# Recommend some good books on Evolution **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 9, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798 "2004-11-09T05:55:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/1 "2004-11-09T05:55:38Z")
For myriad reasons, I’m essentially a blank slate when it comes to science and I’d like to aquire a bit more knowledge then I have now. (Mods - I’m posting this here because this seems like the best forum to get some good recommendations; do as you see fit). As far as books - since I don’t know much, if you know of some books that are fairly easy to understand, that’d be awesome. Or maybe indicate a level of difficulty? (I know [TalkOrigins](http://www.talkorigins.org/) is a popular website to reference, but I’d much prefer a few books - they’re portable!) Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/2 "2004-11-09T07:25:05Z")
Assuming you don’t want to go all the way back to _The Origin of Species_ (don’t knock it - it’s not that bad!)… Maybe _The Selfish Gene_ by Richard Dawkins _The Third Chimpanzee_ by Jared Diamond _The Red Queen_ by (I think) Matthew Ridley Stephen J. Gould wrote a number of books, but I haven’t read them and so cannot recommend them. BTW, I’m not sure Great Debates is the best forum for book recommendations… ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/3 "2004-11-09T07:42:31Z")
Evolution and the Myth of Creationism by Tim M. Berra. [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0804717702/104-2915281-0242338?v=glance](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0804717702/104-2915281-0242338?v=glance) ---
**Author:** ![baronsabato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@baronsabato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baronsabato)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/4 "2004-11-09T11:34:33Z")
Ernst Mayr’s “What Evolution Is” is a great resource for anyone interested in learning about evolution. Mayr doesn’t cover the most recent advancements in evolutionary theory, but it still serves as a good introduction. Any number of Stephen Jay Gould books are good as well; I recommend “The Panda’s Thumb”. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/5 "2004-11-09T11:40:28Z")
I recommend Bill Bryson’s “_A Short History of Nearly Everything_” for, well, nearly everything, but the chapter on the first discoveries of dinosaur fossils and the Origin of Species is especially good. He writes for scientific beginners, _as_ a scientific beginner, with enough eloquence and wit to charm even the most erudite professor. ---
**Author:** ![Ithaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Ithaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ithaka)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/6 "2004-11-09T13:37:08Z")
**Darwin’s Dangerous Idea** by Daniel C Dennett is superb. It is sometimes hard work but well worth it. ---
**Author:** ![FriendRob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecc23a/32.png) [@FriendRob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendRob)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/7 "2004-11-09T18:28:50Z")
For human evolution, [The Neandertal Enigma : Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0688094074/qid=1100024853/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6592047-9720069?v=glance&s=books) is a terrific book (not just about Neanderthals). A great account of how evolution is still going on today is in [The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067973337X/qid=1100025280/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-6592047-9720069) . And for evolution in general, you can’t beat Stephen Jay Gould. Most of his books are collections of short essays. [Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/039330700X/qid=1100025351/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-6592047-9720069) is different: it’s the account of a revolution in the understanding of evolution. It’s more technical, tho still written for the general public. It’s well worth the effort, though. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/8 "2004-11-10T19:53:31Z")
I’d suggest Gould as well. The \*Panda’s Thumb \* is a classic. I’ve also read and enjoyed \*The Flamingo’s Smile \* and _Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes_. These are pretty approachable since they are a collection of relatively short essays. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/9 "2004-11-10T19:54:19Z")
“The Moral Animal: Why we are the way we are” by \ Wright. Refers often and with great insight into Darwin’s life and uses it as a model for his (Darwin’s) theory on evolution. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/10 "2004-11-10T22:45:45Z")
_Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism_ by Phillip Kitcher. Mostly it debunks creationism, but there’s a brief overview of The theory of evolution. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/11 "2004-11-10T23:26:31Z")
Many good suggestions. I also found [Climbing Mount Improbable](http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/WorldOfDawkins-archive/Dawkins/Work/Books/climb.shtml) to be a fascinating read. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/12 "2004-11-11T02:13:01Z")
> [@FriendRob](#): > > For human evolution, [The Neandertal Enigma : Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0688094074/qid=1100024853/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6592047-9720069?v=glance&s=books) is a terrific book (not just about Neanderthals). Yes! I love this book! It’s plain good writing, not just science writing. My copy has numerous underlinings and highlightings of my favorite passages. It’s also fun watching anthropology documentaries and recognizing some scientists who were interviewed in the book. Another book I really like is [Blueprints: Solving the Mystery of Evolution](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140132651/qid=1100139313/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0427977-4071121?v=glance&s=books). What I like is that it devotes some time to what the theories were before Darwin came up with his. It also spends some time talking about experiments that helped explain and expand upon Darwin’s theories (work with fruit flies, proof that it’s DNA that carries the information, decoding DNA, and then paleoanthropolgy. One of the authors discovered “Lucy”). It doesn’t have the latest and greatest info (it was published in '89) but it’s good. I think **The Selfish Gene** and **The Red Queen** are really good at explaining why some seemingly “bad” traits are allowed to exist ( **TRQ** focuses specifically on sex’s role in all this). They’re good if you think “Darwin’s idea is pretty good, but what about [fill in the blank]? What’s the point of that?”. Or if you run into someone who does. ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/13 "2004-11-11T19:08:53Z")
I have often wondered about about proponents of “intelligent design”, which seems to be a cloaked front for creationism. Are there any books that make a positive case for ID? By positive I mean that they logically formulate their case from the ground up, rather than merely pointing at gaps in the fossil record and concluding “if they can’t explain that, then it must have been guided by some intelligent source” or saying “it’s too complex, so it must be intelligent design”. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/14 "2004-11-11T20:03:28Z")
[Taking Wing](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684849658/qid=1100203714/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-8240471-7374462) \*\*Archaeopteryx and the Evolution of Bird Flight \*\* is a very entertaining read. Pretty much anything by **Richard Dawkins** And another vote for **The Neandertal Enigma** ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/15 "2004-11-11T20:15:02Z")
> [@jebert](#): > > Are there any books that make a positive case for ID? > > By positive I mean that they logically formulate their case from the ground up, rather than merely pointing at gaps in the fossil record and concluding “if they can’t explain that, then it must have been guided by some intelligent source” or saying “it’s too complex, so it must be intelligent design”. No. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/16 "2004-11-12T01:46:59Z")
> [@jebert](#): > > I have often wondered about about proponents of “intelligent design”, which seems to be a cloaked front for creationism. Are there any books that make a positive case for ID? > > By positive I mean that they logically formulate their case from the ground up, rather than merely pointing at gaps in the fossil record and concluding “if they can’t explain that, then it must have been guided by some intelligent source” or saying “it’s too complex, so it must be intelligent design”. Darwin’s Black Box, by Michael Behe, is the best known book of this type. Three reviews to follow up: [Positive](http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/darwinbx.html) [Less positive](http://biomed.brown.edu/Faculty/M/Miller/Behe.html) [Less positive still](http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/behe/review.html) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/17 "2004-11-12T02:08:05Z")
> [@Vagus](#): > > Pretty much anything by **Richard Dawkins** He has a new book out “The Ancestor’s Tale” written in the format of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. I’ve thumbed thru it, but haven’t read the whole thing yet. It looks good and very comprehesive. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/18 "2004-11-12T02:20:44Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Darwin’s Black Box, by Michael Behe, is the best known book of this type. Three reviews to follow up: Like I said, the answer is no. Behe’s argument for “irreducible complexity” is not new, nor any less flawed than those put forth previously. Behe simply knows enough scientific minutae to speak convincingly to a lay audience. He apparently lets his faith cloud his understanding of evolution, however, both of what is known, and what has not yet been fully explained. Complicated parts fitting together marvelously well is not a “proof” of anything, intelligent design or otherwise; it’s a stirring observation, but finding it incredible might only reveal our own ignorance of its origins, rather than recognition of intelligent design. One can simply dismiss his entire premise on those grounds alone. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/19 "2004-11-12T03:11:23Z")
**The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature** by Steven Pinker focuses more on a Darwinist view of human behavior. I’d recommend you read the aforementioned **The Moral Animal : Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology** (whew! what a title) by Robert Wright before tackling **The Blank Slate** to give you some background for Pinker’s ideas. I also second **The Third Chimpanzee**. Anything Diamond writes is very readable and is usually pretty accurate. My interest is behavior rather than physiology or the mechanisms of evolution so my recommendations are skewed in that direction. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798/20 "2004-11-12T07:18:34Z")
This months new Nat’l Geographic has a good precis and easy to read article. Try it, then go on to read a whole book. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolution/273798.md?page=2)