The Panda's Thumb
E436724
The Panda's Thumb is a popular science book by evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould that explores evolution and natural history through a series of engaging essays.
All labels observed (5)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Panda's Thumb canonical | 6 |
| The Panda's Thumb Revisited essay | 1 |
| The Panda’s Peculiar Thumb | 1 |
| essay "The Panda's Thumb" | 1 |
| essay "The Panda’s Thumb and the Nature of Adaptation" | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4396174 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Panda's Thumb Context triple: [Stephen Jay Gould, notableWork, The Panda's Thumb]
-
A.
P.Z. Myers
P.Z. Myers is an American biologist, outspoken atheist, and science blogger best known for his popular blog Pharyngula and his advocacy of secularism and critical thinking.
-
B.
Essays of a Biologist
Essays of a Biologist is a collection of influential essays by evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley that explores biology’s implications for human society, philosophy, and the modern worldview.
-
C.
Jerry Coyne
Jerry Coyne is an American evolutionary biologist and outspoken critic of religion, best known for his work on speciation and his popular science book "Why Evolution Is True."
-
D.
Darwin's Dangerous Idea
Darwin's Dangerous Idea is a 1995 philosophical book by Daniel Dennett that explores the far-reaching implications of Darwinian evolution for biology, mind, culture, and religion.
-
E.
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth is a popular science book by Richard Dawkins that presents the evidence for evolution in a clear, accessible, and comprehensive way.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Panda's Thumb Target entity description: The Panda's Thumb is a popular science book by evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould that explores evolution and natural history through a series of engaging essays.
-
A.
P.Z. Myers
P.Z. Myers is an American biologist, outspoken atheist, and science blogger best known for his popular blog Pharyngula and his advocacy of secularism and critical thinking.
-
B.
Essays of a Biologist
Essays of a Biologist is a collection of influential essays by evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley that explores biology’s implications for human society, philosophy, and the modern worldview.
-
C.
Jerry Coyne
Jerry Coyne is an American evolutionary biologist and outspoken critic of religion, best known for his work on speciation and his popular science book "Why Evolution Is True."
-
D.
Darwin's Dangerous Idea
Darwin's Dangerous Idea is a 1995 philosophical book by Daniel Dennett that explores the far-reaching implications of Darwinian evolution for biology, mind, culture, and religion.
-
E.
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth is a popular science book by Richard Dawkins that presents the evidence for evolution in a clear, accessible, and comprehensive way.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
essay collection ⓘ popular science book ⓘ |
| author | Stephen Jay Gould ⓘ |
| awardCountry |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| awardReceived |
National Book Award for Science (paperback)
ⓘ
linked to:
National Book Award for Nonfiction
|
| basedOn | essays originally published in Natural History magazine ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| criticalReception | widely praised ⓘ |
| discusses |
adaptation
ⓘ
evolutionary theory ⓘ fossil record ⓘ imperfection in design ⓘ |
| followedBy |
Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes
ⓘ
linked to:
Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes
|
| genre | popular science ⓘ |
| hasForm |
hardcover
ⓘ
paperback ⓘ |
| hasISBN | 9780393308198 ⓘ |
| hasNotableConcept |
exaptation
ⓘ
historical contingency in evolution ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | evolutionary biology ⓘ |
| influenced | public understanding of evolution ⓘ |
| intendedAudience | general audience ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod | 20th-century literature ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
contingency in evolution
ⓘ
evidence for evolution ⓘ history of science ⓘ |
| mediaType | print ⓘ |
| notableEssay |
Natural History’s Odd Couple
ⓘ
The Misnamed, Mistreated, and Misunderstood Archaeopteryx ⓘ
linked to:
Archaeopteryx lithographica
The Panda’s Peculiar Thumb ⓘ
linked to:
The Panda's Thumb
|
| numberOfEssays | 31 ⓘ |
| precededBy | Ever Since Darwin ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1980 ⓘ |
| publisher | W. W. Norton & Company ⓘ |
| series | Natural History magazine essays ⓘ |
| subject |
biology
ⓘ
evolution ⓘ natural history ⓘ paleontology ⓘ |
| titleOrigin | panda’s modified wrist bone ⓘ |
| usesStyle |
essayistic
ⓘ
narrative non-fiction ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Panda's Thumb Description of subject: The Panda's Thumb is a popular science book by evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould that explores evolution and natural history through a series of engaging essays.
Referenced by (10)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject linked to:
Stephen
linked to: The Panda's Thumb
linked to: The Panda's Thumb
linked to: The Panda's Thumb
linked to: The Panda's Thumb