So farewell, then . . .
May. 21st, 2002 12:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zotzStephen Jay Gould has died of cancer. CNN obit here.
I don't know what to say. If you haven't read any of his essays, then you probably should. He was a prominent (and brilliant) evolutionary theorist and advocate. I'm not entirely in agreement with him on the technical issues, but his essays on biology and (often extremely tenuously related) topics are wonderful. His field of interest seemed to be "all knowledge", and reading his work is an education in itself. He also gave it all a very human feel - some people do, and some don't, give the impression that they are interested in and care about people generally. He did. His writing isn't dry and technical. It's warm, and alive. Some have criticiced it for being too easy and persuasive, jumping too smoothly over disputed points. But read it anyway. It's not perfect, but it's all good.
I don't know what to say. If you haven't read any of his essays, then you probably should. He was a prominent (and brilliant) evolutionary theorist and advocate. I'm not entirely in agreement with him on the technical issues, but his essays on biology and (often extremely tenuously related) topics are wonderful. His field of interest seemed to be "all knowledge", and reading his work is an education in itself. He also gave it all a very human feel - some people do, and some don't, give the impression that they are interested in and care about people generally. He did. His writing isn't dry and technical. It's warm, and alive. Some have criticiced it for being too easy and persuasive, jumping too smoothly over disputed points. But read it anyway. It's not perfect, but it's all good.
