What's the best book on evolution?

Answer 1

The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond is a good lay persons book about human evolution.

Answer 2

It does belong in the science section.
But to answer. It depends on what you want.

If you are after an introduction this site is great
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/
If you are looking for a longer read then "The Ancestor's Tale" by Dawkins is good.

I would not recomend Darwin. The writing style is just to tedious. He makes his points well but you would likely get bored. Also we have learned quite a bit more since his time.


But if you make it through the Berkley site you will know more about evolution than 80% of the zombies wandering around trying to sound smart. It is a pretty easy one to get through, clear and simple.

Answer 3

I rather like "The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution" by Sean B. Carroll.

From Publishers Weekly:

"Picking up where scientists like Richard Dawkins have left off, Carroll, a professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo-Devo), has written a fast-paced look at how DNA demonstrates the evolutionary process. Natural selection eliminates harmful changes and embraces beneficial ones, and each change leaves its signature on a species' DNA codes. For example, the Antarctic ice fish today has no red blood cells; yet a fossilized gene for hemoglobin remains in its DNA, showing that the fish has adapted over 55 million years by losing the red blood cells that thicken blood and make it harder to pump in extreme cold. The fish has developed other features that allow it to absorb and circulate blood without hemoglobin. . Carroll points out that by examining the DNA of these ice fish species, it's possible to map its origins as well as the history of the South Atlantic's geology. He also uses dolphins, colobus monkeys and microbes to demonstrate how deeply evolution is etched in DNA. While searches for the genetic basis for evolution are hardly new, Carroll offers some provocative and convincing evidence."

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Fittest-Ultimate-Forensic-Evolution/dp/0393061639

Answer 4

Finding Darwin's God, by Kenneth R. Miller, a superb in-depth yet easily readable work on the relationship between evolutionary biology and faith.

Answer 5

Dawkins literature. Or The Elegant Universe.

Answer 6

The origin of the species (Charles Darwin)

Answer 7

Oh just love the Dawkins, he is more belligerent than any fundie!

An example typical of views that often intimidate laymen is this assertion by Richard Dawkins: “Darwin’s theory is now supported by all the available relevant evidence, and its truth is not doubted by any serious modern biologist.” But is this actually the case? Not at all. A little research will reveal that many scientists, including ‘serious modern biologists,’ not only doubt evolution but do not believe it. They believe that the evidence for creation is far, far stronger. Thus, sweeping statements like that of Dawkins are in error. But they are typical of attempts to bury opposition by means of such language. Noting this, an observer wrote in New Scientist: “Does Richard Dawkins have so little faith in the evidence for evolution that he has to make sweeping generalisations in order to dismiss opponents to his beliefs?”

Answer 8

This is a free book and one of the best:
http://www.harunyahya.com/

Answer 9

"Origin Of The Species"

Answer 10

The Proclamation of Communism