Point Of Books Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
| Title | : | Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History |
| Author | : | Stephen Jay Gould |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 352 pages |
| Published | : | September 17th 1990 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published October 1st 1989) |
| Categories | : | Science. Nonfiction. Biology. Evolution. History. Natural History. Environment. Nature |
Stephen Jay Gould
Paperback | Pages: 352 pages Rating: 4.13 | 8780 Users | 238 Reviews
Ilustration Toward Books Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
High in the Canadian Rockies is a small limestone quarry formed 530 million years ago called the Burgess Shale. It hold the remains of an ancient sea where dozens of strange creatures lived—a forgotten corner of evolution preserved in awesome detail. In this book Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale tells us about evolution and the nature of history.Identify Books Conducive To Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
| Original Title: | Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History |
| ISBN: | 039330700X (ISBN13: 9780393307009) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Royal Society Science Book Prize for General Prize (1991), Pulitzer Prize Nominee for General Nonfiction (1990), Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science (1990) |
Rating Of Books Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
Ratings: 4.13 From 8780 Users | 238 ReviewsWrite-Up Of Books Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
I think maybe I am not right audience for this book. This is probably a great book for the proper audience. If you know what a "chelicerate arthropod" is, then dive right in! You probably have the proper knowledge base to allow you to appreciate and enjoy this book! I, on the other hand, do not.Here's my takeaway message (and this may not be right, since I skimmed a lot): evolution is random, and weird. Also, paleontologists are always correcting each other.Reading this felt like a chore. I keptA book about wonder and a wonderful book. The story of the Burgess Shalefrom its initial misinterpretation to its reassessment 50 years lateris mind blowing. This limestone outcropping, which sits at an altitude of 8,000 feet in the Canadian Rockies, near British Columbia, was at equatorial sea level 530 million years ago. Its shale has revealed about 150 previously unknown arthropod genera and entirely new species with anatomies that would be unimaginable to us today had Charles Doolittle
I'm not saying anything startling or new when I say this book is awesome.So, for one thing, it's a book about writing and about mythology, and how what we think we know limits what we see and therefore what stories we can tell, a problem which Gould addresses both in terms of paleontologists looking at the Burgess Shale and in terms of Gould himself looking at the paleontologists looking at the Burgess Shale. So he talks about how Charles Doolittle Walcott got everything wrong (except for the
I purchased this book at Chapter Two Books in Williamstown, MA.I was really looking forward to reading this book because I think this is probably his most well-known popular science book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I actually like many of his others much better. I found his first few chapters a little dull, but things got exciting once he got to the chapter that he sets up as a play.I'm also not entirely happy with his epilogue. Yes, Pikaia and its proper classification is important. And he
Wonderful Life chronicles the changing landscape of science in the seventies, and is about slow, but important changes in scientific thinking that change how we think about the world. The case in question is the study of the Cambrian fauna of the burgess shale. Once, it was thought that these animals were only simpler versions of modern animals, however, extended study of these animals found the animals to be several times more diverse than any faunal assemblage today. Showing an extensive mix
The Burgess Shale is a fossil deposit of importance equal to that of the Rift Valley sites of East Africa in that it provides truly pivotal evidence for the story of' life on earth. The shale comes from a small quarry in the Canadian Rockies discovered in the early 20th century by Charles Walcott, then a leading figure at the Smithsonian. The Burgess fossils come from the Middle Cambrian Period, around 350 million years ago. They form one of the earliest assemblages of soft-bodied creatures from
The drama I have to tell is intense and intellectual. It transcends these ephemeral themes of personality and the stock stage. The victory at stake is bigger and far more abstract than any material reward a new interpretation of lifes history. In these sentences Gould not only tells us the theme of his book but how much his work means to him. His passion for paleontology and the story of life resonate from every page. His tone, perspective and considerable writing skills make Wonderful Life a
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