Cherryl M. (drummergirl) reviewed on 5/9/2007 + 175 more book reviews

Review is from Amazon Publishers Weekly 'In his seventh volume of witty and erudite essays, Gould casts a wide net, though he always returns to the central theme of evolution. His topics are diverse: Edgar Allan Poe's bestseller, a textbook on shells; Alfred, Lord Tennyson's In Memoriam as an account of the psychology of mourning; the infamous Wannsee Protocol, Hitler's plan for the "final solution of the Jewish question." Gould is a master of making connections: Linnaeus and Erasmus Darwin (Charles's grandfather), the Razumosky brothers, Aleksei and Andrei; King Lear and the importance of negative results. He discusses evolutionary spin-doctoring, fossil whales, movies (Jurassic Park), museums and theme parks.' His review on Jurassic Park alone is worth the read. This is one of Gould's easier books to read as most of the topics are fascinating rather than reading as a history/political lesson.

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