The Origin of Species (on The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.) Charles Darwin, M.A. 1859

Although Darwin first presented an account of his theory of decent with modification and the theory of natural selection with Alfred Russel Wallace to the Linnean Society of London in 1858 it was the publication of this book in 1859 that marks the beginning of the modern era as far as I am concerned.

It is a little heavy going at times and much of the science shows the lack of information available at the time this book is still readable, although it is better to read it as literature rather than science.

The book is the perfect model for a scientific book, it is aimed at the general reader, it explains concepts carefully, treats you like an adult, proposes theories with great modesty and humility and it utterly blows you away with the power of the argument.

The Greatest Scientific Author of All time. His finest work.

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“How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!”

T. H. Huxley

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The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

1976, 1989

Unlike Darwin's book the later version of the book improves upon the original masterpiece, largely by avoiding any tampering with the text and simply adding more material.

The first book by a then young and unknown author it took the world of biology by storm and his reputation has continued to grow ever since. Dawkins is regarded by many as the High Priest of evolution and reductionism. This work explains how evolution works. It starts with the basic principles, the logical or mathematical concepts upon which evolution works. It strips away any hint of mystery or destiny from the subject and explains it as a totally logical process.

This is the book that launches the gene's eye view of evolution, the concept of the replicator and the concept of memes.

A thoroughly good read that makes the reader feel brighter for the process of reading it.

If you only read one more book in the rest of your life make sure that this is the one.

River out of Eden

Richard Dawkins

1995

My first taste of Dawkins. I have never before or since picked up a book and simply read it. That is literally what I did, picked it up, read from cover to cover without a single pause and I put it down and was never the same again.

The next day I borrowed The Selfish Gene, within the week I had read everything by Dawkins that I could get my hands on. You might say that was a recommendation.

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“Richard Dawkins, our most radical Darwinian thinker, is also our best science writer. He writes with clarity, grace and intense intellectual excitement.”

Douglas Adams

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Almost Like A Whale,

The Origin of Species Updated

Steve Jones

1999

What audacity! To update Darwin's work. I had read a couple of Steve Jones's books before (The Language of the Genes and In the Blood) and so I was expecting a reasonably good read but this one surpassed my expectations. Jones has gone up in my rankings, I can't say that he gets into the top three of contemporary science writers, but instead I now have a top four.

This book shows clearly that species are but convenient pigeon holes that we use for our own convenience. The focus that a geneticist can give the subject of evolution and natural selection is illuminating. Whereas Richard Dawkins can sometimes lose me a little with mathematics Steve Jones has a gift to simplify without making the subject simplistic or shallow.

This book is highly readable full of the wit you would expect from a Liverpudlian lecturer who studied snails for decades and then made a career in the media and academia. I expect Steve Jones will continue to increase in stature as one of the great contemporary popularizers of science, is there any higher calling than that?

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

Radio series 1978, book 1979

Quite simply the finest work of fiction in the known universe. OK Shakespeare was quite good with plots, Dickens could write some mean characters and Jane Austen, well, chicks read her stuff, but only Douglas Adams could bring the world Oolon Colluphid and the Hooloovoo.

Sperm Wars

Robin Baker

1996

A scientist off the leash. Robin Baker is an expert Zoologist who has left the confines of academia to pursue a writing career. This book is frightening. It explains why we do what we think we choose to do. I suspect that not every contention he makes is quite as solidly based as it could be but even so the overall impression received from reading this book is that the body knows what it wants, and that choice is rational, the mind is left to make up the story afterwards.

The book describes the nature of sperm competition, an area of study only recently probed. I get the impression that this man knows more about the true nature of sperm than all the experts in assisted conception put together. Sperm is involved in Darwinian competition and selection to a degree that very few people could have imagined. A fascinating book.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee

Jared Diamond

1991

One of three books that I have borrowed from the library and then subsequently bought.

A book that treats us as an animal. Diamond studies humanity as a zoologist. The basic premise, that we are in effect just another species of chimpanzee is overstated but it does lead into the theme of the book very well. He looks at how our species is similar to other large primates and how we differ and the significances of both the similarities and differences. Jared Diamond is a kind of polymath, he has studied several subjects in great depth and he brings all this specialized knowledge to bear on the theme. His insights into linguistics were a real eye-opener and helped me find a way in to this fascinating subject.

The Demon Haunted World

Science as a candle in the Dark

Carl Sagan

1996

An excellent book about science as a whole. A book about the twin pillars of science; scepticism and wonder. A book that will energize you to keep rational, and perhaps occasionally annoy you because of Sagan's fence-sitting with regard to religious concepts.

The Human Situation

Aldous Huxley

Posthumously published 1978, © 1977 based on lectures given in 1959

As far as I know there might be only one copy of this work, in approximately eight beige chunks that once made up a paperback book in my book collection. Since I bought this book in 1979 I think I have read it over a dozen times. A book that covers the widest possible canvas, the entire human condition. A true polymath, Aldous, grandson of T.H. Huxley, Darwin's greatest champion, covers an enormous range of subjects in an extremely quirky but fascinating way. If you, like me, rarely read scientific books more than ten years old it is worth it once in a while to read something a little older to give yourself a richer sense of perspective on time and the rate of progress of man and science, and how much truth there is in the idea of Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Just read it, if you can find it, trust me on this one.

How the Mind Works

Steven Pinker

1998

A huge book that covers a huge subject in great detail. Pinker is a great writer who also happens to be an extremely competent academic psychologist.

I may never know how many ideas that are in my head were planted in the short hours that I read this great book. Steven Pinker is very bright, unashamedly rationalist and atheist and a master of language, theory and practice. A pleasure to read, it is a joy to learn from such a natural teacher.

The Meme Machine

Susan Blackmore

1999

Not the reason why I named the site, I did not read this book into several months later. A radical extension of the theory of memetics as propounded by Richard Dawkins. Whereas Richard Dawkins came at memes through evolution science and zoology Susan Blackmore began with the home of the meme, the human mind. Blackmore is certainly considered to be the High Priestess of Memetics, having taken the idea further than any other thinker.

Susan Blackmore makes the very radical suggestion that we owe our intellectual ability to memes, which were the main reason behind the increase in our ancestor's brain power. The human mind was built by and for memes.

I was able to follow her reasoning for most of the journey but I was a little unsure of the final prescriptive chapter which suggests trying to rid our minds of memes. If you are interested in the theory of memetics this book is compulsory reading.

Guns, Germs and Steel

a short History of Everybody for the last 13,000 years

Jared Diamond

1998

I thought The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee was good so I was hoping for a good book, I was not disappointed. This is another in the short list of books that I have found so good I have had to buy them after reading the library book.

The starting point was a simple question, asked by his New Guinean friend Yali

“Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?”

The explanation given is thoroughly convincing in the way it explains the different levels of culture and technology held by different people in different parts of the world at different times. The explanation is based principally on geography and ecology, it does not postulate or require any difference in intelligence by different people or cultures.

I find his resolutely politically correct attitudes and his avoidance of criticism of religion to be his only weaknesses as an author. Vices that Richard Dawkins thankfully does not share.

The Language Instinct

Steven Pinker

1994

A book about language and grammar interesting? Yes! Surprisingly so. I found myself reluctantly starting to read a chapter about material that I suspected I might skip over which turned out to be fascinating in the extreme. Language is not, and never could be, trivial to the history and future of mankind.

The Extended Phenotype

Richard Dawkins

1982

His best science book, the one least aimed at the general reader. This is the hardcore. Not one for the casual reader with a faint interest in atheism, this is a biology book. His Magnum Opus.

If you have read the rest, read the best. But don't start with this one.

Unweaving The Rainbow

Richard Dawkins

1998

The widest ranging science book yet by Richard Dawkins. Written as part of his brief as the first Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University.

He attempts to explain why science is not the enemy of wonder or poetry. Along the way he offers some interesting insights into an enormous range of subjects covering all sciences and the way they impact on people.

When I read it I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't taken by surprise very much but that I put down to reading many works by Dawkins in book form and in online articles. So many of his conclusions and ways of approaching subjects tie in so closely with my own that I find it hard to separate ideas that I have read anew, ideas that I have independently thought myself previously and ideas that I have read before.

The Astonishing Hypothesis

Francis Crick

1994

Anybody would think a man who helped make one of the most important discoveries of the twentieth century might be inclined to rest on his laurels. But no, discovering the structure of DNA was just the beginning, Crick is looking to remove the final curtain that the God of The Gaps might be hiding behind. The astonishing hypothesis is quite simply that we are nothing more than the activity of our brains.

While this research is not yet completed this book is a fascinating insight into the frontier of science and religion.

A little heavy going at times but if you are serious about your atheism this man should be one of your heroes.

The Red Queen

Matt Ridley

1994

An excellent book about evolution that looks right at the mechanism that drives it. Unlike the badge I wore at college “Sexual deviation is the mainspring of evolution”, Matt Ridley sees what the real engine is, death and competition. Like the land of the Alice Through the Looking Glass's Red Queen, evolution is going so fast that you have to run as hard as you can just to stop falling behind.

This book shows the real power that competition, both within as well as between, species can drive evolution and create organs and behaviours of exquisite apparent design.

Genome

The autobiography of a species in 23 chapters

Matt Ridley

1999

Excellent stuff that weaves genetics with evolutionary science into a really good read. Great masterpieces are often done on large canvases with deft precise strokes. The subjects covered are enormous but there is reasonable depth in each one. The science is excellent and up to date (up to publishing date, we can't expect miracles). The writing style is among the best around, I particularly enjoy his lack of pretension, he does not pretend he is a scholar of classics and literature, a common flaw in many science writers who try too hard to appease the chattering classes for whom science is a bit too close to the dirty world of trade. He gives an account of the science involved with genetics that is exciting without being forced or full of hyperbole. And because he is English there is also a leavening of wit in his prose.

I can't fault it. Highly recommended.