Eight Little Piggies. Reflections In Natural History - Softcover

Gould, Stephen Jay

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9780224037167: Eight Little Piggies. Reflections In Natural History

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0224037161 ISBN 13: 9780224037167

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 1993

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The title is a pun, and as always with Gould the joke has a point that illustrates the largest pattern of life's history. For millennia the animals that populated the earth had four toes on each foot, or six. If evolution had taken a tiny shift - if our ancestors had inherited a couple of genes in a different form - our canonical number, based on our fingers and toes, might be eight instead of ten. This is just one of the oddities of history that Gould deploys in this wonderfully readable book.

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Synopsis:

This collection of essays range from history to the latest theories in biology, from controversies over palaeontology to the origins of language. The title is a pun and as always with Gould, the joke has a point that illustrates the largest pattern of life's history. for millennia, the animals that populated the earth had four toes on each foot, or six. If evolution had taken a tiny shift - if man's ancestors had inherited a couple of genes in a different form - our canonical number, based on man's fingers and toes, might be eight instead of ten. Stephen Jay Gould has also written "Wonderful Life", "Bully for Brontosaurus" and "Finders Keepers".

About the Author:

Stephen Jay Gould's books include The Mismeasure of Man, The Flamingo's Smile, Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle, Bully for Brontosaurus and the international bestseller Wonderful Life. He teaches biology, geology and the history of science at Harvard University.

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