Items22The creator’s order
  1. 1On the origin of species by means of natural selection (1859)On the origin of species by means of natural selection (1859) 8.6/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1859Charles Darwin starts from variation among familiar animals and plants before asking what happens to variation in the wild. The comparison with domestic pigeons is useful because you can watch him build an inference from a case readers already know. Choose the original argument when you want to see…0
  2. 2What Evolution Is (2001)What Evolution Is (2001) 6.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2001Ernst Mayr gives an account of what natural selection can do within populations and what it takes for populations to become separate species. His distinction between those questions makes this a good second book after a popular introduction. Read it as a synthesis from a particular period, with…0
  3. 3Evolution (2003)Evolution (2003) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2003Brian and Deborah Charlesworth give the separate processes of evolution enough room to distinguish them. Start with the chapters on evidence in time and space, and then move to the sections on why chance and selection can have different effects. The short format is useful when you need to name the…0
  4. 4Why evolution is true (2009)Why evolution is true (2009) 8.5/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2009Jerry A. Coyne asks what evidence a history of common descent should leave behind. Fossil whales with anatomical features inherited from land mammals give one good example. The book is especially useful when you want to see what a theory predicts and which observations could satisfy that prediction.0
  5. 5The beak of the finch (1994)The beak of the finch (1994) 8.8/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1994Jonathan Weiner follows Peter and Rosemary Grant's work on Galápagos finches, where drought changes the seeds available and different beak sizes become consequential. The value of the reporting is the way it follows measurements through changing conditions. Start here for evolutionary change you…0
  6. 6Darwin's Backyard (2017)Darwin's Backyard (2017)Published Jan 1, 2017James T. Costa looks at Darwin as a practical observer who kept using the plants and animals at hand to pursue difficult questions. The experiments with seeds are worth following for the distinction between an idea and a small question that could be put to a test. Read it for the work behind the…0
  7. 7The Song of the Dodo (1996)The Song of the Dodo (1996) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1996David Quammen follows island biogeography through cases where the presence or absence of a species needs explaining. The islands help you see how geography changes the kinds of comparisons that are possible. Pick this up if a map and a particular animal do more for you than a general description of…0
  8. 8Life (1998)Life (1998) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1998Richard Fortey reads the deep history of life through fossils, with trilobites among the animals he keeps returning to. His way of moving between a specimen and the environment it belonged to makes a long span of history manageable. Choose this when you want to get a feel for the evidence a rock…0
  9. 9Wonderful Life the Burgess (1988)Wonderful Life the Burgess (1988) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1988In Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History, Stephen Jay Gould follows disputes over how to classify the unusual animals preserved in the shale. His argument about how differently life might have turned out draws its energy from those fossils. Read it as a historically…0
  10. 10Full House (1996)Full House (1996) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1996Stephen Jay Gould asks what a claim about an evolutionary trend means when the evidence is spread across many different forms of life. His comparison with changes in baseball makes the statistical issue concrete. Read it to see why an increase in the upper limit of a trait may leave the overall…0