Revolutionary evolution

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Dr. Stephen Jay Gould could be the foremost evolutionary thinker of our time. A Harvard professor and regular writer, his ideas about the nature of evolution, man's place in this divergent cycle and the role of variation have met with opposition in the scientific community. It has been opposed even more strongly with a group he looks upon with some disdain, even some humor, but never with mercy - the Creationists. Listen to him speak and his views are forthright. There are two distinct camps of "us" and "them," diametrically opposed and "never the twain shall meet."

Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin (Harmony, $25.00) continues his theories of our place in of all this. For the most part, we see evolution as a progression - from smaller to larger, simple to complex. It must then follow, naturally, that we, beings with consciousness and graduated complexity must be the apex of evolutionary achievement. Full House exposes these skewed beliefs and argues that the problem lies in our viewing evolution as a "thing," a part from the whole instead of seeing it as it should be: a possibility of the whole, from the "full house" of variation. In the broader scope this book's purpose is to challenge our perception of reality.

It sounds complicated, and it very easily could be, but the style in which Dr. Gould writes, primarily with the knowledge that Full House will be read by laymen, makes it entirely comprehensible and absolutely fascinating - a difficult task considering the subject matter. Variation and averages, evolution and progress may be too staid a topic for most, but Gould keeps it interesting primarily by concentrating on examples familiar to most of us to illustrate his points. Where else can we read about the true lineage of horses (a subject taught (incorrectly) to most of us in biology class) or the true reason for the disappearance of .400 hitting in baseball? Where else can we discover what really rules this planet?

The examples are convincing and are so thorough I dare you to find a leak. As the reader begins to fully comprehend the argument, the subject of our own place cannot help but resurface. Are we not the apogee of creation, nature's divine ambition? "Humans are here by the luck of the draw," writes Gould. "Not by the inevitability of life's direction or evolution's mechanism." It's not quite something a self-centered species such as ours likes to hear.

Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin" is an impressive achievement. It takes on the task of going to blows with many of our strongest-held beliefs about our own nature and shatters these paradigms. Although it takes this away from us, it does something more important by giving us the ability to review these so-called trends in more accurate and conscientious ways.