Evolution Basic Books
Discover the essential books on evolution, from Darwin's *Origin of Species* to Dawkins' *The Selfish Gene*. Explore foundational science, biology, and natural selection with this curated reading list.
Book
The Selfish Gene
by Richard Dawkins
The million copy international bestseller, critically acclaimed and translated into over 25 languages.This 30th anniversary edition includes a new introduction from the author as well as the original prefaces and foreword, and extracts from early reviews. As relevant and influential today as when it was first published, The Selfish Gene has become a classic exposition of evolutionary thought.Professor Dawkins articulates a gene's eye view of evolution - a view giving centre stage to these persistent units of information, and in which organisms can be seen as vehicles for their replication. This imaginative, powerful, and stylistically brilliant work not only brought the insights of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience, but galvanized the biology community, generating much debate and stimulating whole new areas of research.
Book
The Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin’s classic that exploded into public controversy, revolutionized the course of science, and continues to transform our views of the world. Few other books have created such a lasting storm of controversy as The Origin of Species. Darwin’s theory that species derive from other species by a gradual evolutionary process and that the average level of each species is heightened by the “survival of the fittest” stirred up popular debate to fever pitch. Its acceptance revolutionized the course of science. As Sir Julian Huxley, the noted biologist, points out in his illuminating introduction, the importance of Darwin’s contribution to modern scientific knowledge is almost impossible to evaluate: “a truly great book, one which can still be read with profit by professional biologist.” Includes an Introduction by Sir Julian Huxley
Book
What Evolution Is
by Ernst Mayr
A pillar of evolutionary biology, Mayr (comparative zoology, Harvard U.) writes for three types of readers: anyone, biologist or not, who wants to know more about evolution; those who accept evolution but doubt the Darwinian explanation of it; and creationists who want to learn more about it even if only to challenge it better.
Book
The Diversity of Life
by Edward O. Wilson
This classic by the distinguished Harvard entomologist tells how life on earth evolved and became diverse, and now, how diversity and life are endangered by us, truly. While Wilson contributed a great deal to environmental ethics by calling for the preservation of whole ecosystems rather than individual species, his environmentalism appears too anthropocentric: "We should judge every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity." And: "Signals abound that the loss of life's diversity endangers not just the body but the spirit." This reprint of the 1992 Belknap Press publication contains a new foreword. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Book
Sociobiology
by Edward O. Wilson
When this work was first published it started a tumultuous round in the age-old nature versus nurture debate. It shows how research in human genetics and neuroscience has strengthened the case for biological understanding of human nature.
