LEONARDO’S MOUNTAIN OF CLAMS AND THE DIET OF WORMS

Gould's most recent collection from Natural History magazine is a wide-ranging collection of puzzles and paradoxes that plot the human struggle to understand our natural world from the cave paintings of prehistoric times to the possibility of genocide in the atomic age. Those familiar with his essays will recognize the ornate and playful prose style, his trademark, grafted onto Efrem Zimbalist's deep, mature voice. Though Gould's stories are peppered with scientific terminology and foreign words, Zimbalist is engaged with the ideas and communicates their excitement to us, minimizing the difficulty. In his hands, these are not so much complex scientific enigmas to be resolved as high drama being played out in the theater of nature. P.E.F. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 99]