The Panda's Thumb (book)

The Panda's Thumb
Author Stephen Jay Gould
Country United States
Language English
Subject Science
Publisher W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date
1980
Media type Print
ISBN 0-393-01380-4
OCLC 6331415
575.01/62
LC Class QH361 .G66 1980
Preceded by Ever Since Darwin
Followed by Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes

The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History (1980) is a collection of 31 essays by the Harvard University paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. It is the second volume culled from his 27-year monthly column "This View of Life" in Natural History magazine. Recurring themes of the essays are evolution and its teaching, science biography, probabilities and common sense.

The title essay presents the paradox that poor design is a better argument for evolution than good design, as illustrated by the anatomy of the panda's "thumb"which is not a thumb at allbut an extension of the radial sesamoid. Topics addressed in other essays include the female brain, the Piltdown Man hoax, Down Syndrome, and the relationship between dinosaurs and birds.

The Panda's Thumb won the 1981 U.S. National Book Award in Science.[1][lower-alpha 1]

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Notes

  1. This was the 1981 award for hardcover Science.
    From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Awards history there were dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories, and multiple nonfiction subcategories. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including the 1981 Science.

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