Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History"[An] extraordinary book. . . . Mr. Gould is an exceptional combination of scientist and science writer. . . . He is thus exceptionally well placed to tell these stories, and he tells them with fervor and intelligence."—James Gleick, New York Times Book Review High in the Canadian Rockies is a small limestone quarry formed 530 million years ago called the Burgess Shale. It hold the remains of an ancient sea where dozens of strange creatures lived—a forgotten corner of evolution preserved in awesome detail. In this book Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale tells us about evolution and the nature of history. |
Contents
13 | |
23 | |
Chapter II A Background for the Burgess Shale | 53 |
Toward a New View of Life | 79 |
Chapter IV Walcotts Vision and the Nature of History | 240 |
The Power of Just History | 292 |
Other editions - View all
Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History Stephen Jay Gould No preview available - 1989 |
Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History Stephen Jay Gould No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
animals Anomalocaris antennae arthropods Aysheaia basic biramous appendages bivalved branchiopod British Columbia Burgess arthropods Burgess fauna Burgess fossils Burgess organisms Burgess Shale Cambrian explosion Canadaspis carapace classification complex cone contingency conventional Conway Morris creatures crustacean Darwin decimation defined Derek Briggs discovery disparity diversification diversity Drawn by Marianne Ediacara evolution evolutionary feeding appendages field figure final finally find fine fins first fishes five fossil record genera geological gill branches Hallucigenia Harry Whittington head shield iconography identified interpretation jellyfish ladder later Leanchoilia life’s history limbs lineages major mammals Marianne Collins Marrella mass extinction Middle Cambrian modern groups monograph mouth multicellular Naraoia nature Odaraia Opabinia pair paleontologists pattern Peytoia phyla phylum Pikaia polychaetes Precambrian preserved priapulids quarry reconstruction replay rocks Sanctacaris scientific shoehorn Sidneyia Simon soft-bodied species specimens spines story structure survival tape taxonomic tion trilobite Trilobitoidea unique vertebrates Walcott walking leg weird wonders Wiwaxia worms Yohoia