Understanding Scientific Prose

""Understanding Scientific Prose does what no other book does: it analyzes in detail a scientific text by a scientist who is also a supremely skilled rhetor. Stephen Jay Gould is the equal, indeed the superior--in depth, breadth, and humanistic vision--of his nearest nineteenth-century counterpart, Thomas Henry Huxley. In bringing a good baker's dozen of perspectives together, all concentrated on one document, the book is particularly valuable."--John A. Campbell, University of Washington "It is fascinating to learn that, like a kind of giant Rashomon, a text can be read with perfect sense and coherence in so many uncorrelated, truly orthogonal, and sometimes even contradictory ways. . . . I learned a great deal from these approaches, and had enormous fun seeing how a product of my own could be analyzed for itself, quite apart from my conscious intent."--Stephen Jay Gould ""Understanding Scientific Prose" does what no other book does: it analyzes in detail a scientific text by a scientist who is also a supremely skilled rhetor. Stephen Jay Gould is the equal, indeed the superior--in depth, breadth, and humanistic vision--of his nearest nineteenth-century counterpart, Thomas Henry Huxley. In bringing a good baker's dozen of perspectives together, all concentrated on one document, the book is particularly valuable."--John A. Campbell, University of Washington "Fascinating. . . . I learned a great deal from these approaches, and had enormous fun." Stephen Jay Gould

" "Fascinating. . . . I learned a great deal from these approaches, and had enormous fun." Stephen Jay Gould"