"It is a wonder what Mr. Gould can do with the most unlikely phenomena: a tiny organism's use of the earth's magnetic field as a guide to food and comfort, for instance, or the panda's thumb—which isn't one…Science writing at its best."
- The New Yorker,
"Stephen Jay Gould is a serious and gifted interpreter of biological theory, of the history of ideas, and of the cultural context of scientific discovery…The Panda's Thumb is fresh and mind-stretching. Above all, it is exultant. So should its readers be."
- H. Jack Geiger - New York Times Book Review,
"Gould can do no wrong…As long as he writes, you cannot help but read—and enjoy."
- Isaac Asimov,