The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin, Penguin, $11.95, ISBN
0375756809; The Lying Stones of Marrakech by Stephen Jay Gould, Vintage,
拢7.99, ISBN 0099285835; and The Mating Mind by Geoffrey Miller, Vintage,
拢8.99, ISBN 0099288249
WHO said, 鈥淪eeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small,
intimately related group of birds, one might really fancy that from an original
paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified
for different ends鈥�? Darwin, of course, whose lively mind was grappling with the
question of how species arise. If you haven鈥檛 read The Voyage of the
Beagle, read this new paperback now. If you have, re-read it.
Stephen Jay Gould gives The Lying Stones of Marrakech a sombre
subtitle: 鈥淧enultimate reflections in natural history鈥�. He plans to stop writing
his distinctive essays after the 300th. You may disagree with his position on
evolution, but few will not enjoy his excellent writing and wide-ranging
mind.
Advertisement
Geoffrey Miller鈥檚 The Mating Mind is a provocative thesis: that the
big brains of humans evolved to attract mates, just like the peacock鈥檚 tail. In
hardback, our reviewer thought it one of the best accounts of sexual selection
theory. One really might fancy reading this one.