Inscribed to Stephen Jay Gould
Unifying Biology: The Evolutionary Synthesis and Evolutionary Biology
Notes: A widely-cited exploration of the sociological and cultural factors driving the development of the Modern Synthesis view of evolution in the middle years of the 20th century.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
This copy is inscribed to the paleontologist and evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould, who is cited seven times in the index. "For Steve (another "son of synthesis"), with warm wishes. Betty." With a bookplate denoting the provenance.
Gould apparently did not initially think much of Smocovitis's theories but by the end of his life he had changed his mind, offering a sort of apology in his final work, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. In a footnote on page 543, where Gould discusses this book, he writes, "I am not generally drawn to sociological proposals in this mode, and I reacted negatively at first to Smocovitis's suggestion. But I have since read widely in the just post-World War II literature... and I accept the idea that humanistically inclined scientists must have hoped fervently that their own field might contribute to the [post-war] reconstruction."
A remarkable association copy.
Publication: Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.
ISBN: 0691033439
Item No: #360889
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