Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands of readers to rethink their beliefs about life. In his internationally bestselling, now classic volume,... (more)

The Origin of Species

by Charles Darwin

The book that shook the world First time from Signet Classic This is the book that revolutionized the natural sciences and every literary, philosophical and religious thinker who followed. Darwin's theory of evolution and the descent of man remains as controversial and influential today as when it was published over a century ago.

A Short History of Nearly Everything

by Bill Bryson

One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer. In A Walk in the Woods , Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country , he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest... (more)

The Blind Watchmaker

Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design

by Richard Dawkins

Patiently and lucidly, this Los Angeles Times Book Award and Royal Society of Literature Heinemann Prize winner identifies the aspects of the theory of evolution that people find hard to believe and removes the barriers to credibility one by one. "As readable and vigorous a defense of Darwinism as has been published since 1859."--The Economist.

The God Delusion

by Richard Dawkins

A preeminent scientist -- and the world's most prominent atheist -- asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11. With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He... (more)

The Ancestor's Tale

A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution

by Richard Dawkins

With unparalleled wit, clarity, and intelligence, Richard Dawkins, one of the world's most renowned evolutionary biologists, has introduced countless readers to the wonders of science in works such as The Selfish Gene. Now, in The Ancestor's Tale, Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago.... (more)

Guns, Germs, and Steel

The Fates of Human Societies

by Jared Diamond

With a new chapter. The phenomenal bestseller—over 1.5 million copies sold—is now a major PBS special. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs, and Steel is a brilliant work answering the question of why the peoples of certain continents succeeded in invading other continents and conquering or displacing their peoples. This edition includes a new chapter on Japan and all-new illustrations drawn from the... (more)

Genome

The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters

by Matt Ridley

The genome's been mapped. But what does it mean? Arguably the most significant scientific discoveru of the new century, the mapping of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises almost as many questions as it answers. Questions that will profoundly impact the way we think about disease, about longevity, and about free will. Questions that will affect the rest of your life. Genome... (more)

Your Inner Fish

A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body

by Neil Shubin

Why do we look the way we do? What does the human hand have in common with the wing of a fly? Are breasts, sweat glands, and scales connected in some way? To better understand the inner workings of our bodies and to trace the origins of many of today's most common diseases, we have to turn to unexpected sources: worms, flies, and even fish. Neil Shubin, a leading paleontologist and professor of anatomy who... (more)

Stiff

The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

by Mary Roach

An oddly compelling, often hilarious forensic exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem.For two thousand years, cadaverssome willingly, some unwittinglyhave been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin,... (more)

The Greatest Show on Earth

The Evidence for Evolution

by Richard Dawkins

In a brilliant follow-up to his blockbuster The God Delusion , Dawkins lays out the evidence for evolution.

A Natural History of the Senses (Vintage)

A Natural History of the Senses (Vintage)

by Diane Ackerman

Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. "Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in."--The New York Times. (Literature--Classics... (more)

The Seven Daughters of Eve

by Bryan Sykes

The national bestseller that reveals how we are descended from seven prehistoric women. One of the most dramatic stories of genetic discovery since James Watson's The Double Helix, The Seven Daughters of Eve reveals the remarkable story behind a groundbreaking scientific discovery. After being summoned in 1997 to an archaeological site to examine the remains of a five-thousand-year-old man, Bryan Sykes... (more)

Last Chance to See

by Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine

"Very funny and moving...The glimpses of rare fauna seem to have enlarged <Adams'> thinking, enlivened his world; and so might the animals do for us all, if we were to help them live." THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD Join bestselling author Douglas Adams and zooligist Mark Carwardine as they take off around the world in search of exotic, endangered creatures. Hilarious and poignant--as only Douglas Adams can... (more)

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

by Michael Pollan

Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness,... (more)

Climbing Mount Improbable

by Richard Dawkins

A brilliant book celebrating improbability as the engine that drives life, by the acclaimed author of The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker. The human eye is so complex and works so precisely that surely, one might believe, its current shape and function must be the product of design. How could such an intricate object have come about by chance? Tackling this subject--in writing that the New York Times called... (more)

The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene (Popular Science)

The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene (Popular Science)

by Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett

This is a revised edition with a new afterword by Daniel Dennett. The Extended Phenotype carries on from where The Selfish Gene takes off. It is a fascinating look at the evolution of life and natural selection. Dawkins's theory is that individual organisms are replicators that have extended phenotypic effects on society and the world at large, thus our genes have the ability to manipulate other individuals. A... (more)

Jurassic Park: Book 1

Jurassic Park

by Michael Crichton

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Creatures once extinct now roam Jurassic Park, soon-to-be opened as a theme park. Until something goes wrong...and science proves a dangerous toy.... "Wonderful...Powerful." THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD

Woman: An Intimate Geography

by Natalie Angier

With the clarity, insight, and sheer exuberance of language that make her one of The New York Times 's premier stylists, Pulitzer Prize-winner Natalie Angier lifts the veil of secrecy from that most enigmatic of evolutionary masterpieces, the female body. Angier takes readers on a mesmerizing tour of female anatomy and physiology that explores everything from organs to orgasm, and delves into topics such as... (more)

Bonk

The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

by Mary Roach

The best-selling author of Stiff turns her outrageous curiosity and infectious wit on the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex. The study of sexual physiology—what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better—has been a paying career or a diverting sideline for scientists as far-ranging as Leonardo da Vinci and James... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: biology

by Richard Dawkins

by Charles Darwin

by Bill Bryson

Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design

by Richard Dawkins

by Richard Dawkins

A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution

by Richard Dawkins

The Fates of Human Societies

by Jared Diamond

The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters

by Matt Ridley

A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body

by Neil Shubin

The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

by Mary Roach

The Evidence for Evolution

by Richard Dawkins

by Diane Ackerman

by Bryan Sykes

by Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine

by Michael Pollan

by Richard Dawkins

by Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett

by Michael Crichton

by Natalie Angier

The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

by Mary Roach