Discuss the Way Gould Uses His Own Experiences to Make His Points.

1.) Discuss the way Gould uses his own experiences to make his points.

Writing about one's own experiences is an effective method in conveying a point because it illustrates real life events which readers can relate to. Additionally, the intended audience is able to enter into the mindset of the author and understand the basis of their views or opinions. In the collection of essays from Hen's Teeth and Horses Toes, Gould uses autobiographical elements to illustrate the controversial debate between evolutionists and creationists.

In Evolution as Fact and Theory, Gould states that evolution is a fact and that scientists know beyond reasonable doubt that it occurred. He bases this statement on the fact that copious amounts of direct and observational proof from both the laboratory and the field support this assertion. On the other hand, creationists, faced with "philosophical bankruptcy", use distortion and innuendo to support their rhetorical claim. One such example of this distortion that Gould experienced was the attack on his theory of episodic change known as punctuated equilibrium. By caricaturizing Goldschmidt's theory of major mutation, creationists alleged that no fossil evidence sustains the concept that origins began from a common ancestor. Victimized by distortion, Gould refers his struggle to the metaphor of the "straight and narrow path, surrounded by roads to perdition". The straight and narrow path symbolizes the continual search to understand nature while the roads to perdition represent the surrender to the creationist dogma. One cannot help but feel the weight of the truth that surrounds evolution. This is a solid indication that Gould has gotten his point across to the reader. By writing about the evolution debate from his own experiences, he effectively connects with the reader and convincingly communicates his point that the "fact" of evolution has been and is still happening.

In Moon, Mann and Otto, Gould recalls his textbook from his high school years. He notes that that later editions of this text, like many popular books, were "the altered descendant of several earlier editions". Biology for Beginners, started out in 1921 with Darwin on the frontispiece and an opening statement that biology was "based on the fundamental idea of evolution". Subsequent editions after the Scopes Trial in 1925, gave less