Le Sourire du flamant rose. Réflexions sur l'histoire naturelle (Science ouverte) (French Edition)

Evolutionary Theory In The Theme That Binds Together These Essays On Such Seemingly Disparate Topics As The Feeding Habits Of Flamingos, Flowers And Snails That Change From Male To Female And Sometimes Back Again, And The Extinction From Baseball Of The .400 Hitter. The Flamingo's Smile -- Only His Wings Remained -- Sex And Size -- Living With Connections -- A Most Ingenious Paradox -- Adam's Navel -- The Freezing Of Noah -- False Premise, Good Science -- For Want Of A Metaphor -- Of Wasps And Wasps -- Opus 100 -- Human Equality Is A Contingent Fact Of History -- The Rule Of Five -- Losing The Edge -- Postscript : Strike Three For Babe -- Death And Transfiguration -- Reducing Riddles -- To Show An Ape -- Bound By The Great Chain -- The Hottentot Venus -- Carrie Buck's Daughter -- Singapore's Patrimony (and Matrimony) -- Hannah West's Left Shoulder And The Origin Of Natural Selection -- Darwin At Sea- And The Virtues Of Port -- A Short Way To Corn -- Just In The Middle -- Mind And Supermind -- Seti And The Wisdom Of Casey Stengel -- Sex, Drugs, Disasters, And The Extinction Of Dinosaurs -- Continuity -- The Cosmic Dance Of Siva. By Stephen Jay Gould. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 451-458. "THE FLAMINGO'S SMILE is about history," writes the author in this volume of essays, "...and about what it means to say that life is the product of a contingent past, not the inevitable and predictable result of simple, timeless laws of nature. Quirkiness and meaning are my two not-so-contradictory themes." Flamingos that feed upside down; flowers and snails that change from male to female; the probability that an errant asteroid sounded the death knell of the dinosaurs and ushered in the evolution of mankind...these are only a few of the things that open our eyes to the endless delights of Gould's subject...evolutionary theory. Il s'agit du quatrième volume où l'auteur réunit des essais publiés à l'origine sous la forme d'une chronique mensuelle dans ##Natural history magazine##. Encore une fois, il reste fidèle à son thème préféré autour duquel s'articulent tous les essais : la théorie de l'évolution. Une vulgarisation de première valeur