Books, Evolved
If you love evolution, and in case you've missed it, you will be interested in a slate of new books aimed squarely at the lay person by several big-hitters.
1.
Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion (Full disclosure: I am an evolutionary biologist, and I am not an Athiest, nor could I get past the first chapter of that book), who recently stepped down from his post as Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, releases The Greatest Show on Earth. You can hear a full length lecture oh Dawkins discussing the books contents in this poscast from Science and the City. The terrible thing is he makes evolution absolutely unappealing. the amount of exciting discoveries to include in such a book is astounding but I can't imagine, after listening to that lecture, any lay person who would get excited enought o buy the book, let alone anyone who really does believe in Creationism. And that's excatly the point, Dawkins' book is all about the argument of Creationism vs. Evolution. I just wonder how many self-identified Creationist lay-people will actually pick it up.
2.
The other book the just came out is from the literary powerhouse that is Carl Zimmer. Here is how he described his book, The Tangled Bank:
3.
Jerry Coyne, a well known and respected evolutionary biologist (as is Dawkins) based in Chicago give his own offering: Why Evolution is True. To be honest I haven't gotten much into Coyne's Blog or the reviews of this book. Coyne often takes part in and argues against creationists, which is commendable, but according to this review at penmachine, he doesn't let that infiltrate his book. respect!
4.
Ok, but as for my recommendation, I can tell you I have actually read a laybook on evolution that I loved and is very accessible. It's the mainstay from Ernst Mayr (also a very well known and respected evolutionary biologist, now deceased): What Evolution Is. Not only is this book very accessible, it is wonderfully written and lays out clearly and concisely what exactly we are talking about when we say Evolution. For example, this is what evolution is, summarized as Darwin's Explanatory Model of Natural Selection (5 facts and 3 inferences):
Fact 1. Every population has such high fertility that its size would increase exponentially if not constrained.
Fact 2. But, the size of populations, except for temporary annual fluctuations, remains stable over time.
Fact 3. The resources available to every species are limited.
Inference 1. There is intense competition among members of a species.
Fact 4. No two individuals of a population are exactly the same.
Inference 2. Individuals of a population differ from each other in the probability of survival (i.e. Natural Selection).
Fact 5. Man of the differences among the individuals of a population are, at least in part, heritable.
Inference 3. Natural selection, continued over many generations, results in evolution.
1.
Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion (Full disclosure: I am an evolutionary biologist, and I am not an Athiest, nor could I get past the first chapter of that book), who recently stepped down from his post as Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, releases The Greatest Show on Earth. You can hear a full length lecture oh Dawkins discussing the books contents in this poscast from Science and the City. The terrible thing is he makes evolution absolutely unappealing. the amount of exciting discoveries to include in such a book is astounding but I can't imagine, after listening to that lecture, any lay person who would get excited enought o buy the book, let alone anyone who really does believe in Creationism. And that's excatly the point, Dawkins' book is all about the argument of Creationism vs. Evolution. I just wonder how many self-identified Creationist lay-people will actually pick it up.
2.
The other book the just came out is from the literary powerhouse that is Carl Zimmer. Here is how he described his book, The Tangled Bank:
I envisioned my potential readers as curious people who didn’t know much about evolution–what the idea actually is and how scientists study it. I envisioned people who might be interested in learning the nuts and bolts of processes like selection and drift, and who might be intrigued by sexually deceptive wasps, whales with legs, the viruses that dominate our genome, and other features of life that evolution allows us to understand.Zimmer excels at making science accessible and he has a long standing focus on Evolution. He is a natural for this kind of book. But he really is putting out a text book. I have to admit, I haven't read either, but there is a clear difference in the offerings.
3.
Jerry Coyne, a well known and respected evolutionary biologist (as is Dawkins) based in Chicago give his own offering: Why Evolution is True. To be honest I haven't gotten much into Coyne's Blog or the reviews of this book. Coyne often takes part in and argues against creationists, which is commendable, but according to this review at penmachine, he doesn't let that infiltrate his book. respect!
4.
Ok, but as for my recommendation, I can tell you I have actually read a laybook on evolution that I loved and is very accessible. It's the mainstay from Ernst Mayr (also a very well known and respected evolutionary biologist, now deceased): What Evolution Is. Not only is this book very accessible, it is wonderfully written and lays out clearly and concisely what exactly we are talking about when we say Evolution. For example, this is what evolution is, summarized as Darwin's Explanatory Model of Natural Selection (5 facts and 3 inferences):
Fact 1. Every population has such high fertility that its size would increase exponentially if not constrained.
Fact 2. But, the size of populations, except for temporary annual fluctuations, remains stable over time.
Fact 3. The resources available to every species are limited.
Inference 1. There is intense competition among members of a species.
Fact 4. No two individuals of a population are exactly the same.
Inference 2. Individuals of a population differ from each other in the probability of survival (i.e. Natural Selection).
Fact 5. Man of the differences among the individuals of a population are, at least in part, heritable.
Inference 3. Natural selection, continued over many generations, results in evolution.
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