| Prologue | 13 |
| 1. ZOONOMIA (AND EXCEPTIONS) | |
| Reversals | |
| 1) The Flamingo's Smile | 23 |
| 2) Only His Wings Remained | 40 |
| 3) Sex and Size | 56 |
| Boundaries | |
| 4) Living with Connections | 64 |
| 5) A Most Ingenious Paradox | 78 |
| 2. THEORY AND PERCEPTION | |
| Two Admirable Creationists | |
| 6) Adam's Navel | 99 |
| 7) The Freezing of Noah | 114 |
| The Cloven Hoofprint of Theory | |
| 8) False Premise, Good Science | 126 |
| 9) For Want of a Metaphor | 139 |
| 3. THE IMPORTANCE OF TAXONOMY | |
| 10) Of Wasps and WASPs | 155 |
| 11) Opus 100 | 167 |
| 12) Human Equality Is a Contingent Fact of History | 185 |
| 13) The Rule of Five | 199 |
| 4. TRENDS AND THEIR MEANING | |
| 14) Losing the Edge | 215 |
| Postscript: Strike Three for Babe | 225 |
| 15) Death and Transfiguration | 230 |
| 16) Reducing Riddles | 245 |
| 5. POLITICS AND PROGRESS | |
| The Chain of Being | |
| 17) To Show an Ape | 263 |
| 18) Bound by the Great Chain | 281 |
| 19) The Hottentot Venus | 291 |
| Eugenics Past and Present | |
| 20) Carrie Buck's Daughter | 306 |
| 21) Singapore's Patrimony (and Matrimony) | 319 |
| 6. DARWINIANA | |
| 22) Hannah West's Left Shoulder and the Origin of Natural Selection | 335 |
| 23) Darwin at Sea--and the Virtues of Port | 347 |
| 24) A Short Way to Corn | 360 |
| 7. LIFE HERE AND ELSEWHERE | |
| 25) Just in the Middle | 377 |
| 26) Mind and Supermind | 392 |
| 27) SETI and the Wisdom of Casey Stengel | 403 |
| 8. EXTINCTION AND CONTINUITY | |
| 28) Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs | 417 |
| 29) Continuity | 427 |
| 30) The Cosmic Dance of Siva | 438 |
| Bibliography | 451 |
| Index | 459 |