Life's Grandeur

Life's Grandeur is abundant with the fascinating arcana of palaeontology and biology, the subtleties of mathematical analysis, and the heroic achievements of baseball players and the occasional scientist. But behind it all, as always in Gould's popular writing, is a passionate belief in the completion of an intellectual revolution. Such a view may encourage us to see ourselves as closer than a gibbon to the ideal of life; but we flatter ourselves. We can and should appreciate human glory in human spheres. But any rational view of nature tells us that we are a simple branch on an immense bush; and that life on Earth is remarkable not for where it is leading, but for the fullness and constancy of its variety, ingenuity and diversity.