The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History

The second and finest collection of Gould's monthly essays for Natural History magazine, covering topics from the panda's clumsy but functional "thumb" (actually a modified wrist bone) to the evolutionary implications of Mickey Mouse's changing proportions. Each essay takes a specific case — a fossil, an anatomical oddity, a historical misconception — and uses it to illuminate a principle of evolutionary theory. Gould's central theme throughout is that evolution works not by optimal design but by tinkering with available materials, producing solutions that are good enough rather than perfect. The writing is erudite, digressive in the best sense, and consistently surprising in the connections it draws between biology, history, and culture. These essays set the standard for scientific writing that respects both the complexity of the subject and the intelligence of the general reader, and they remain models of the form four decades later.