The Structure of Evolutionary Theory blogging, chapter 1

Chapters read:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. So I'm reading Stephen Jay Gould's magnum opus, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. I figure if I read this I won't have to read anything else by the guy; if he couldn't squeeze it into 1,464 pages, it really wasn't worth mentioning I'm assuming. Here are impressions from the 90 page first chapter, which is a general overview of his ideas and biography.... 1) There is the fact of evolution (descent with modification), and the mechanism of evolution promoted by Charles Darwin (gradual phyletic change operating through natural selection at the level of the individual). Gould accepts the former wholeheartedly, but he has serious reservations about the details of the latter. 2) This book is an exposition of his ideas as to how the second must be modified and elaborated to more fully describe the process of evolution. His thousand-page rejoinder ...