The Scientist Who Wrote Rings Around The Earth (washingtonpost.com)

Joel Achenbach on Stephen Jay Gould...

A brilliant scientist who can write beautifully is an unusual creature, almost an evolutionary impossibility. It's like a flying horse, or a talking shark. Nature usually is sparing when it hands out talent and specializations. Stephen Jay Gould -- who died of lung cancer yesterday at the age of 60 -- was a prize example of a very rare breed.