"The most ambitious combination of art and science ever published tells the story of life on Earth over the course of 600 million years. The text is brilliantly illuminated by more than 300 paintings (200 in color), drawings, and computer-designed illustrations. A living path of our planet's history."

"Whether his topic is typewriter design, the technical triumph of Voyager or Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak, Gould holds our attention." [Publisher's Weekly]

"Inspired by a debate between Noam Chomsky and Jean Piaget, this work traces the development of natural history from Aristotle to Darwin, and demonstrates how the science of plants and animals has emerged from the common conceptions of folk biology."

"On a peripatetic journey from Tennyson to Poe, Gould discusses grief, and math, and more." [AudioFile]

"In the sixth volume of essays from Natural History magazine, the nation's foremost science writer discusses environmental spoliation and the massive extinction of the earth's species." [Ingram]

"This popular anthology offers an introduction to the wonders and depths of evolutionary biology." [Chicago Tribune]

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

"What color is a zebra? Does the changing size of a Hershey bar hold a lesson of adaptive significance? Did an asteroid bring mass extinction to the earth 65 million years ago? Why do animals walk, fly, swim and slither but never roll? Human beings not withstanding, why are the females of most species larger than the males?

Behind each question and each answer lie concepts central to science and in particular to an understanding of evolution, the centerpiece of biology. Science is the art of the doable, and the science of evolutionary biology has changed our view of the world. It is important to remember that natural selection is not a perfecting principle, but a means of making sense of our earth as we find it today."

"Hosted by David Attenborough, this critically acclaimed series originally seen on PBS, is a fascinating history of nature that captures the mysteries and splendors of the earth rarely seen. It took Attenborough and his crew three years to capture this footage." [Amazon.com]

"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." [Ingram]