Crossing Over

Stephen Jay Gould and Rosamond Purcell, who previously collaborated on Finders Keepers and Illuminations, bring science and art into wondrous union in a book that pairs short essavs with stunning, sometimes shocking images. When a paleontologist splits a rock to reveal a fossil, the ancient specimen (the part) often adheres to one slab, while its impression (the counterpart) is left on the other. Like art and science, each supplies different but complementary information. In Crossing Over renowned science writer Stephen Jay Gould and accomplished photographer Rosamond Purcell examine a number of topics from their own perspectives Giving the text and the illustrations equal significance, Crossing Over is a pleasing marriage of two essential ways the human mind apprehends the world - the verbal and the visual. The essays and photographs consider such topics as: - The oddity of giving oceanic creatures terrestrial names, such as sea lettuce, sea robin, sea mice, and the greatest misnomer of all, sea cucumber. - The relativity of scale, as illustrated by the eggs of a hummingbird, an ostrich, and the extinct elephant bird, which was more than 10 feet tall.
- Our nearness to our genetic cousin, the ape, as seen in photographs of the most dapper of men, Fred Astaire, and the hairiest of apes, the gibbon, striking a similar pose.