Lookin' for a nice book on Evolution!

[DutchLiam84]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a fun read. I've been reading The God Delusion and am about to start with Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish. After that one, I would like to read a book on Evolution....the textbooks I use for school of course are filled with Evolution but it's not enjoyable to read!

Now, I am currently choosing between these 4 books:
The Greatest Show On Earth by Richard Dawkins
Why Evolution Is True by Jerry Coyne
The Tangled Bank: An Introduction To Evolution by Carl Zimmer
Evolution: The Triumph Of An Idea by Carl Zimmer (2001)

Now I don't want to see to much creationist bashing in either one of these books. They all get great reviews....I just want to read a book on the fun facts of evolution presented in a serious but humorous way, that is not perse for the layman (after all, I study Biology).
I also know that Carl Zimmer's Evolution: The Triumph Of An Idea is pretty old (in the scientific world) but get's by far the best reviews I have read.
Has anyone of you read either one of these, preferably more then 1 (for comparison) and which one would you recommend to me?
Or has anyone a better suggestion for me?

 

[TheFlyingBastard]

The Greatest Show On Earth is a good book for the layman. I think you'll find that one a bit too basic.

 

[Duvelthehobbit666]

I've only read the Greatest Show on Earth out of those four so I can't say too much. However, Richard Dawkins book, Climbing Mount Improbable was good too. Talks about hwo complex organs like the eye can evolve.

 

[DutchLiam84]

I'm tempted to continue the thread in Dutch now.....

Is it that this subforum is terrible to find or do the people here just don't read that many books?
Anyway, thanks for the replies, I have removed The Greatest Show On earth from my list but added like 10 new ones to the list. There is a lot of good stuff out there. I might just go for a book by Gould, Jones, Mayr or Carroll.

Still lookin'!

 

[DutchLiam84]

Went for Evolution: The Triumph Of An Idea by Carl Zimmer (2001)! Bought it for $0,99 on Ebay! New, hardcover edition from 2001!

 

[MRaverz]

Your Inner Fish Neil Shubin

Nicely covers the evolution of a number of features we have.

 

[Squawk]

Two easy recommendations.

1. The Selfish Gene
2. The Ancestors Tale

Both by Richard Dawkins, both excellent for different reasons. The selfish gene will give you a real insight on how evolution actually works (if you accept his idea of selection at the gene level, which I do).

The Ancestors tale is a more generalised book, covering multiple different aspects of evolution. I'd read them both, in the order I just gave (I read them the other way around though).

 

[DutchLiam84]

Your Inner Fish is not really a recommendation..see my opening post!

I actually bought The Selfish Gene yesterday...a new hardcover version, 30 year anniversary edition. I have a lot of reading to do...my aim is one book a month. Ancestors Tale is also on my list.

 

[MRaverz]

Your Inner Fish is not really a recommendation..see my opening post!

I actually bought The Selfish Gene yesterday...a new hardcover version, 30 year anniversary edition. I have a lot of reading to do...my aim is one book a month. Ancestors Tale is also on my list.

You caught me not reading threads again. :lol:

 

[TheJilvin]

For some contrasting views, I would recommend the following books:

-The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

which is slightly opposed by:

-The Structure of Evolutionary Theory by Stephen Jay Gould

The latter is over 1300 pages of material and is an incredibly detailed analysis of the modern synthesis and the history of evolution from pre-Darwinian to post-Darwinian ideals.

 

[Laurens]

If you are interested in looking at evolution from the palaeontological perspective then I would recommend "Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth by Richard Fortey. He gives a decent account of the history of life, along with describing many of the discoveries that led us to understand our past as recorded in the rocks.

It doesn't go into huge amounts of depth about the actual process of evolution, but in terms of getting a decent picture of the chronology of life, and the extensive evidence for this then this book is definitely worth reading. After reading several books on the process of evolution, this book helped me get more of an idea of the history side of things.