This was one of the primary reasons why Gould in his book on the Burgess Shale, Wonderful Life, considered that Early Cambrian life was much more diverse and "experimental" than any later set of animals and that the Cambrian explosion was a truly dramatic event, possibly driven by unusual evolutionary mechanisms.[4] He regarded Opabinia as so important to understanding this phenomenon that he wanted to call his book Homage to Opabinia.[47]