OT: best book in years

[Alex Martelli]

Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters wrote:
   ...
> That said... if Darwin and biology are interesting to you, I can highly
> recommend reading some Steven Jay Gould.  Anything, really, but the more

Me, I'd recommend "Dawkins vs. Gould: Survival of the Fittest",
by Kim Sterelny.  You do, of course, need some primary material
as well -- undoubtedly "The selfish gene" for Dawkins -- I'm not
sure for Gould, as:

> technical stuff includes _Ontogeny and Phylogeny_ and his masterpiece
> _The Structure of Evolutionary Theory_.  Slightly ligher than those, but

...unfortunately I haven't read "Structure" yet (I do have it on order).

[Oh btw -- Sterelny's book is special order from Amazon -- thanks be for
the existence of Barnes & Noble, which has it available for immediate
shipping, way cheaper than a special order would take at Amazon --
long live competition!!!]

Gould is a great writer, even though in his later works he often gives in to
unstructured rambling (I can of course well sympathize with THAT 
temptation:-) -- Dawkins, IMHO, isn't, even though in "The selfish gene" he
does manage (by a mix of his powerful ideas and his dry direct prose) to
be truly riveting.  My personal choice for Gould's masterpiece is "The
Mismeasure of Man".  If you do want to see (essentially) Dawkins' ideas
presented by a truly great writer, try Matt Ridley -- "Genome", "Origins of
Virtue", "Red Queen", all superb writing (haven't read "Nature via Nurture"
yet -- I'll wait for the paperback).  Not to be confused with *Mark* Ridley,
who also writes (quite worthwhile books and antologies) in exactly the
same field, mind you.


Alex