Stanley (paleobiology, Johns Hopkins U.) addresses the question of whether punctuated equilibria, a view popularized by Stephen Jay Gould (among others) or gradualism offers the best account of the history of life. Published in hardcover in 1979. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
"Stanley offers an imaginative treatment of almost every issue in macroevolution; by drawing on a wealth of paleontological and neontological information and on the mechanistic theory of evolution, he achieves a clear, informative, stimulating synthesis. This is perhaps the most important treatment of macroevolution in almost thirty years, and revivifies a subject too long dormant." -- Douglas J. Futuyama, American Scientist
"Not only is a wealth of evidence presented to support the model of punctuated equilibria, but Stanley's stream of refreshing insights into classic topics of evolution, such as living fossils, mass extinctions and adaptive radiations add further weight to the validity of the general model." -- Simon Conway Morris, Geological Magazine