Stephen Jay Gould

Acclaimed science writer Gould explores continuity in relation to environmental deterioration and the potential massive extinction of the earth's species. The sixth volume in a series of essays begun in 1974 and first published in Natural History magazine. Author lectures.

"His fourth volume of imaginative, witty essays...equals Gould's prize-winning The Panda's Thumb and The Mismeasure of Man".--Publisher's Weekly. Photographs.

With sales of well over one million copies in North America alone, the commercial success of Gould's books now matches their critical acclaim. Reissued in a larger format, with a handsome new cover, The Panda's Thumb will introduce a new generation of readers to this unique writer, who has taken the art of the scientific essay to new heights. Illustrations.

Over a century after Darwin published the Origin of Species, Darwinian theory is in a 'vibrantly healthy state, ' writes Stephen Jay Gould, its most engaging and illuminating exponent. Exploring the 'peculiar and mysterious particulars of nature, ' Gould introduces the reader to some of the many and wonderful manifestations of evolutionary biology.

Here are a series of tantalizing predictions about the coming century, delivered by thirty of today's greatest minds--including Stephen Jay Gould, Daniel Dennett, Sherry Turkle, Steven Weinberg, Noam Chomsky, Umberto Eco, and John Kenneth Galbraith. This glittering list of contributors includes Nobel laureates, bestselling writers, intellectual icons, and scientists at the cutting edge of research. Readers can sample everything from Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe's hopes for the future of Africa in the next century, to feminist Andrea Dworkin's dream of a new Jerusalem for women. Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke serves up a series of startling visions, including the possibility that, by the year 2050, large sea creatures will be found beneath the ice-covered oceans of Jupiter's moon Europa. Steven Pinker suggests that the completion of the Humane Genome Project will lead to a sudden jump in our knowledge about the genetic basis of our emotions and our learning abilities. And Richard Dawkins believes that the ancient mind-body problem will be solved--not by philosophers but by scientists. Each prediction is preceded by an intriguing profile of the author--blending a lively interview with biographical data--which conveys a vivid sense of the individual while setting their work in context and explaining their theories or inventions. These fascinating interviews, previously published in The Times Higher Education Supplement, give us instant capsule portraits of some of our most brilliant living thinkers. Predictions is an exciting roadmap to the future as well as a vivid snapshot of the state of human knowledge at the end of the millennium.

The twenty essays collected here-most of them written expressly for this book-offer a powerful rebuttal to the claims of the so-called 'Scientific Creationists, ' who have gained considerable exposure in recent years. The 'Creationist, ' using the Book of Genesis as their main authority, have argued that evolution is an unsound explanation of the origins of life and its diversity, and have sought in several states to introduce their ideas into public school curriculums.