Reflections in Natural History
Introduced by Steve Brusatte
The Folio Society presents a superb, illustrated edition of The Panda’s Thumb – a best-selling, award-winning collection of evolutionary scientist Stephen Jay Gould’s greatest essays for Natural History magazine.
‘Gould can do no wrong... You cannot help but read – and enjoy’
- Isaac Asimov
How did the panda come to have an extra ‘thumb’ alongside its five fingers? Why are roughly the same number of men and women born each year, and did a lack of intelligence really seal the dinosaurs’ fate? These are among the questions tackled in this brilliant anthology by Harvard palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould. An evolutionary scientist of distinction and one of the most widely read science writers of his generation, Gould opened up the wonders of evolution and the natural world to millions, and his wit and style carried the art of the scientific essay to new heights. Within the 31 provocative, mind-stretching chapters, he astonishes and amuses as he delves into how tiny bacteria use Earth’s magnetic field to seek out food, how a species of parasitic mite dies before it is born, and even why Mickey Mouse appears to be getting younger. With a new introduction by evolutionary biologist Steve Brusatte, this is the first full-colour-illustrated edition of The Panda’s Thumb – a winner of the US National Book Award in Science that has sold more than a million copies in the United States alone. Twenty-four pages of vivid nature photography help bring Gould’s wonder to a fresh generation.
Full bound in printed paper, with soft touch lamination, blocked in neon foil
Set in Haarlemmer with Magno Sans as display
384 pages
24 full-page colour illustrations and 21 integrated diagrams and black-and-white photographs.
Plain slipcase
Printed in Poland
9 ½˝ x 6 ¼˝
Remnants of the past that don’t make sense in present terms – the useless, the odd, the peculiar, the incongruous – are the signs of history. They supply proof that the world was not made in its present form. When history perfects, it covers its own tracks.
Stephen Jay Gould’s column in Natural History magazine, ‘This View of Life’, was eagerly awaited each month by a loyal readership. The Panda’s Thumb is an exhilaratingly diverse selection, drawn from his unbroken run of 300 essays. His writing is both tightly argued and thrillingly readable, often dipping into literature, music and popular culture. Gould was recognised by the Library of Congress as a Living Legend, and his many admirers include Steve Brusatte, Chair of Palaeontology and Evolution at Edinburgh University, and author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs and The Rise and Reign of the Mammals. In his exclusive introduction, he writes fondly about discovering Gould’s writing as a dinosaur-obsessed teenager in rural America – ‘a revelation, a personal awakening’. The Folio edition’s 24 pages of colour images depict life on Earth in all its variety: the orchids that fascinated Darwin, mayflies and sea jellies, dinosaur fossils, and the titular panda itself. The striking cover illustration features a nautilus shell – whose geometric proportions are discussed in one of the essays – and figures from Rudolph Zallinger’s famous ‘Road to Homo Sapiens’ frieze of human evolution.
Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist Edward O. Wilson’s classic account of evolution and biodiversity remains as relevant as when first published in 1992. The Folio edition of The Diversity of Life features wonderful colour wildlife images and a foreword by Bill McKibben.
No book has revolutionised our view of life on earth more than Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Yet its enduring popularity is a testament to the immense energy and startling simplicity with which Darwin makes his revelations.
Richard Dawkins’s startling theory propelled The Selfish Gene to international acclaim and it remains the de facto text on social development. This first illustrated edition includes 51 incredible colour photographs.
In The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, top palaeontologist Steve Brusatte brings prehistoric Earth brilliantly to life in an illustrated Folio edition with stunning art from Davide Bonadonna.
