Ontogeny and Phylogeny and Ever Since Darwin  (1977)
"Ontogeny and Phylogeny is a rich book, but it does not give up its rewards without a struggle. The book, as Gould notes, is written primarily for biologists. The documentation is voluminous, the arguments are precise and thorough, technical language is used freely, and technical issues are met head-on.…Ever Since Darwin…is the best sort of popularization. Gould never mystifies science; he shows both its power and its weaknesses."

The Panda's Thumb  (1980)
"The Panda's Thumb as a whole serves to refine and bring up to date our understanding of evolutionary theory. Not only does it make forcefully evident where Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Charles Darwin himself were wrong—without in the least detracting from their respective accomplishments—it also explains specifically how evolution is now thought to work.…There are few better antidotes to [evolutionary] misunderstanding than a reading of The Panda's Thumb."

The Mismeasure of Man  (1981)
"[T]he real interest of The Mismeasure of Man doesn't really lie in the battle it wages against the intelligence measurers and the unfortunate ends to which they have applied their results. Plenty of recent books have done that, and they have tended to be tedious, either because they make the battle seem one-sided or because the battle really is one-sided. The interest of Stephen Jay Gould's latest book really lies in watching the author's intelligence at play."

Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes  (1983)
"Exploring the richness of living forms, Mr. Gould, and we, are constantly struck by the absurd ingenuity by which fundamentally inappropriate parts are pressed into new roles, like toes that become hooves, or smell receptors that become the outer layer of the brain."

The Flamingo's Smile  (1985)
"Mr. Gould himself is a rare and wonderful animal—a member of the endangered species known as the ruby-throated polymath.…The Flamingo's Smile is as much fun as a Bahamian vacation (with or without snail research), yet it is also a densely informative and challenging book. These are not the sort of nature essays to be read late at night in the last woozy minutes before sleep. You'll want the full use of your brain."

An Urchin in the Storm: Essays about Books and Ideas  (1987)
"Though the pieces in An Urchin in the Storm are technically book reviews, Mr. Gould tends to use the subject at hand as a jumping-off point for more general discussions, and as he notes in his introduction, the essays consequently share 'a particular view of nature and human life: the perspective of an evolutionist committed to understanding the curious pathways of history as irreducible, but rationally accessible.'"

Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle  (1987)
"Time's Arrow may not attract as wide a readership as Mr. Gould's essay collections it contains less of the whimsy and moralizing that leaven the latter. Mr. Gould relies here on a close reading of Burnet's, Hutton's and Lyell's texts. Yet the book is far from an exercise in historical esoterica: the Gould style and wit remain, and the complex argument expands the play of ideas that is the chief pleasure of reading him."

Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History  (1989)
"[Gould] is exceptionally well placed to tell these stories, and he tells them with fervor and intelligence.…I think more than a few readers will find themselves skipping over the anatomical details, but no matter—the outline of the adventure is straightforward and clear."

Bully for Brontosaurus  (1991)
"After reading Bully for Brontosaurus, the latest volume of Stephen Jay Gould's provocative and delightfully discursive essays on natural history, one is tempted to imitate his idiosyncratic style.…Not only does [Gould] always find something worth saying, he finds some of the most original ways of saying it."

Eight Little Piggies  (1993)
"Reading Mr. Gould is rather like being the favorite relative of some eerily precocious yet utterly charming child who insists on showing you his secret collection of treasures."

Full House: The Spread of Excellence From Plato to Darwin (1996)
"This volume may ultimately be less substantial than his previous books, but a potboiler from Mr. Gould is still worth 10 books by most other science writers. His central contention is that trends, in any area, should never be considered in isolation, but only as aspects of an overall range of variation (the 'full house' of the title). Put like that, his theme may sound dauntingly abstract. But it is animated by his illustrations, and especially by his elegant analysis of progress in the history of life."

Dinosaur in a Haystack (1996)   [Book Excerpt]
"I could not make myself care about hermit crabs in spite of the author's cajolings that they made for 'a wonderful story…to which you simply cannot be indifferent.' I was. But whether delighted or bored, I deepened my acquaintance with that singular literary character, Stephen Jay Gould."

Questioning the Millennium (1997)   [Book Excerpt]
"Stephen J. Gould's slim and attractive meditation, Questioning the Millennium, is a trip to the beach. Mr. Gould focuses his wit and style on matters of definition and calculation of the millennium and on their enduring fascination."

Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms (1998)   [Book Excerpt]
"In [Stephen Jay Gould's new] essay collection…he wields his formidable intellect, combined with an `insatiably greedy and infinitely curious’ nature, to explore the myriad ways by which mankind—the quintessential `oddball rarity’ of evolution—struggles `to understand the whys and wherefores, and to integrate this knowledge with the meaning of its own existence.’ Gould's incomparable style, by turns colloquial, humorous, ironic and insightful, allows readers to revel in his unabashed and contagious enthusiasm."

The Lying Stones of Marrakech (2000)   [Book Excerpt]
"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."