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. |
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
anatomical designs ancestors animals Anomalocaris antennae arthro arthropods Aysheaia basic biramous appendages bivalved body segments Branchiocaris branchiopod British Columbia Burgess arthropods Burgess fauna Burgess fossils Burgess organisms Burgess Shale Burgessia Cambrian explosion Canadaspis carapace central complex contingency conventional Conway Morris creatures crustacean Darwin decimation Derek Briggs discovery disparity diversity Drawn by Marianne Ediacara evolution evolutionary evolved feeding appendages figure fossil record genera genus geological gill branches Hallucigenia Harry Whittington head shield iconography interpretation 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 original paleontologists pattern Peytoia phyla phyllopod phylum Pikaia polychaetes Precambrian preserved priapulids probably quarry reconstruction replay rocks Sanctacaris scientific shoehorn Sidneyia Simon soft-bodied species specimens spines Størmer story structure survival tape taxonomic tion trilobite Trilobitoidea vertebrates Walcott walking leg weird wonders Wiwaxia worms wrote Yohoia