A posthumously released book of essays that contained some aspect of baseball. The essays range from straight discussions of baseball topics to the use of baseball to explain statistics and evolutionary theory. All in all, a fun, lighthearted romp. ( )

One day I’ll actually read a book by Gould on paleontology, but I enjoy his writing on his side topics. This is a collection of previously published articles so there is a bit of repetition of ideas and reminiscing, and I have to hold my nose as Gould goes on about his “beloved Yankees” and how the “evil Bums” won the 1955 World Series (so the Yankees occasionally lose in the World Series, the heartbreak!!!). Gould’s best writings are the ones where he ties baseball into natural history and performs a scientific evaluation of baseball statistics. His writing is poorer when he goes into memoryland and hero worship.

“I don’t know why grown men care so deeply about something that neither kills, nor starves, nor maims, nor even scratches in our world of woe. I don’t know why we care so much, but I’m glad that we do.” (p. 53) ( )

http://dxmachina.livejournal.com/330697.html ( )