Gould, Carol Grant

views updated

Gould, Carol Grant

PERSONAL:

Married James L. Gould (a professor).

CAREER:

Science writer.

WRITINGS:

(With William T. Keeton and James L. Gould) Biological Science, Norton (New York, NY), 4th edition, 1986, 6th edition, 1996.

(With James L. Gould) The Honey Bee, Scientific American Library/W.H. Freeman (New York, NY), 1988.

(With James L. Gould) Sexual Selection, Scientific American Library/W.H. Freeman (New York, NY), 1989.

(Editor, with James L. Gould) Life at the Edge: Readings from Scientific American Magazine, W.H. Freeman (New York, NY), 1989.

(With James L. Gould) The Animal Mind, Scientific American Library/W.H. Freeman (New York, NY), 1994.

The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer and Naturalist, Island Press/Shearwater Books (Washington, DC), 2004.

(With James L. Gould) Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence, Basic Books (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Carol Grant Gould is a science writer who often works in collaboration with her husband, James L. Gould, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University. Together with William T. Keeton they have written the textbook Biological Science. As a couple they have written the studies The Honey Bee, Sexual Selection, The Animal Mind, and Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence, and have edited the collection Life at the Edge: Readings from Scientific American Magazine. The couple, explained Ian Maione in the Skeptical Inquirer, "have that rare ability to present complex scientific discoveries in detail, without either overwhelming the reader in esoteric details on one hand or oversimplifying complex issues on the other. The Goulds do not simply recite facts; they explain why by relating each topic to the experimental evidence."

Many of the Goulds' books concentrate on the issue of understanding animal behavior—an issue that becomes more and more important as humans impinge further on the natural environment. The earliest of these books is The Honey Bee, which examines both the human interaction with bees (tracing the history of their domestication up to the development of the removable-frame hive) and the ways in which bees interact with one another, including foraging, swarming, and the famous honeybee "dance." One conclusion that can be drawn from the intricate relationship between honey bees, suggested Ted Kaehler, writing in the Whole Earth Review, is that honeybee behavior shows signs of intelligence. "This fascinating book," he wrote, "makes a case for honey bees as the premier experimental animal for studying behavior and learning in ‘higher’ animals."

In making the case for honeybee intelligence, however, the Goulds do not stray into speculative or science fiction. The Honey Bee, stated Danny Yee on the Web site Danny Yee's Book Reviews, is "serious popular science: it doesn't restrict itself to history, applications, exciting stories, and simple descriptions, but manages to convey something of the experimental methodology of animal behaviour studies, of the ways in which hypotheses are formulated and tested." Similarly, Donald Michie, reviewing Animal Architects for the Spectator, declared, "To explain their feats [of engineering] requires us to credit animals with the ability mentally to map sense-data to objects and processes in the outside world…. Until recently these propensities were regarded as strictly the preserve of humans. James and Carol Gould's new book leaves such exceptionalism in the dust."

Carol Grant Gould is also the sole author of The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer and Naturalist, a biography of the famous early-twentieth-century scientist who popularized natural history in ways few others had done before—or have done since. "If Indiana Jones had been a naturalist rather than an archaeologist," stated a Science News writer, "he might have been named William Beebe." Beebe is best remembered as a pioneer of deep-water diving; in September, 1932, he and coadventurer Otis Barton piloted the Bathysphere to a depth of 2,200 feet off the coast of Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean, deeper than any other human beings had gone and had returned alive to tell about the experience. "When Beebe made his descent with Barton," wrote Seattle Times Web site contributor David B. Williams, "he was in a unique position. Probably no other naturalist has ever been as well known as he. His books regularly made it to the best-seller lists. His articles appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, National Geographic and Harper's, as well as in many scientific journals. He had been friends with Teddy Roosevelt, Rudyard Kipling and A.A. Milne, took Prince George diving, and socialized with New York City's high society. He even had a scandalous divorce." At the time of his death in 1962, Beebe had ordered his personal papers sealed, with the stipulation that they were not to be opened until after the death of his estranged wife. "Granted unprecedented access to Beebe's papers," explained Donna Seaman in Booklist, "science writer Gould tells the entire enthralling story of Beebe's extraordinary life with steadfast acumen and infectious enthusiasm." She "adroitly blends natural history, relevant quotations, and society gossip to keep this narrative moving," declared Frank Graham, Jr., in Audubon magazine. "She may also have helped to rescue an interesting and accomplished man from the cobwebs of history."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Scientist, September 1, 1989, Adrian M. Wenner, review of The Honey Bee, p. 494.

American Zoologist, September, 1997, Anne E. Houde, review of Sexual Selection, p. 437.

Animal Behaviour, August, 1996, Bernd Heinrich, review of The Animal Mind, p. 433.

Audubon, September 1, 2005, Frank Graham, "Nature's Daredevil: High Society Bankrolled His Exploits. Hollywood Loved Him. Radio Listeners Hung on His Every Word. So Why Is This Once-Famous Naturalist Now All but Forgotten?," p. 84.

Booklist, December 1, 2004, Donna Seaman, review of The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer and Naturalist, p. 630; March 15, 2007, Donna Seaman, review of Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence, p. 10.

Book Report, March 1, 1989, Frances Ramsey, review of The Honey Bee, p. 47.

California Bookwatch, July, 2007, review of Animal Architects,.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, January, 1995, L.T. Spencer, review of The Animal Mind, p. 816; September, 2005, A.B. Schlesinger, review of The Remarkable Life of William Beebe, p. 125.

Journal of College Science Teaching, February, 1992, George B. Kauffman, review of Sexual Selection, p. 248.

Library Journal, June 1, 1995, Michael Rogers, review of The Honey Bee, p. 172; April 1, 2007, Teresa U. Berry, review of Animal Architects, p. 114.

Natural History, August, 1994, Richard W. Byrne, review of The Animal Mind, p. 62; February, 2005, Laurence A. Marschall, review of The Remarkable Life of William Beebe, p. 54.

Nature, November 17, 1988, Wayne M. Getz, review of The Honey Bee, p. 275; November 16, 1989, Rory Howlett, review of Sexual Selection, p. 318; November 3, 1994, Marian Stamp Dawkins, review of The Animal Mind, p. 54; April 12, 2007, Tore Slagsvold, review of Animal Architects, p. 730.

New Scientist, February 17, 1990, John Krebs, review of Sexual Selection, p. 63; September 25, 1993, Robert Ralph, review of Biological Science, p. 44; August 13, 1994, Gail Vines, review of The Animal Mind, p. 40.

Quarterly Review of Biology, March, 1990, Keith D. Waddington, review of The Honey Bee, p. 111; December, 1994, Patricia A. Marsteller, review of Biological Science, p. 506; September, 1995, Kenneth S. Norris, review of The Animal Mind, p. 361; December, 1997, Marlene Zuk, review of Sexual Selection, p. 467.

Science Books & Films, March 1, 2005, Vincent N. Lunetta, review of The Remarkable Life of William Beebe, p. 60.

Science News, April 16, 2005, review of The Remarkable Life of William Beebe, p. 255; December 16, 2006, review of The Remarkable Life of William Beebe, p. 399; April 14, 2007, review of Animal Architects, p. 239.

Science Teacher, September, 1990, Rita A. Hoots, review of Sexual Selection, p. 107.

SciTech Book News, June, 2005, review of The Remarkable Life of William Beebe, p. 55.

Skeptical Inquirer, September 1, 1999, Ian Maione, review of The Honey Bee, p. 52.

Spectator, May 19, 2007, Donald Michie, "Not So Dumb."

Times Higher Education Supplement, November 4, 1994, Thomas Sambrook, review of The Animal Mind, p. 26; May 11, 2007, "Mud, Spit and Flights of Fancy," p. 21.

Whole Earth Review, fall, 1989, Ted Kaehler, review of The Honey Bee.

Wildlife Conservation, September 1, 2005, Peter Zahler, review of The Remarkable Life of William Beebe, p. 48.