This book should have been called “Deconstructing Darwin” or “The Structure of My Evolutionary Theory”. Gould was reluctant to give ammo to Creationists and his ego was monumental but not so big that he wished to be seen by colleagues overtly replacing a towering cultural icon with himself. Nonetheless, Gould uses 1,343 pages to kneecap Darwin, apologizing, pussy-footing, hemming, hawing and aw-shucksing throughout as he tries to kill the great precursor- a tortured psycho- drama worthy of Dostoevsky, a Freudian case study of Oedipal contortion or an essay by Harold Bloom.
Gould uses 1,343 pages to create a structure that might support his bold assertions contradicting three key elements of Darwin’s iconic masterpiece “The Evolution of Species” The foundation of Gould’s ambitious edifice is an account of 150 years of evolutionary theory, easily worth the price of the book, lucid, fascinating, detailed, erudite. In part one of two parts, Gould lays this broad foundation of late 19th and 20th century ideas, many running counter to doctrines of a strict Darwinism that, though showing signs of wear, remains lodged in the Modern zeitgeist. SJG’s rationale for examining the history of so many ideas no longer receiving traction during much of the 20th century up to his own career, serves as building blocks for SJG’s grand theoretical swerve away from Charles Darwin. SJG revives key features of once dismissed evolutionary thinking. Marginalized thought is re-animated by
SJG to reflect 40 years of genetic research. In his effort to re-write Darwinian causality SJG uses diverse heuristic strategies from the philosophy he majored in as an undergraduate, the paleontology he built his early scientific career upon, to history, religion, literature and several branches of bio-science.
In two nutshells: first Darwin then Gould’s “apostasy”:
Darwin’s three theoretical branches beyond the main trunk of Darwin’s theory tree, that organisms evolve at all, are as follows: 1. Species evolve gradually and continuously in very small increments over the wide expanse of an epoch(s) Any change whatsoever will be insensible in a dozen or even a thousand human lifetimes. 2. Species evolve due to natural selection ( survival of the fittest and weirdest) caused by forces external to the individual. These external forces of causation act upon mutations manifest in individual organisms. These external forces of selection are: A. competition within species for sexual access B. adjusting ( or not ) to climate C. competition with other organisms in its ecosystem for food and dominance. 3. The primary taxonomic level in a hierarchy of causation for plant and animal evolution is the individual organism, not down a level to the gene (Dawkins) or up a taxonomic level, or three, to the species, clade or the phylum (Gould).
SJG, on the strength of the Niles Eldredge-SJG theory of Punctuated Equilibrium along with 40 years of genetic research done by others, has denied, demoted, contradicted Darwin: 1. Evolution is characterized by punctuated equilibrium, short periods of speciation ( great change) followed by eons of stasis. Evidence described in hundreds of published scientific experiments and exploration during past 50 years. There do exist species that evolve gradually, but most, as seen in the 350 million year fossil record, do not. 2. It has been proven by genetic research of the past thirty years that the bulk of our genome has been chemically locked into its chromosomal place for many millions of years. Humans share genetic sequences for metabolism and organ development with many chordates, vertebrates, mammals and especially primates. Very little of our genome is available for Darwin’s version of natural selection. The majority of genetic change is internally driven by genetic and physical constraint, not driven by forces external to the individual, as Darwin asserted. 3. The individual is not the primary causal level, in the Linnaean taxonomy, for natural selection. Gould and others assert that the key entity in the evolutionary drama is the species not the individual. Entire species survive and diversify or become extinct in response to rare catastrophic forces of climate change, bolide ( comet, meteor, asteroid) impact and or plate tectonic effects on ocean currents, weather patterns and vegetation growth as continents shift.
After ten weeks of enjoyment working my way slowly through this non-edited ( if only it were poorly edited) but intensely engaging manuscript bristling with drama, hard science, truthy science, petty bickering, axe-grinding, Shakespearian and Biblical erudition, I conclude the following:
1. This is a great book on any terms, forgiving its bloviation and inexplicable levels of repetition, it is easily the most intellectually stimulating book I have ever read. So much fun to engage in conversation / battle with author on most every page, filling margins, taking more than a hundred pages of notes.
2.The first 585 pages are the deeply fascinating history of evolutionary theory per book title - the remaining 758 pages is a turgid, clotted, repetitious, weed-addled case for kneecapping Darwin while issuing a continuous stream of obsequious, deferential encomiums to this now untouchable ( lest one fuel Creationism) icon.
3.Much of SJG’s evidence for his cornerstone of De-Darwining - his theory of Punctuated Equilibrium is scientific papers ( many his own) on mollusk fossils many of which are pelagic neonates
4.SJG analyzes, in excruciating detail, the “evolution” or lack thereof of fossils in a given deep boring or sample of strata ignoring the possibility that the species he has observed as a single one through millions of years, could easily have floated into his field of study from left field ( cue: Beach Boys hit song “Kokomo”)
5.SJG’s assertion that the species is the key causal taxonomic level reads more like a jealous rebuke to nemesis Richard Dawkins in response to RD’s very popular 1978 book “The Selfish Gene”. After dozens and dozens of pages of SJG hammering away at RD ( reader screaming for an editor here) OK, we get it. SJG’s species level has its role as does Darwin’s preferred level, the individual. SJG’s case for the primacy of the species, though interesting and well documented is not convincing.
6.SJG’s sawing away at thrid leg of Darwin’s three-legged theory - that natural selection is externally driven not internal, is the most viable of SJG’s three points of glorious contention.Gould’s scientific evidence from an array of geneticists is fascinating and a worthy candidate for amending the Modern Synthesis.
7.One out of three ain't bad and hats off for Punct. Equilibrum, a theory that opened a lot of minds. There must be better evidence than the studies shown in this book for such a cool swerve from Darwin’s gradualism.
8.SJG knew he was dying of cancer when he wrote the second half of this book. He smoked a lot of weed to kill his pain. Although it was fun to note in margin when the smoke dominated clear thinking and writing, rewriting and editing it probably wasn’t polite. All-in-all, a grrrr-eat book. I love it. It comes across more like a Russian novel or “Moby Dick” with Darwin as leviathan than a science book. I got deep enjoyment from every one of the 500 hours I spent reading it. I’m going to miss it.
9.Don’t miss the Jim Blake ( aka: Harlan James) essay, inspired by TSOET “The Ugly Gene-Hardwired for Banality” coming soon to e-books.
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