Comme Les Huit Doigts De La Main: Réflexions Sur L'histoire Naturelle Eight Little Piggies. French

Au fil des années, les rubriques que donne chaque mois Stephen Jay Gould au magazine «Natural History» ont fini par constituer une œuvre à part entière, qui ne ressemble à aucune autre. À l′instar de Quand les poules auront des dents ou du Sourire du flamant rose, Comme les huit doigts de la main réaffirme le grand principe gouldien selon lequel les grandes questions – en l′occurrence celles de la biologie et de l′évolution du vivant – gagnent à être examinées par le petit bout de la lorgnette. La transformation des pneus en sandales, un discours botanique de Goethe, la queue des ichtyosaures et la disparition des escargots sur une île du Pacifique, sont autant d′exemples délectables. Autant d′étapes, aussi, vers une compréhension véritable de notre histoire naturelle. "If Stephen Jay Gould did not exist it would hardly be possible to invent him. Who else among scientists who write reaches so far or grasps so surely the "pretty pebbles" that together make up the amplitude of life?"--BOOK JACKET. "Eight Little Piggies is the sixth volume in a series of essays, begun in 1974 in the pages of Natural History under the rubric "This View of Life." Now numbering more than 200 in an unbroken string, they comprise a unique achievement in the annals of literature. And they will continue, vows the author, until the millennium, in January 2001. So Stephen Jay Gould's readers, numbering in the millions around the world, have not only this present pleasure but also much to look forward to."--BOOK JACKET. "Eight Little Piggies is a special book in several ways. In all of Gould's work, this is the most contemplative and personal, speaking often of the importance of unbroken connections within our own lives and to our ancestral generations, "a theme of supreme importance to evolutionists who study a world in which extinction is the ultimate fate of all and prolonged persistence the only meaningful measure of success.""--BOOK JACKET. "This personal view leads naturally to an area that has become, for Gould, of major importance - environmental deterioration and the massive extinction of species on our present earth. He chooses, typically, unusual and telling examples: the demise of the land snail Partula from Moorea (the Bali Hai of South Pacific) and why the battle that raged over the Mount Graham red squirrel of Arizona was worth fighting."--BOOK JACKET. "There are, in addition, more than thirty of those pretty pebbles that make Gould's work unique, opening to us the mysteries of fish tails and frog calls, of the coloration of pigeons and the eye tissue of completely bind mole rats."--BOOK JACKET. "Along the way, we learn what story lies behind the bent tail of an ichthyosaur and how hearing bones evolved and how, probably, we with our five fingers and toes (subject of the title essay) evolved from ancestors that had six or eight - not to mention what lessons can be learned in a graveyard in Amana, Iowa, or by a long-delayed visit to the steps of what used to be Muller Bros., Moving & Storage, in Queens during the author's youth."--BOOK JACKET. "For range, depth, and elegance - and a serious commitment to his readers - Stephen Jay Gould has no peer. Eight Little Piggies will delight his world of readers once more."--Jacket Contemplative Essays Speaking Often Of The Importance Of The Unbroken Connection Of Modern Man And Our Ancestors. The Scale Of Extinction -- Odd Bits Of Vertebrate Anatomy -- Vox Populi -- Musings -- Human Nature -- Grand Patterns Of Evolution -- Revising And Extending Darwin -- Reversals: Fragments Of A Book Not Written. Stephen Jay Gould. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Stephen Jay Gould ; Traduit De L'américain Par Marcel Blanc. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [567]-578) And Index.