STEPHEN JAY GOULD (1941–2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. One of the most influential and widely read evolutionary biologists of the 20th century and perhaps the best known since Charles Darwin, Gould touched off numerous debates, forcing scientists to rethink sometimes entrenched ideas about evolutionary patterns and processes.
Gould's most significant contribution was the theory of punctuated equilibrium developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972. The theory proposes that evolutionary change in the fossil record came in fits and starts rather than a steady process of slow change. Scientists are still arguing over how often the fossil record shows a punctuated pattern and how such a pattern might arise. Many credit punctuated equilibrium with promoting the flowering of the field of macroevolution, in which researchers study large-scale evolutionary changes, often in a geological time frame.
Apart from his technical research, Gould became widely known as a writer, polemicist, and popularizer of evolutionary theory. His writing is characterized by a graceful literary style and the ability to treat complex concepts with absolute clarity. In his books ONTOGENY AND PHYLOGENY (1977), THE MISMEASURE OF MAN (1981), TIME’S ARROW, TIME’S CYCLE (1987), and WONDERFUL LIFE (1989), he traced the course and significance of various controversies in the history of evolutionary biology, intelligence testing, geology, and paleontology. Gould regularly contributed essays to the periodical Natural History, and these were collected in several volumes, including EVER SINCE DARWIN (1977), THE PANDA’S THUMB (1980), HEN’S TEETH AND HORSE’S TOES (1983), and BULLY FOR BRONTOSAURUS (1991). He campaigned against creationism and proposed that science and religion should be considered two distinct fields (or "non-overlapping magisteria") whose authorities do not overlap.
Gould was also an enthusiastic baseball fan and sabermetrician (analyst of baseball statistics), and made frequent reference to the sport in his essays. Many of his baseball essays were anthologized in TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY IN MUDVILLE (2003).
He received innumerable awards and honors, served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and won the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In April 2000, the U.S. Library of Congress named him a "Living Legend".
Wishing everyone a very happy and safe holiday season!
The following books are in ePUB and/or PDF format as indicated:
* An Urchin in the Storm: Essays About Books & Ideas (Norton, 1988) – ePUB
* Bully for Brontosaurus (Norton, 1992) – ePUB
* Dinosaur in a Haystack (Harmony, 1995) – PDF
* Eight Little Piggies (Norton, 1994) – ePUB
* Ever Since Darwin (Norton, 2007) – ePUB
* Flamingo's Smile, The (Norton, 1987) – ePUB
* Full House: Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin (Harvard, 2011) – ePUB + PDF
* Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox (Harvard, 2011) – ePUB + PDF
* Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes (Norton, 1994) – ePUB
* I Have Landed: Splashes & Reflections in Natural History (Vintage, 2002) – ePUB
* Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms (Vintage, 1999) – ePUB + PDF
* Life's Grandeur (Vintage, 2005) – ePUB
* Lying Stones of Marrakech, The (Vintage / Harvard, 2011) – ePUB + PDF
* Mismeasure of Man, The (Norton, 1996) – ePUB
* Ontogeny and Phylogeny (Harvard, 1977) – PDF
* Panda's Thumb, The (Norton, 1992) – ePUB
* Punctuated Equilibrium (Harvard, 2007) – PDF
* Questioning the Millennium (Harmony, 1999 / Harvard, 2011) – ePUB + PDF
* Rocks of Ages: Science & Religion in the Fullness of Life (Ballantine, 2002) – ePUB
* Selected Writings (n.p., n.d.) – PDF
* Structure of Evolutionary Theory, The (Harvard, 2002) – ePUB + PDF
* Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle (Harvard, 1987) – PDF
* Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville (Norton, 2003) – ePUB
* Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale & the Nature of History (Norton, 2007) – ePUB
If you like these books and want others to have access to them, please consider helping to seed this torrent. The more you seed, the longer the torrent will live, and the easier it will be for me to upload new content. Thank you!
