# Recommendation for a book on Evolution **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547 "2004-05-22T18:17:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lennon\_Lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Lennon\_Lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lennon_Lives)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/1 "2004-05-22T18:17:37Z")
Would anyone recommend for a book on the current theories of evolution? Something geared for the layperson as opposed to a book aimed at the scientist. LL ---
**Author:** ![Shaky\_Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@Shaky\_Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shaky_Jake)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/2 "2004-05-22T18:44:39Z")
I’d recommend Richard Dawkins, “Climbing Mount Improbable” as a good, enjoyable read. Or “The Blind Watchmaker”, if you can find it. Dawkins is a talented, engaging writer. His books are highly readable by the layperson (such as me!), without “dumbing down” (in fact, he abhors “dumbing down”). Being such a huge Dawkins fan, I have to add: avoid Stephen Jay Gould. Gould too is a marvelous writer, and much of his work is well worth reading, but Dawkins insists Gould got some (more “technical”) ideas about evolution wrong. Specifically, some of the conclusions he draws from the Burgess Shale about the Cambrian Explosion are incorrect according to Dawkins (Gould writes about this in “Wonderful Life”, among other works). I’m sure others will chime in, but Dawkins deserves a look. Cheers, Jake ---
**Author:** ![Gartog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/3 "2004-05-22T19:23:23Z")
I’m going to second the recommendation for _Dawkins_ he’s an excellent writer, and really knows his stuff. I’m reading _The Devils Apprentice_ at the moment, which isn’t specifically about evolution but does contain several essays on that topic. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/4 "2004-05-22T21:41:46Z")
Well, I will chime in with a contrary position: read Gould (but don’t necessarily avoid Dawkins). I much prefer Gould’s writing style over Dawkins’, and I agree more with Gould’s conclusions than I do Dawkins’. Many of Gould’s popular books are compilations of his essays on natural history, as seen in _Natural History_. He talks a good deal, not just about evolution, but about the history of science, and about the people who do science. Ernst Mayr’s _What Evolution Is_ is also a good introductory book. It covers most of the essentials and is an easy read. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/5 "2004-05-22T22:09:43Z")
I would like to recommend _Abusing Science: the case against creationism_ by Philip Kitcher. It contains a brief lucid account of the theory of evolution, as well as descriptions of what scientific theories are and how evolution explains natural phenomena in a way creationism cannot. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/6 "2004-05-23T06:11:44Z")
_At Home in the Universe_, by Stuart Kauffman, in which he demonstrates how biogenesis is not the wildly improbable event we usually think it is. Not quite on topic, but worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/7 "2004-05-23T07:32:12Z")
This may be better suited to **Cafe Society**. I’ll move it on over for you. TVeblen, IMHO mod ---
**Author:** ![Lennon\_Lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Lennon\_Lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lennon_Lives)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/8 "2004-05-23T17:34:32Z")
Thanks to all for your recommendations. This is exactly the response I was hoping for and come to expect from the SDMB. LL ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/9 "2004-05-23T21:39:36Z")
_ **Evolution, a Communist Lie** _ by Col. Tubalcain Billy Snowbird, USAF (ret.) 😛 (As given in the “bibliography” of _Science Made Stupid_) ---
**Author:** ![Lennon\_Lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Lennon\_Lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lennon_Lives)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/10 "2004-05-23T21:56:05Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > _ **Evolution, a Communist Lie** _ by Col. Tubalcain Billy Snowbird, USAF (ret.) 😛 > (As given in the “bibliography” of _Science Made Stupid_) Thanks Lumpy but I think I’ll skip that one. LL ---
**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:** [May 24, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/11 "2004-05-24T00:16:01Z")
It’s a bit old (1989) but I enjoyed **Blueprints: Solving the Mystery of Evolution** by maitland Edey and Donald Johanson (the guy that discovered Lucy, the _A. afarensis_ skeleton. What I like about it is that it focuses a lot on the scientists (their backgrounds, stories, and experiments) that led to the theory of evolution and how it works. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/12 "2004-05-24T01:53:00Z")
Campbell’s _Biology_ 5th Edition. It’s a textbook, but it’s well written and goes fairly in depth. It doesn’t try to dance around or gloss over evolution, its evidence, or WHY something is considered evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/13 "2004-05-24T02:07:59Z")
[The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067973337X/qid=1085364338/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-6089143-0986424) is a fascinating read for laypeople. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/14 "2004-05-24T04:14:34Z")
“The Red Queen” by Matt Ridley is something I found enlightening and refreshing, even coming from a relatively evolutionarily educated background. It disabuses many of the traditional notion of evolution. ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/15 "2004-05-24T15:58:11Z")
While many of the recommendations so far are excellent, few of them are what I’d call a good general layman’s introduction to evolution; most pick up one of the many aspects of evolutionary theory and run with it in some detail. The best short, accurate, and well-written introduction for someone starting from first principles that I know of is Richard Dawkin’s [_River Out of Eden_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465069908/qid=1085409925/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/002-8608755-2637663?v=glance&s=books&n=507846#product-details). It’s part of Basic Books’ [Science Masters](http://williamcalvin.com/bookshelf/ScienceMasters.htm) series, and like the others in the series offers a brief (172 pp) introduction to a general topic in science, written by a leading figure in the field who’s also, in most cases, a very good writer. I recommend the whole series; there are a couple that aren’t quite up to the general standard, but they’re still good, and at less than 200 pages each, all are quick reads. The series also contains George C. Williams’ take on the adaptationist argument, [_The Pony Fish’s Glow: And Other Clues to Plan and Purpose in Nature_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/046507281X//ref=ase_thecalvinbooksheA/002-8608755-2637663?v=glance&s=books&vi=reviews) (hint: the bit about “plan and purpose” is intended ironically). With that under your belt, the next book I’d recommend tackling is Steve Jones’ [_Darwin’s Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345422775/qid=1085413661/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8608755-2637663?v=glance&s=books). Jones, another leading British geneticist, follows the organizational structure of Darwin’s original _The Origin of Species_, using the knowledge and theories that have been developed during the last 150 years to make the Darwin’s arguments over again with contemporary evidence. Like Dawkins’ book, it’s very well written, and I think it’s quite useful to be exposed to the case for evolution as Darwin made it, and as he might make it himself were he alive today. Having read those, you’ll be better versed in evolutionary theory than the vast majority of people out there. You’ll also be well equipped to pick from among (and more fully appreciate) the other delights on offer in this thread, such as the titles by Jonathan Weiner, Matt Ridley, and even other works by Dawkins – even Gould, though I tend to come down on the Dawkins/Daniel Dennett side of that debate. Jonathan Weiner’s _The Beak of the Finch_ deals with specific observable evolutionary phenomena at work in the Galapagos Islands, as tracked by scientists Peter and Rosemary Grant. _Time, Love, Memory_ is both a profile of geneticist Seymour Benzer and an exploration of what was learned about genetics from the study of fruit flies throughout the twentieth century. Carl Zimmer’s [_At the Water’s Edge: Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684856239/qid=1085411509/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8608755-2637663?v=glance&s=books) is excellent on the mechanisms by which major morphological changes can be induced by relatively small genetic shifts. Matt Ridley might be my favorite writer on matters scientific these days: I highly recommend each of his books, especially _The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature_ and [_The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140264450/qid=1085411096/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-8608755-2637663?v=glance&s=books), not to mention his more general works like _Genome_ and especially [_Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060006781/qid=1085411096/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8608755-2637663?v=glance&s=books). Weiner, Zimmer, and Ridley are primarily writers and journalists, though each has a grasp on the subtleties and complexities of the fields they’ve written about that puts many of the nominal scientists of the world to shame. Then there are the books by the scientists themselves, some of whom are quite gifted as writers themselves. Most of Dawkins’ books have already been mentioned, and are well worth your time. Any public library will have shelves groaning with Stephen J. Gould’s output; I haven’t yet made time to read his _magnum opus_ [_The Structure of Evolutionary Theory_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0674006135/qid=1085412044/sr=5-2/ref=cm_lm_asin/002-8608755-2637663?v=glance), but you should peruse at least some of his work – wrong or right, he was a fascinating thinker and an outstanding writer. You also can’t go wrong with anything by [William Calvin](http://www.williamcalvin.com), who’s primarily a neuroscientist but as written extensively about the evolutionary history of the human brain. The big kahuna, for me, is philosopher Daniel Dennett’s [_Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/068482471X/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/002-8608755-2637663?v=glance&s=books&vi=customer-reviews&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER). Dennett’s speciality is theory of consciousness, but in this volume he ranges over the entire field of evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology to explain why, in his opinion (which I’ve come to share), evolution is “the best idea anybody ever had”. Dennett writes extremely well, and there are many places in this book where I laughed out loud, but he is extremely painstaking and methodical in this book, and it is about as dense as any non-fiction book I’ve ever encountered (in the sense of imparting maximum information in minimum space). I’ve read it three times now, and even the third time it took me a couple of months of lunchtime and bedtime reading to get through the whole 600 pages or so. It remains one of my 10 “desert island” books. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/16 "2004-05-24T16:07:02Z")
I thought Dawkin’s **The Selfish Gene** was his “big one”, but I also understand some people have major critiques of it. FWIW, I read it about 8 years ago, and I think I got a good understanding of evolution from it. I recall it being example after example after a while though and I skipped major chunks of it. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-book-on-evolution/246547/17 "2004-05-24T19:11:37Z")
Another vote for Dawkins’ “The Blind Watchmaker”. I picked up this recommendation from a similar thread (on this board) for a “book for the layperson”. And it was right on the mark, and then some. Until that book, I had only had the high school explanation of evolution and natural selection. So at best, it was kind of a “Cliff Notes” understanding. I kind of had the basics, but didn’t see how it all fit together. “The Blind Watchmaker” not only filled in all the gaps, but it really blew my mind as well. I’ve recommended it to numerous friends since. I just finished “River Out of Eden”. I think “Watchmaker” should be read first, although it’s kind of a toss-up. I haven’t read “Selfish Gene”, but it’s next on the list.