v ctorian prose, you will be enthralled by the craft, i
detail, completeness, and insight in Darwin’s argu-
ments. It is an astonishing book.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Darwin and Evolu-
tionary Thought (ed. M. Ruse, Cambridge univer-
sity Press, Cambridge, 2013) is a set of outstanding
essays on the history of evolutionary thought and
on the influence of Darwin and of evolution on sci-
ence and other areas such as literature, theology,
and philosophy.
Among biographies of Darwin, the best include Janet
Browne’s superb two-volume work, Charles Dar-
win: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of
Place (Knopf, new york, 1995 and 2002, respec-
tively); and Darwin, by A. Desmond and J. Moore
(Warner Books, new york, 1991), which empha-
sizes the role played by the religious, philosophi-
cal, and intellectual climate of nineteenth-century
England on the development of Darwin’s scien-
tific theories. An enjoyable popular biography is
The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of
Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of
Evolution, by David Quammen (W. W. norton,
new york, 2006).
Important works on the history of evolutionary biol-
ogy include P. J. Bowler, Evolution: The History of
an Idea (university of California Press, Berkeley,
2003); E. Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought:
Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance (Harvard
university Press, Cambridge, MA, 1982), a detailed,
comprehensive history of systematics, evolution-
ary biology, and genetics that bears the personal
stamp of one of the major figures in the evolution-
ary synthesis; and E. Mayr and W. B. Provine (eds.),
The Evolutionary Synthesis: Perspectives on the
Unification of Biology (Harvard university Press,
Cambridge, MA, 1980), which contains essays byhistorians and biologists, including some of the
major contributors to the synthesis.
A few works treating the philosophical and practical
implications of evolution are D. C. Dennett, Dar-
win’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Mean-
ings of Life (Simon & Schuster, new york, 1995);
M. Ruse, The Philosophy of Human Evolution
(Cambridge university Press, Cambridge, 2012); P.
gluckman, A. Beedle, and M. Hanson, Principles
of Evolutionary Medicine (oxford university Press,
oxford, 2009), and A. Poiani (ed.), Pragmatic Evo-
lution (Cambridge university Press, Cambridge,
2012).
Books that expose the fallacies of creationism and
explain the nature of science and of evolution-
ary biology include B. J. Alters and S. M. Alters,
Defending Evolution: A Guide to the Creation/
Evolution Controversy (Jones and Bartlett, Sud-
bury, MA, 2001); M. Pigliucci, Denying Evolution:
Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science
(Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA, 2002); and E.
C. Scott, Evolution versus Creationism: An Introduc-
tion, second edition (university of California Press,
Berkeley, 2009). The evidence for evolution is pre-
sented in two outstanding books, Why Evolution
Is True, by J. A. Coyne (viking, new york, 2009),
and The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for
Evolution, by Richard Dawkins (Free Press, new
york, 2009).
Darwin’s birth, in 1809, was marked in 2009 by many
bicentennial celebrations and books. Among
these is Evolution Since Darwin: The First 150 Years,
edited by M. A. Bell et al. (Sinauer Associates, Sun-
derland, MA, 2010), a collection of essays by histo-
rians and evolutionary biologists who summarize
the state of knowledge and current research direc-
tions in all the subfields of evolutionary biology.WEBSITES
Several excellent websites provide good introductions to evolution;
most of them also include material on teaching evolution and on creationism.
The national Center for Science Education is de-
voted to defending the teaching of evolution and
climate science. Its website (ncse.com) should be
the first stop for anyone who wants to learn about
creationism, evidence for evolution, relationships
between evolution and religion, and any other
aspect of the social controversy about evolution.
“understanding Evolution” (http://evolution.berkeley.
edu) is an excellent site developed by the Muse-
um of Paleontology at the university of California,
Berkeley.outstanding videos on evolution are at http://www.hhmi.
org/biointeractive/evolution-collection.
The national Academy of Sciences of the u.S.A., the
members of which are leaders in science, has
a website devoted to evolution (www.nation-
alacademies.org/evolution) and has published
an excellent 70-page booklet, Science, Evolution,
and Creationism (2008), that can be accessed for
free through the website or purchased at low cost
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