Hen's Teeth And Horse's Toes: Further Reflections In Natural History (1994) - Plot & Excerpts
Una delle raccolte di saggi che preferisco del compianto Stephen Jay Gould. L'argomento è l'evoluzione, e la storia della scienza. Tra i pezzi fondamentali ci sono i tre articoli relativi a Teilhard e alla truffa di Piltdown, in cui Gould espone la sua tesi sulla probabile colpevolezza del giovane gesuita, che ho sempre trovato decisamente convincente, e la risposta argomentata a tutte le critiche mosse verso questa tesi. Vi sono poi brevi saggi molto illuminati sulla non moralità della Natura, con le implicazioni sulla non esistenza di un Dio Benevolo e di un disegno ad esso collegato; i saggi relativi alle stranezze, anomalie della natura che prima della scoperta dei geni homeobox e della biologia dello sviluppo parevano essere quasi inspiegabili; all'ultimo libro di Darwin relativo ai lombrichi con tutto ciò che comporta per l'analisi delle modalità di pensiero del geniale inglese.Vi sono poi due interessanti sezioni dedicate ai rapporti storici tra scienza e politica e all'estinzione; chiude il tutto la trilogia della Zebra, che si apre con il famoso "Che cos'è una Zebra, ammesso che sia qualcosa".Una lettura molto agevole e divulgativa adatta a chiunque abbia un interesse nella scienza e una preparazione di poco superiore alla terza media.
My background in the natural sciences is poor, a miserable chemistry class and the perceived moral imperatives of informed political action having taken me off track in the sophomore year of high school. After that, excepting perhaps some classes taken towards a psychology degree in graduate school, the only real science course I took thereafter was one in physics to fulfill a college requirement. Philosophy of science or history of science, yes, but no more science per se. Further pursuit of such matters was also hampered by my abandonment of a tangent subject I actually really liked, mathematics, after the junior year. Again, some philosophy and history of math, even some symbolic logic which recaptured some of the old love for the formalism of it all, but no mathematics per se and without mathematics one's progress is severely limited.Still, not wanting to be a total idiot in this world of big and pervasive science and technology, I do occasionally pick up a book about a scientific topic written expressly for the layperson. In biology, Stephen Jay Gould has always proven to be a good choice, this particular book being a bunch of essays circling around the lynchpin of modern biology, i.e. evolutionary theory.
What do You think about Hen's Teeth And Horse's Toes: Further Reflections In Natural History (1994)?
This is the fourth in a series written by Stephen Jay Gould, a paleontologist from Harvard University. Gould looks at some of the early, flawed and heavily biased research that supported racial superiority, along with other factors involved in the evolution of families and species and scientific considerations in determining origins. Gould supports the basic Darwinian theory but takes issue with the frequently misunderstood understanding and adaptation of Darwin's work by the public. This work is an academic treatise, and as such, it is little wonder that so few people so deeply invested in evolutionary theory have bothered to read explanations of this type.
—Mike Davis
Interesting. Gould wrote these essays around the time that the Alvarez meteoric impact theory was being published. This is something that we now know to be beyond doubt. But at the time, when it was just being introduced, the theory, and especially its association with the Cretaceous extinction, was not immediately embraced on the part of paleontologists. This led Luis Alvarez, no doubt in his frustration, to call paleontologists "not very good scientists." Oh dear! But Gould's coverage of the developing story is very fine and can be followed here and in his subsequent books, especially The Flamingo's Smile.
—William1
secondo me la migliore tra le 10 raccolte di saggi di Gould (la terza). Mi e` piaciuto in particolare "miti e realta' della jena" e la trilogia della zebra (che tra l'altro risponde alla famosa domanda se la zebra sia un animale bianco a strisce nere o un animale nero a strisce bianche)
—Makomai
