Un dinosaurio en un pajar

A Dinosaur in a Haystack is a volume of "Reflections on Natural History" by Stephen Jay Gould, the most famous science writer of our time. It is a collection of essays as brilliant in their approach as they are varied in their topics, ranging from the debate about whether the millennium began in 2000 or 2001 (born from the error made in the 6th century by the monk Dionysius Diminutive, when he decided to begin the Christian chronology with the year 1 and not with the year 0, as humans do to calculate their age) to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (and its cinematic counterparts), passing through a forgotten book by Edgar Allan Poe (which, nevertheless, was the greatest success of his life), the sinister symmetry of snails, clones and giant mushrooms, the myth of the flat Earth, the scientific basis for the extermination of the Jews, Linnaeus and the love life of plants, and, of course, dinosaurs. This explosion of unexpected connections between scientific theories, historical anecdotes, and curiosities of all kinds fascinates the reader of this book of "reflections," perhaps the most entertaining he ever wrote. Throughout these pages, which the reader devours, captivated by their engaging style, there is an important lesson about the history of life, but also about humanity's place in the universe, the subjugation of women, and the falsehood of racism.