Talk:Wonderful Life (book)

Discredited examples?

"Most of the book's conclusions were deemed controversial at publication and some of Gould's examples have already been shown to be incorrect." Some detail/sources on this would really help the article. Phyte 16:08, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. I saw a doco on this and the guy who did the original work on Hallucigina etc was most scathing about substantial parts of Gould's interpretation. Greglocock (talk) 06:24, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Infobox

The "media type" parameter should not be removed from the infobox, a change I have had to revert here. The parameter is always included in infoboxes of articles about books, and there is no valid reason for its removal. FreeKnowledgeCreator (talk) 04:50, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

I made that edit. I didn't know it was commonly added to infoboxes about books, as it seems pretty useless to me. Thanks for letting me know. Cesaravi (talk) 01:38, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

It conveys basic factual information about the book - no less factual than details such as the publisher, the number of pages, etc. No reason to remove it ever. FreeKnowledgeCreator (talk) 02:13, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for your explanation and clarification. Much appreciated. Cesaravi (talk) 02:25, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Fix this phrase

"...which Gould terms exaptations, fortuitously beneficial under future conditions than on features best adapted under the present environment (see also extinction event)." It does not make one bit to sense to me. Are there some missing words here? Anyone familiar with the concept of exaptation?--Quisqualis (talk) 19:42, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

I understand what the editor is trying to say. But you're right. It's a bit clumsily written. The editor is paraphrasing Gould's "different rules" model of mass extinction, which can be found on pages 306-308 of Wonderful Life. As well as Gould's "The Evolution of Life On Earth" pp. 97-98, 100. Cesaravi (talk) 01:38, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

I think I figured out what the writer intended. If I made it any worse, let me know.--Quisqualis (talk) 04:46, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

I like what you did. I added some material as well. Thanks. Cesaravi (talk) 04:36, 7 December 2016 (UTC)