Recommended Readings

Evolution

Dawkins, Richard

1996   Climbing Mount Improbable, W.W. Norton: New York and London. An authoritative and elegant account of the evolutionary explanation of the "design" of organisms.

Fortey, Richard

1998   Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth, Alfred P. Knopf: New York. A lively account of the history of life on Earth.

Gould, Stephen J.

1992   The Panda's Thumb, W.W. Norton: New York. Gould's Natural History columns have been collected into a series of books including Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes, An Urchin in the Storm, Eight Little Piggies, The Flamingo's Smile, and Bully for Brontosaurus. All are good popular introductions to the basic ideas behind evolution, and extremely readable.

Horner, John R., and Edwin Dobb

1997   Dinosaur Lives: Unearthing an Evolutionary Saga, HarperCollins: New York. What it's like to uncover fossilized bones, eggs, and more, plus Horner's views on dinosaurs.

Howells, W.W.

1997   Getting Here: The Story of Human Evolution, Compass Press: Washington, D.C. A very readable survey of human evolution by one of the fathers of physical anthropology.

Johanson, Donald C., Lenora Johanson, and Blake Edgar

1994    Ancestors: In Search of Human Origins, Villard Books: New York. The companion volume to Johanson's NOVA series, "In Search of Human Origins."

Mayr, Ernst

1991   One Long Argument: Charles Darwin and the Genesis of Modern Evolutionary Thought, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA. An easily understandable distillation of Charles Darwin's scientific contributions.

National Academy of Sciences

1998   Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science, National Academy Press: Washington, DC. An engaging, conversational, and well-structured framework for understanding and teaching evolution.

Nesse, Randolph, and George C. Williams

1996   Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine, Vintage Books: New York. The principle of natural selection as applied to modern-day health and disease. Helps to illustrate evolution as an ongoing phenomenon.

Tattersall, Ian

1998   Becoming Human, Harcourt Brace: New York. A description of the current state of understanding about the differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

Weiner, Jonathan

1994   The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time, Alfred P. Knopf: New York. Discussion of basic evolutionary principles and how they are illustrated by ongoing evolution on the Galápagos Islands.

Whitfield, Philip

1993   From So Simple a Beginning, Macmillan: New York. A large-format, beautifully illustrated book explaining evolution from genetic, fossil, and geological perspectives. A good general introduction for nonspecialists.

Zimmer, Carl

1999   At the Water's Edge: Macroevolution and the Transformation of Life, Free Press: New York. Some creatures moved from water to land (the evolution land vertebrates) and others from land to water (the evolution of whales from land animals). Zimmer clearly explains these two events in the history of vertebrates and what might have brought them about.

Evolution: Books for Children and Young Adults

Cole, Joanna, and Juan Carlos Barberis

1987   The Human Body: How We Evolved, Illustrated by Walter Gaffney-Kessell, William Morrow and Company: New York. This book traces the evolution of humans, from early prehistoric ancestors to modern tool-users. Grades 4-7.

Lauber, Patricia, and Douglas Henderson

1994   How Dinosaurs Came to Be, Simon and Schuster: New York. A description of the ancestors to the dinosaurs. Grades 4-7.

Matsen, Brad, and Ray Troll

1994   Planet Ocean: A Story of Life, the Sea, and Dancing to the Fossil Record, 10 Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. Whimsically illustrated tour of history for older kids and adults. Grades junior high to high school.

McNulty, Faith

1999   How Whales Walked into the Sea, Illustrated by Ted Lewin, Scholastic Trade: New York. This wonderfully illustrated book describes the evolution of whales from land mammals. Grades K-3.

Stein, Sara

1986   The Evolution Book, Workman Publishing Co., Inc.: New York. A hands-on, project-oriented survey of evolution and its mechanisms. Grades 4-8.

Troll, Ray, and Brad Matsen

1996   Raptors Fossils Fins and Fangs: A Prehistoric Creature Feature, Tricycle Press: Berkeley, CA. A light-hearted trip through time ("Good Gracious -- Cretaceous!") with similes kids will like ("Pterosaurs -- some as big as jet fighters."). Grades 4-6.

Origin of the Universe and Earth

Dalrymple, G. Brent

1991   The Age of the Earth, Stanford University Press: Stanford, CA. A comprehensive discussion of the evidence for the ages of the Earth, moon, meteorites, solar system, Galaxy, and universe.

Longair, Malcolm S.

1996   Our Evolving Universe, Cambridge University Press: New York. A brief discussion of the origin and evolution of the universe.

Silk, Joseph

1994   A Short History of the Universe, Scientific American Library: New York. Popular treatment of the evolution of the universe.

Weinberg, Steven

1993   The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe, Basic Books: New York. An explanation of what happened during the Big Bang.

Evolution and Creationism Controversy

Godfrey, Laurie, ed.

1983   Scientists Confront Creationism, W.W. Norton: New York. A collection of articles by scientists analyzing and refuting arguments of creation science.

Kitcher, Philip

1982   Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism, MIT Press: Cambridge, MA. A philosophical as well as scientific analysis of creation science.

Matsumura, Molleen

1995   Voices for Evolution, National Center for Science Education, Inc: Berkeley, CA. A collection of statements supporting the teaching of evolution from many different types of organizations: scientific, civil liberties, religious, and educational.

Numbers, Ronald

1992   The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism, University of California Press: Berkeley, CA. A thorough history of the American creationist movement.

Pennock, Robert T.

1999    Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism, MIT Press: Cambridge, MA. A philosopher of science analyzes the newer "intelligent design" theory and "theistic science" creationism.

Skehan, James W.

1986   Modern Science and the Book of Genesis, National Science Teachers Association: Washington, DC. Written by a geologist (former Director of the Weston Seismological Observatory) and bible scholar, trained as a Jesuit priest.

Strahler, Arthur

1987   Science and Earth History: The Evolution/Creation Controversy, Prometheus Press: Buffalo, NY. A comprehensive analysis of creationist scientific claims.

Toumey, Christopher P.

1994   God's Own Scientists: Creationists in a Secular World, Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, NJ. An anthropologist's view of creationism as a belief system upholding the moral authority of both science and religion.