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Although not described as such, Stephen Jay Gould's book "Wonderful Life, The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History" is in fact case studies of all the aspects revealed in the case study of the discovery of, and subsequent reassessment of, a Cambrian largely soft bodied fossil assemblage. The importance of the message that Gould sends is that it illustrates the consequences that a closed mind can have on the value of 'original' research. As a cautionary tale that message applies to any research on any subject that treads new ground, no matter what is the subject of of that research. One of these days a work will be published that exemplifies the importance of being wrong. The condemnation of speculative 'kite flying,' whether right or wrong, has the effect of closing possible new avenues of research, for who knows when the final definitive aspect of any research on any subject is actually reached? That then is the real and major importance of this book, in addition of course, to its great value when describing early examples of animal life forms. Geoffrey Fairclough. Author of "Rammmi's Children."
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* * * * * * Wonderful Life The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History STEPHEN JAY GOULD W. W. NORTON & COMPANY. NEW YORK LONDON Copyright (c) 1989 by Stephen Jay Gould All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America. First published as a Norton paperback 1990 The text of this book is composed in 10/2/13 Avanta, with display type set in Fenice Light. Composition and manufacturing by The Haddon Craftsmen, Inc. Book design by Antonina Krass. "Design" copyright 1936 by Robert Frost and renewed 1964 by Lesley Frost Ballantine. Reprinted from _The Poetry of Robert Frost_, edited by Edward Connery Lathem, by permission of Henry Holt and Company, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gould, Stephen Jay. Wonderful life: the Burgess Shale and the nature of history / Stephen Jay Gould. p. cm. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Evolution-History. 2. Invertebrates, Fossil. 3. Paleontology-Cambrian. 4. Paleontology-British Columbia-Yoho National Park. 5. Burgess Shale. 6. Paleontology-Philosophy. 7. Contingency (Philosophy) 8. Yoho National Park (B.C.) I. Title. QE770.G67 1989 560'.9-dc19 88-37469 ISBN 0-393-30700-X W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y 10110 W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 10 Coptic Street, London WC1A 1PU 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 TO NORMAN D. NEWELL Who was, and is, in the most noble word of all human speech, my teacher Contents Preface and Acknowledgments Page 2 CHAPTER I. The Iconography of an Expectation --a PROLOGUE IN PICTURES ---the LADDER AND THE CONE: ICONOGRAPHIES OF PROGRESS -REPLAYING LIFE'S TAPE: THE CRUCIAL EXPERIMENT -_Inset_: The Meanings of Diversity and Disparity CHAPTER II. A Background for the Burgess Shale -LIFE BEFORE THE BURGESS: THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION AND THE ORIGIN OF ANIMALS -LIFE AFTER THE BURGESS: soft-bodied FAUNAS AS WINDOWS INTO THE PAST ---the SETTING OF THE BURGESS SHALE --WHERE --WHY: THE MEANS OF PRESERVATION --WHO, WHEN: THE HISTORY OF DISCOVERY CHAPTER III. Reconstruction of the Burgess Shale: Toward a New View of Life --a QUIET REVOLUTION --a METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH ---the CHRONOLOGY OF A TRANSFORMATION -_Inset_: Taxonomy and the Status of Phyla -_Inset_: The Classification and Anatomy of Arthropods The Burgess Drama -Act 1. _Marrella_ and _Yohoia_: The Dawning and Consolidation of Suspicion, 1971-1974 ---the Conceptual World That Whittington Faced --_Marrella_: First Doubts --_Yohoia_: A Suspicion Grows -Act 2. A New View Takes Hold: Homage to _Opabinia_, 1975 -Act 3. The Revision Expands: The Success of a Research Team, 1975-1978 --Setting a Strategy for a Generalization --Mentors and Students --Con