This is the author's "third volume of collected essays, most of which were originally published in Gould's monthly column in Natural History magazine, entitled 'This View of Life.' . . . {The two earlier books include Ever Since Darwin, BRD 1978, and The Panda's Thumb, BRD 1980.The} theme of this newest book, compiled on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Darwin's death in 1882, is . . . biological evolution.He has grouped the 30 essays into seven categories: Sensible Oddities, Personalities, Adaptation and Development, Teilhard and Piltdown, Science and Politics, Extinction and a Zebra Trilogy."(America)Bibliography.Index.