Evolution category: 1570 books
by Nick Lane
Language: English
Release Date: June 14, 2010
Language: English
Release Date: June 14, 2010
“Original and awe-inspiring . . . an exhilarating tour of some of the most profound and important ideas in biology.”—New Scientist
Where does DNA come from? What is consciousness? How did the eye evolve? Drawing on a treasure trove of new scientific knowledge, Nick Lane expertly reconstructs...
by Melvin Konner, MD
Language: English
Release Date: March 9, 2015
Language: English
Release Date: March 9, 2015
“A sparkling, thought-provoking account of sexual differences. Whether you’re a man or a woman, you’ll find his conclusions gripping.”—Jared Diamond
There is a human genetic fluke that is surprisingly common, due to a change in a key pair of chromosomes. In the normal condition the...
The Edge of Evolution
The Search for the Limits of Darwinism
Language: English
Release Date: June 5, 2007
When Michael J. Behe's first book, Darwin's Black Box, was published in 1996, it launched the intelligent design movement. Critics howled, yet hundreds of thousands of readers -- and a growing number of scientists -- were intrigued by Behe's claim that Darwinism could not explain the complex machinery...
by Danny Vendramini
Language: English
Release Date: January 19, 2012
Language: English
Release Date: January 19, 2012
Put aside everything you thought you knew about Neanderthals. Evolutionary detective Danny Vendramini’s meticulous research shows they were not docile omnivores, but savage, cannibalistic carnivores: the ‘apex predators’ of the stone age. And everything else—including humans—was their prey.
Vendramini’s...
Lamarck's Revenge
How Epigenetics Is Revolutionizing Our Understanding of Evolution's Past and Present
Language: English
Release Date: August 14, 2018
Epigenetics upends natural selection and genetic mutation as the sole engines of evolution, and offers startling insights into our future heritable traits.
In the 1700s, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck first described epigenetics to explain the inheritance of acquired characteristics; however, his theory...
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Evidence for Evolution
Language: English
Release Date: September 22, 2009
Richard Dawkins transformed our view of God in his blockbuster, The God Delusion, which sold more than 2 million copies in English alone. He revolutionized the way we see natural selection in the seminal bestseller The Selfish Gene. Now, he launches a fierce counterattack against proponents of "Intelligent...
A Troublesome Inheritance
Genes, Race and Human History
Language: English
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Drawing on startling new evidence from the mapping of the genome, an explosive new account of the genetic basis of race and its role in the human story
Fewer ideas have been more toxic or harmful than the idea of the biological reality of race, and with it the idea that humans of different...
The Tangled Tree
A Radical New History of Life
Language: English
Release Date: August 14, 2018
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction and A New York Times Notable Book of 2018
Nonpareil science writer David Quammen explains how recent discoveries in molecular biology can change our understanding of evolution and life’s history, with powerful implications for human health...
by Herbert Spencer
Language: English
Release Date: September 26, 2016
Language: English
Release Date: September 26, 2016
The two parts of which this Essay consists, originally published in The Nineteenth Century for April and May 1886 respectively, now reappear with the assent of the proprietor and editor of that periodical, to whom my thanks are due for his courtesy in giving it. Some passages of considerable length which,...
Signals
Evolution, Learning, and Information
Language: English
Release Date: April 8, 2010
Brian Skyrms presents a fascinating exploration of how fundamental signals are to our world. He uses a variety of tools — theories of signaling games, information, evolution, and learning — to investigate how meaning and communication develop. He shows how signaling games themselves evolve, and...
by Nick Lane
Language: English
Release Date: July 20, 2015
Language: English
Release Date: July 20, 2015
“One of the deepest, most illuminating books about the history of life to have been published in recent years.” —The Economist
The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies and cities. Yet there’s a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the...
Aristotle's Ladder, Darwin's Tree
The Evolution of Visual Metaphors for Biological Order
Language: English
Release Date: August 19, 2014
Leading paleontologist J. David Archibald explores the rich history of visual metaphors for biological order from ancient times to the present and their influence on humans' perception of their place in nature, offering uncommon insight into how we went from standing on the top rung of the biological...
by David Grimaldi, Michael S. Engel
Language: English
Release Date: December 15, 2009
Language: English
Release Date: December 15, 2009
Insects are the most diverse group of organisms in the 3 billion-year history of life on Earth, and the most ecologically dominant animals on land. This book chronicles for the first time the complete evolutionary history of insects: their living diversity, relationships and 400 million years of fossils....
Written in Stone
Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature
Language: English
Release Date: November 30, 2010
As the media frenzy over Darwinius and the recent proliferation of books on evolution and creationism show, the public is fascinated by debates about evolutionary biology.
Transitional fossils are often featured in news headlines as "missing links" perpetuating a profound misunderstanding...