícenství a viktoriánské éry. Například Johann Beringer, učenec z 18. století, napsal pojednání o úžasných „lživých kamenech“ z Wűrzburgu. Ve skutečnosti šlo o krutý vtip, který na něj nachystali kolegové, aby z něj udělali hlupáka. Beringer se nemohl více mýlit, ale dokázal moc paleontologie.

The title is a pun, and as always with Gould the joke has a point that illustrates the largest pattern of life's history. For millennia the animals that populated the earth had four toes on each foot, or six. If evolution had taken a tiny shift - if our a

There aren't many scientists famous enough in their lifetime to be canonized by the US Congress as one of America's 'living legends'. It is still more unlikely that the title should have been conferred on a man regarded by many in the US as a notorious ra

Dieses Buch versammelt die letzten naturwissenschaftlichen Essays des großen Evolutionsbiologen. Die Antworten sind erheiternd, verwirrend, erhellend und immer auch unterhaltsam. In diesen Texten zeigt sich erneut, mit welcher Virtuosität und Klarheit der 2002 verstorbene Naturwissenschaftler uns an der gesamten Breite und Komplexität seines Wissens teilhaben lässt und welch ein Optimismus aus den Texten spricht. Eine intelligente und spannende Reise quer durch die Evolutionsgeschichte und zugleich das persönlichstes Buch von Gould.

Completed shortly before his death, this is the last work of science from the most celebrated popular science writer in the world. In characteristic form, Gould weaves the ideas of some of Western society's greatest thinkers, from Bacon to Galileo to E. O. Wilson, with the uncelebrated ideas of lesser-known yet pivotal intellectuals. He uses their ides to undo an assumption born in the seventeenth century and continuing to this day, that science and the humanities stand in opposition. Gould uses the metaphor of the hedgehog - who goes after one thing at a measured pace, systematically investigating all; the fox - skilled at many things, intuitive and fast; and the magister's pox - a censure from the Catholic Church involved in Galileo's downfall: to illustrate the different ways of responding to knowledge - in a scientific, humanistic or fearful way. He argues that in fact each would benefit by borrowing from the other.

In characteristic form, Gould weaves the ideas of some of Western society's greatest thinkers, from Bacon to Galileo to E.O. Wilson, with the uncelebrated ideas of lesser-known yet pivotal intellectuals. He uses the ideas of these men to undo an assumption born in the 17th century and continuing to this day, that science and the humanities stand in opposition. In the title and throughout the book he uses a metaphor drawn from Erasmus and a more obscure 16th century scholar named Konrad Gesner (an illustrator of the animal kingdom) of the hedgehog - who goes after one thing at a measured pace, systematically investigating all; the Fox - skilled at many things, intuitive and fast; and the magister's pox - a censure from the Catholic Church involved in Galileo's downfall: a metaphor which illustrates the different ways of responding to knowledge - from a scientific, humanistic and fearful way. He argues that in fact each of them should borrow from each other and thereby improve their own given disciplines. Gould then delves into a fiery discussion of the notion of consilience first put forward by E.O. Wilson, which argues that scientific method (specifically reductionism) is supreme,

Eine neue Folge virtuoser Essays von Stephen Jay Gould, dem Meister der Naturgeschichtsschreibung. Die Themen erstrecken sich von der Fossilforschung des 18. Jahrhunderts (und vor allem deren aberwitzigen Fälschungen, u. a. „Beringers Lügensteine“) über die Erfindung der wissenschaftlichen Naturgeschichtsforschung durch Buffon, Lavoisier und Lamarck bis hin zu den kurioseren Erscheinungen in der Evolutionsgeschichte. Abermals erweist sich Gould als glänzender Wissenschaftshistoriker, der es wie kein zweiter versteht, die Wunder der Natur einem breiten Publikum nahe zu bringen, indem er hervorragend unterhält.

The book critiques classical Darwinism by examining its fundamental components, historical development, and origins. It challenges established beliefs and proposes a new framework for understanding evolutionary theory, encouraging readers to rethink traditional concepts in light of contemporary insights.

This collection of essays from "Natural History" magazine illuminate and elucidate key scientific concepts and their history, ranging from the discovery of the new scourge of syphilis by Fracastoro in the 16th century to Freud's weird speculations about human phylogeny.