evolution for beginners

Hello! I wonder if anyone can recommend a really good book (or more) on evolution for beginners? I mean really a beginner!

"Evolution for Dummies" by Greg Kukonis will probably fit the bill, but according to Canadian Amazon, it isn't due to be published until September!

Why not start here: Wikipedia: Introduction to Evolution? There are also several good books listed in the references there. I'd single out The Selfish Gene for special mention, although it might be a bit dense as popular science writing goes.

The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker were the first books I read on evoluition. I was 16 at the time and I didn't find them heavy going at all. The Blind Watchmaker was specifically written as an introduction to evolution.

EDIT: The Origin of Species is surprisingly readable, too.

I bought Introducing Evolution, which is pretty basic.

If you want to understand the philosophy of evolution, then Darwin's Dangerous Idea is a fairly substantial volume, but it starts from the ground up. Almost Like a Whale (for some reason it comes up as Darwin's ghost : The origin of species updated) is a re-write of The Origin of Species, which uses modern day examples to illustrate the same points that Darwin was making.

It really does depend if you're after the philosophical side of things, or the biological.

I read River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life for a college intro biology course a number of years ago and I remember it being both interesting and accessible.

Thank you all very much for your suggestions!

I had always sort of taken evolution as a given, but recent discussions with a series of fundamentalist Christians has prompted me to polish up my arguments. These people REALLY believe the world is around five-thousand years old.

Sorry about the line about the 'religious' - which I am now editing out. It was really just letting off some frustration. The fact is I have a good deal of sympathy for believers in general, especially if they are willing to concede faith is an emotional rather than rational position, which fundamentalists seem unable to do.

I had always sort of taken evolution as a given, but recent discussions with a series of fundamentalist Christians has prompted me to polish up my arguments. These people REALLY believe the world is around five-thousand years old.

I think the book you are looking for is called Finding Darwin's God.

Another of Richard Dawkin's works Ancestor's Tale is supposed ot be a rebutal of all the points often raised by fundamental religionists. I've not read it yet, but have recently bought it and will get to it soon.

You might try the Teach Yourself series or A Very Short Introduction series. I have 3 of the TY books. They have more depth than pop books, but seem "choppy". I have heard good things about the VSI books, e.g. Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction is written by a Fields medalist.

The Dummies series varies in quality depending on the author. The Rathbone Windows books are horrible.

I had always sort of taken evolution as a given, but recent discussions with a series of fundamentalist Christians has prompted me to polish up my arguments.

I'd avoid Wikipedia. Your best friend and co-warrior is Talk Origins.

First of all, thank you Akiyama - message 8 - for your sensitivity. I looked up reviews on your suggestion Finding Darwin's God and think it may be what I am looking for, so thanks again.

LolaWalser, thank you as well for your message, but would you please expand on why to avoid Wikipedia? I gave it a quick once-through last night and it seemed to have all the basic information.

Wikipedia is quite good on non-controversial subjects, but because anyone can edit it, anything that is open to 2 or more points of view is liable to be changed at any time. Also ALL information on Wiki is opinion. Often it is researched an correct, but there is no way of verifying this. Some deliberately false information has remained there for a long time.

I second the point in #5: the biological and the philosophical takes on "evolution" are rather different topics. Myself, I could not wholeheartedly recommend Richard Dawkins as a starting point. As a biologist his field (the evolution of animal behaviour) is contentious in scientific terms, and he has a particular angle on evolution (pan-selectionism) which not all evolutionists agree on. In his later, less scientific and more polemical works, he has a deep personal antipathy to religion which seems to make him incapable of looking at it rationally.

I would suggest some of the following books:

The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism provides a nice introduction to evolutionary theory specifically geared toward addressing the creationist/ID arguments while providing a solid foundation on the theory.

Evolution by Matt Ridley is a nice general introduction to evolution.

The Evolutionists by Richard Morris is a good book that provides a straightforward comparison of the Darwinian and Neo-Darwinian perspectives to evolution. THis is particularly good at clarifying the differences between the Gould and Dawkins schools of thought.

Finally, What evolution is by Ernst Mayr is a nice introduction to the topic as well.

Steven Jay Gould certainly needs to be mentioned:

The Mismeasure of Man
Wonderful Life

..and any of his Natural History essays, starting with The Panda's Thumb.

Don't try The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, though, unless you have a few months of free time, but one of the appendices to that book frames most of his arguments against creationism/ID.

SJB was knee-deep in the creationist/ID debate for most of his tenure at Natural History, and so if you're looking for ammo for argument, he's probably been there.

BUT, if you do read Wonderful Life, make sure you read The Crucible of Creation by Simon Conway Morris to get the real story about the Burgess Shale, and not Gould's distorted version.

Would you care to offer a bit of a review of the comparative merits of the two books, Noisy?

>16 wyrdchao:,17,18

Yes, I would like to see a comparison, also. But maybe this conversation is already going in the 'Evolve!' group? Didn't realize this group was there until I followed the links to The Crucible of Creation, above.

I might also suggest Michael Shermer's book Why Darwin Matters: The case against intelligent design as a good primer on that topic.

For a more detailed view of evolution in general, but still at the beginner level, I'd also suggest Burton Guttman's Evolution: A beginner's guide.

If anybody's still here, I'll recommend Your Inner Fish, by Neil Shubin. He's a paleontologist who got starated looking for fossils from the time of the transition between sea-dwelling and land-dwelling species.

I don't know if it's been translated into English yet, but Bas Harings Kaas is supposed to be a really simple account of evolution. I do know it's available in Dutch and German (Warum ist der Eisbär weiss?).

Evolution: The triumph of an idea by LT author Carl Zimmer provides a great overview. It is the companion book for the PBS series of the same name, which was also excellent.

I would recommend these books (and have reviews for all of them, posted on Library Thing):

Abusing Science by Philip Kitcher
The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins
Evolution and the Myth of Creationism by Tim Berra (has a glossary)
The Flight from Science and Reason by Paul Gross et al.
The Triumph of Evolution and the Failure of Creationism by Niles Elridge
Darwin's Ghost by Steve Jones
River Out of Eden by Richard Dawkins

The beak of the finch is an eminently readable example of evolution on an observable time scale and provides a personable perspective of the scientists studying it.

I agree with #3. To get a basic understanding of the mechanisms, there is more than enough information available on the internet. Wikipedia does have a good deal of information (though I know a publicly-edited encyclopedia can't be held as an entirely accountable form of information). Another resource I would use its talkorigins.org. They have good information to get you up to speed. Not only that, but the information is available in a variety of breadths and depths. So, if you continue your interest, there will be plenty more to explore.

Another resource would be Youtube. It may be a little more colorful that poring through text trying to understand evolution. Check out the following channels and browse through some videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Thunderf00t
http://www.youtube.com/user/DonExodus2
http://www.youtube.com/user/CdesignProponentsist
http://www.youtube.com/user/cdk007
http://www.youtube.com/user/potholer54
http://www.youtube.com/user/AronRa

Glad to see your interest!

I think Ian Tattersall books might fit your quest;

This one for instance

The World From Beginnings To 4000 Bce

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-World-from-Beginnings-to-4000-BCE/Ian-Tatte...

Much earlier beginning for life on Earth:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a61585473/single-ancestor-l...