(no subject)

[telophase]

Question: the subject of evolution has come up (so far in a remarkably non-wanky way) on a mailing list I'm on, and one of the people has asked for recommendations of sources about it - clear, basic books, websites, what-have-you that deal with the fundamentals. I can't actually recommend anything because I steer far clear of that sort of thing on the web, and all the books I read, and the majority of my education, deal with it on a far deeper level and assume you know the basics already, which only serves to confuse and obfuscate the subject for anyone who doesn't have a grasp of the essentials.

So: any recommendations?

Comments

[plasticchimera.livejournal.com]

You can get directly at Darwin's writings here (http://pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin/) and they're starting up something with his letters here (http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Departments/Darwin/).

Hope these help. ^_^

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks!

[marith.livejournal.com]

Dawkins' The Selfish Gene taught me a lot about natural selection, and I remember it as being very clear and understandable.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Go straight to the source: the library should have Darwin's writings. He explains things just fine.

How I learned about evolution

[gweniveeve.livejournal.com]

I don't know how this will help, but that reminds me of how I learned about evolution -- through a special edition of Zoobooks magazine called "Prehistoric Zoobooks." It's not part of Zoobookss' lineup anymore -- it was published in 1989, which would make it sort of out of date anyway. It was a special set that basically took you through the different prehistoric "ages." The pictures were great -- showing the process of evolution from a sea-dwelling bundle of cells into an animal (forgive my non-scientific language, it's been awhile since I took biology!). They also explained why plants are green, and even had color-tinted photos to show what would have happened if red or blue had been the preferred color. (I loved Zoobooks as a kid!)

I found some references online (kind of bad ones). One site said that the Prehistoric Zoobooks was a seperate 10-book set (makes sense, there were several, I don't know if I had the full set). It was published in 1989 and they were written by John Bonnett Wexo or Wexco, put out by Wildlife Education. (Again, the references were VERY crappy...)

They should totally update those and re-publish them. Although maybe with all the controversy and Zoobooks' "kids magazine" rep, they've been avoiding it.

[luxetumbra.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you've heard of all this already, but if not:

The Talk.origins FAQ - you'll find tons of links and subfaqs explaining the basics of evolution and rebutting every argument creationists/ID'ers come up with.

Book recs: anything (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Richard%20Dawkins/104-3987353-0325559) by Richard Dawkins(he's best known for The Blind Watchmaker, probably) and anything by Jonathan Weiner (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=JONATHAN%20WEINER/104-3987353-0325559) (I'd start with "Beak of the Finch").

The Panda's Thumb (http://www.pandasthumb.org/) group blog: evolutionary scientists blogging the latest and greatest in evolution.

[luxetumbra.livejournal.com]

http://www.talkorigins.org/

[the-sly-wink.livejournal.com]

Yes. The direct source is a great bet. But here's something really interesting as well:
The Naked Ape (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385334303/qid=1115957163/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-5643752-6615011?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Desmond Morris.

It doesn't deal just with evolution, but focuses on the evolution and behavior of man specifically. It's a fascinating and revealing read in itself, but the material is presented in a way that anyone can understand it.