"The Lying Stones of Marrakech" by Stephen Jay Gould 1st/1st HC/DJ 2000

Description: "The Lying Stones of Marrakech: Penultimate reflections in Natural History" was written by Stephen Jay Gould and published by Harmony Books in New York in 2000. This is a hardcover, first edition, first printing of this 372-page collection of 23 essays by the acclaimed scientist and natural historian, ranging in topic from fake fossils to vanishing planets and featuring numerous black-and-white illustrations throughout. The original price, as shown on the dustjacket front flap, was $25.95. From the dustjacket blurb:“In his ninth collection of essays, bestselling scientist Stephen Jay Gould once again offers his unmistakable perspective on natural history and the people who have tried to make sense of it. In tandem with the closing of the millennium, Gould is planning to bring down the curtain on his nearly thirty-year stint as a monthly essayist for Natural History magazine. This, then, is the next-to-last essay collection from one of the most acclaimed and widely read scientists of our time. In twenty-three essays, Gould presents the richness and fascination of the various lives that have fueled the enterprise of science and opened our eyes to a world of unexpected wonders.“Part I treats the most absorbing period in Gould's own subject, paleontology—the premodern struggle (from the sixteenth to the early eighteenth century) to understand the origin of fossils while nascent science grappled with the deepest of all questions about the nature of both causality and reality. Are fossils the remains of ancient organisms on an old earth, or manifestations of a stable and universal order, symbolically expressed by correspondences among nature’s three kingdoms—animal, mineral, and vegetable?“Part II discusses the greatest conjunction of a time, a subject, and an assemblage of amazing people in the history of natural history: the late-eighteenth to the early-nineteenth century in France, when a group that included some of the most exceptional intellects of the millennium—Georges Buffon, Antoine Lavoisier, and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck—invented the scientific study of natural history in an age of revolution.“Part III illustrates the greatest British challenge to this continental preeminence: the remarkable, and wonderfully literate, leading lights of Victorian science in Darwin’s age of turmoil and reassessment: Lyell’s uniformitarianism, Darwin’s own intellectual development, Richard Owen’s invention of dinosaurs, and Alfred Russel Wallace on Victorian certainties and subsequent unpredictabilities.“The last three parts of the book do not invoke biography so explicitly, but they use the same device of embodying an abstraction within a particular that can be addressed in sufficient detail and immediate focus to fit within an essay. The interlude of Part IV presents some experiments in the different literary form of short takes. Part V, on scientific subjects with more obvious and explicit social consequences (and often unacknowledged social origins as well), also uses biography, but in a different way, to link past stories with present realities—to convey the lesson that claims for objectivity based on pure discovery often replay episodes buried in history, and prove that our modern certainties flounder within the same complexities of social context and mental blockage. Finally, Part VI abandons biography for another device of essayists: major themes (about evolution’s different expression across scales of size and time) cast into the epitome of odd and intriguing particulars.”From the reviews:“[Gould's] passionate commitment to precision and his sensitivity to the little wriggles of a million might have beens’ make ‘The Lying Stones of Marrakech’ not just accessible but stimulating as well.”—The New York Times Book Review“Vintage Gould: stimulating, erudite, and eminently enjoyable.”—Kirkus Reviews “This collection evinces no dimming of Gould’s humanistic brilliance.”—BooklistThe book is in fine, collectible condition, with no torn or bent pages, no scratches, stains or inscriptions, no remainder marks, no price-clipping, no bookplate, no ex-library, no book club edition, no flaws of any sort. It is as new.The dustjacket is in equally fine shape and is protected in a clear and removable archival cover.Please see the photos for a fuller description and author profile.BLK BOX 83PLEASE SEE THE OTHER TITLES NOW LISTED IN MY EBAY STORE: DISTANT VOYAGE BOOKSPAYPAL PREFERREDWill combine shipping.All items are well packed and are normally mailed within two days of payment being received.My 100% feedback rating is valuable to me. If you are satisfied with a transaction, please leave feedback and I will do the same.Questions welcome. Additional photographs on request.Note: Scrolling through my listings will locate books in these and many other categories:Animals; Art & Architecture; Biography; Children’s; Collecting & Collectibles; Entertainment, Film & Theater; Fiction; Food & Drink; Gardening; History; Military; Music; Natural History; Nautical; Photography; Science & Technology; Travel; Space; Sports; Transportation. New titles added almost daily.

Price: 20 USD

Location: Yorba Linda, California

End Time: 2025-01-21T06:14:57.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5 USD