500 Million Year Old Shale Gives Great Insights
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This book is an excellent and fascinating introduction to paleontology - the study of ancient creatures through the study of their fossils. This is not a dull book by any stretch of the imagination. After reading you will want to learn more about the subject. What differentiates an average scientist to someone that can make a truly new and important discovery is the ability to sees that small variations from the expected. That is looking at raw experimental data experimental a great scientist can see how the observations do not fit theoretical expectations, and they can only be explained by revisions to existing theories. Sometimes these can be dramatic as in the case of radiation from a body or nuclear effects that had inconsistencies that could only be explained with new theories such as quantum mechanics in modern physics. This book is similar but it applies to the theory of evolution and paleontology. Early theories of evolution were based on a "cone" of evolution that explained increased diversification with time. That concept also fits in with certain religious theories. This book explains how that idea was debunked by a very lengthy and detailed study of The Burgess Shale - located in the Canadian Rockies- that had an explosion of diversity all in a short time span about 500 (plus) million years ago. These complicated little creatures have been frozen in time, captured in the shale complete with much detail. The study indicates that the number of "body plans" or what the scientists call "disparity" was more diverse at an earlier time which contradicts the idea of increased diversity with time in evolution. Instead scientists think that there is an early "decimation" of the species to give us more species with fewer "body plans" at a later date. Initially the observations were incorrectly around made and left unchallenged for about 60 years. More recently they were re-discovered after very detailed studies of the shale and new interpretations and conclusions were made. This is a very unusual and interesting book with many illustrations and comments and insights. Once you read it you will have a grasp of modern paleontology and will want to learn more. Jack in Toronto
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530 million years ago...
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530 million years ago something happened that would change the way scientists would look at evolution and it would take the humor, knowledge and artistic skill of Stephen Jay Gould to explain WHY it changed the way they look at evolution and WHY we should all care.
Mr. Gould takes evolution and shows how it worked in the ancient sea and why it seemed to change how it works now. Mr. Gould is an honest writer, brave enough to say that what he says might be proven wrong later on, but is willing to dive right in anyway. He is willing to get his hands messy while trying to work out the paleontological puzzle of the Burgess Shale and he takes us along, we go together during every step, we watch scientists overcome every barrier and we are able to judge the results that we saw built right before our eyes, piece by piece.
Great read.
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An Outstanding Book, I Guess
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I very much enjoyed this book, for the most part. It is very much accessible to those outside the field of paleobiology, and interesting to boot. However, I found Mr. Gould's conclusions on human nature and destiny, conclusions drawn from the work done by Harry Whittington, to be rather depressing. He concludes that humans are basically pointless; there is no destiny other than a 'drunken stumble'. Oh well, as a book it was a great read, made me think, and look for other stuff along these lines to read. I read it, I enjoyed it, and felt a bit better educated when I was though - what more could you ask for?
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Dramatic, Controversial, and Exceptionally Well
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This is exactly what you would expect from the combination of one of the great scientific prose writers of our generation and one of the most important, yet counterintuitive sources of data regarding the history of life. This fascinating, popularly written text focuses on the critters of the early Cambrian and a bold interpretation of their fossils that insinuate a rapid diversification of multicultural life, referred to by some as the "Cambrian explosion". It also becomes a platform from which Gould expands upon several of the general observations on Natural History that emerge as themes from his essay collections. His uncompromising fidelity to the data (interpreting what he sees rather than what he thinks he should see), his gift for weaving a narrative around a bunch of rocks, and the importance of the animals of the early Cambrian combine to make this a truly outstanding text. Far from widely accepted, this rendering has sparked debate in the paleontology community and is often referenced in popular scientific literature. I highly recommend it.
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Gould's genius
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This is the first book that I read of Steven Jay Gould. I recieved it as a child and never did much more than skim over a few pages. However, I later read through the whole thing and found that Gould describes things in an amazing way. He explains how unpredictable circumstances have had a lot to do with evolution. It hasn't always been a survival of the fittest. It has sometimes been a survival of the most lucky. This book introduces a lot of the fauna of the Burgess Shale, which is pretty wild. A lot more has been learned about these creatures since this book was written, and many of them have been classified. This book allows us a glimpse of the ancient past of life on earth.
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