THE SCIENCE SHELF This page of the Science Shelf is a subset of the full list of books reviewed by date for people who are interested in evolution and human origins.
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e-mail me about it. For a time, I added books that I had seen and could recommend, but had not written reviews for. Those books are designated with an asterisk (*) below.
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Reviews of books in reverse chronological order by year of publication.
[2011 and later] [2010] [2009] [2008] [2007] [2006] [World Year of Physics 2005] [2005] [2004] [2003] [2002] [2001] [2000] [Before 2000] 2011 and later Turning Points: How Critical Events Have Driven Human Evolution, Life, and Development by Kostas KampourakisDarwin's Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory by James T. CostaA Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution by Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. SternbergThe Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha MukherjeeHerding Hemingway's Cats: Understanding How Our Genes Work by Kat ArneyThe Violinist's Thumb and Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam KeanWired for Culture: Origins of the Human Social Mind by Mark PagelFirst Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth by Marc Kaufman2010 The Evolutionary World: How Adaptation Explains Everything from Seashells to Civilization by Geerat Vermeij2009 Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard WranghamWhy Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne2008 Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul by Kenneth R. MillerScience, Evolution, and Creationism by the U. S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Institute of MedicineWhat Bugged the Dinosaurs? Insects, Disease, and Death in the Cretaceous by George Poinar, Jr., and Roberta Poinar2007 Cell of Cells: The Global Race to Capture and Control the Stem Cell by Cynthia Fox Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend by Barbara OakleyEvolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion by Barbara J. KingRiddled With Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites that Make Us Who We Are by Marlene Zuk2006 After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning by Ian Wilmut and Roger HighfieldThe Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth by E. O. WilsonExtinction: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago by Douglas H. ErwinOut of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth's Ancient Atmosphere by Peter Ward2005 Life As We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life by Peter WardMonkey Business: The True Story of the Scopes Trial by Marvin Olasky and John PerryThe Evolution-Creation Struggle by Michael RuseOur Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are by Frans de WaalThe Republican War on Science by Chris MooneyMan the Hunted: Primates, Predators, and Human Evolution by Donna L. Hart and Robert W. SussmanThe Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans by Chris Beard2004 The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution by Richard DawkinsOrigins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith*2003 Darwin and the Barnacle: Story of One Tiny Creature and History's Most Spectacular Scientific Breakthrough by Rebecca StottDNA: The Secret of Life by James D. Watson*The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World by Peter D. Ward and Donald BrownleeThe Path: A One-Mile Walk Through the Universe by Chet Raymo2002 The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven PinkerA Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals About the Past and Future of Our Species, Planet, and Universe by Gino SegreThe Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the Twenty-First Century edited by John BrockmanRedesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future by Gregory Stock2001 The Impact of the Gene: From Mendel's Peas to Designer Babies by Colin Tudge2000 Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt RidleyHuman Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect by Paul R. EhrlichNature Out of Place: Biological Invasions in the Global Age by Jason van Driesche and Roy van DriescheRare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe by Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee1999 Sudden Origins: Fossils, Genes, and the Emergence of Species by Jeffrey H. Schwartz1998 1997 Are We Unique? A Scientist Explores the Unparalleled Intelligence of the Human Mind by James Trefil
