# Recommend Some Good Books on Evolutionary Theory? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359 "2007-10-11T17:25:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/1 "2007-10-11T17:25:23Z")
I’m currently reading the Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Do you guys know of anything else good? I really enjoyed Elaine Morgan’s the Descent of Women, and was considering picking up something else of hers. I also stumbled across The Red Queen by Matt Ridley–any opinions on that one? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/2 "2007-10-11T17:30:12Z")
The Blind Watchmaker by Dawkins is very good. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/3 "2007-10-11T20:01:21Z")
_Wonderful Life_ by Stephen Jay Gould, while a little dated in the details, is a good intro to the Burgess Shale and the early evolution of animals in the Cambrian. Dawkins’ _Climbing Mount Improbable_ is a nice refutation of one of the central tenets of Intelligent Design - “irreducible complexity” . I take it you’ve read Darwin? If not, do. Both _On The Origin of Species_ and _Descent of Man_. The science is leaps ahead now, and some of the ideas are…quaint is a polite way of saying it - but they are still essential reading IMO. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/4 "2007-10-11T20:09:20Z")
Been a while But I recall that **Hens teeth and horses toes** as well as **The Flamingo’s smile** were interesting collections of essays by Gould. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/5 "2007-10-11T20:23:00Z")
[This](http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-origin-of-species/) is a great one, and you can read it online! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/6 "2007-10-11T22:46:09Z")
[The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time](http://www.amazon.com/Beak-Finch-Story-Evolution-Time/dp/067973337X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-2866805-2438306?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192142292&sr=8-1) [Darwin’s Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated](http://www.amazon.com/Darwins-Ghost-Origin-Species-Updated/dp/0345422775/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-2866805-2438306?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192142351&sr=1-1) [What Evolution Is](http://www.amazon.com/What-Evolution-Ernst-Mayr/dp/0465044263/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-2866805-2438306?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192142391&sr=1-1) [Ontogeny and Phylogeny](http://www.amazon.com/Ontogeny-Phylogeny-Stephen-Jay-Gould/dp/0674639413/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-2866805-2438306?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192142497&sr=1-1) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/7 "2007-10-12T01:09:06Z")
_Activating Evolution_ by Dr.Chandra Suresh. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Foolonthehill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Foolonthehill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foolonthehill)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/8 "2007-10-12T05:42:29Z")
Yes, read The Red Queen, excellent look at the “stratagy” of sex, and why we act the way we do around and about the opposite sex. Ridley also wrote Nature via Nurture, published last year, which is a good look at _activators_ and _repressors_. Especially how they are turned on and off by the external environment I would also read Sean Carroll’s Endless Forms Most Beautiful. A look at evolutionary developmental biology; evolution as it takes place in the egg. Sometimes called Evo Devo. “Toolbox” genes, activator and repressor genes, (again) and the “on/off” switches to all of these. Some of the “toolbox” genes he looks at: Hox genes; segmentation and modularity. Distaless genes; limb formation. Tinman genes; formation of circulatory systems. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/9 "2007-10-12T06:01:45Z")
Thanks for all the recommendations, guys. I know at some point I have to get around to Darwin, but he seems awfully…heady. Lately I’ve been looking for more fun evolution type books. I’m really enjoying the Dawkins, for example. (I love learning the random twisted animal factoids.) ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/10 "2007-10-12T17:25:09Z")
Dawkins \*Ancestor’s Tale \* is a great book as well. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/11 "2007-10-12T18:30:29Z")
[QUOTE=Zoggie] Thanks for all the recommendations, guys. I know at some point I have to get around to Darwin, but he seems awfully…heady. Lately I’ve been looking for more fun evolution type books. I’m really enjoying the Dawkins, for example. (I love learning the random twisted animal factoids.) [/QUOTE] Gould’s _Natural History_ essays are chock full of random twisted animal factoids (and a healthy heaping of random twisted historical factoids, as well). The books which are compilations of these essays are: Ever Since Darwin The Panda’s Thumb Hen’s Teeth and Horses’ Toes The Flamingo’s Smile Bully for Brontosaurus Eight Little Piggies Dinosaur in a Haystack Leonardo’s Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms The Lying Stones of Marrakech I Have Landed ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/12 "2007-10-13T03:03:16Z")
My husband keeps trying to make me read “Finding Darwin’s God” by Kenneth Miller. Kenneth Miller is a scientist and a Christian; his book is an attempt to reconcile science and religion in the modern world. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/13 "2007-10-13T11:19:28Z")
More anthropology than evolutionary theory - the books recommended so far include some great ones I would second - I recommend **Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel**. The basic hypothesis is an exploration of whether Western European Man had an evolutionary advantage that led to acquisition of the guns, germs and steel that ultimately won the day during the era of exploration and colonization across the world. By evaluating a number of factors - presence of the right grains, draught animals, weather, latitudes, etc., Diamond argues that it is much more of a case that they were in the right place at the right time, and any other people in the same location would have ended up in the same position of power. Great book - has scientific, fact-based cred and is very accessible and well-written so a lay person like myself could read it easily… ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/14 "2007-10-13T17:23:29Z")
How The Mind Works by Steven Pinker. It looks at how our minds developed through natural selection. It also quotes Cecil Adams, so it can’t be that bad. ---
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-good-books-on-evolutionary-theory/422359/15 "2007-10-13T19:25:19Z")
if you’re interested in the evolution of man from previous apelike form, _The Origin of Humankind_ by Richard Leakey is a fantastic read.