Thread: looking for a book...

I'm looking for a good book on evolution and the whole evolution vs. creationism/ID debate. It's been awhile since I was in a science class so I was hoping for something for the laymen. I tried "What Evolution Is" by Ernyst Mayr but couln't ge into it. I was also told to check out "Evolution and the Myth of Creationism" by Tim Berra. There is an "Idiot's Guide to Evolution" but I don't want to go there just yet. I've always defended evolution without really knowing that much about it. I read "The Selfish Gene" by Dawkins years ago...but that's about it. Any recommendations?

I've read Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene twice... great stuff there.

I'd also recommend The Ancestor's Tale, which takes a novel approach to dealing with evolution from the perspective of the organism itself, and The Blind Watchmaker, also both by Dawkins.

Cosmos, by Carl Sagan, is a good read for the layman, and you already mentioned Evolution and the Myth of Creationism, by Tim M. Berra.

You might also consider Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, by Daniel Dennett, though I've some minor disagreements with his logical steps that seem to overly scrutinize Stephen J. Gould's punctuated equilibrium. I'm a middle-of-the-road evolutionist when it comes to gradualism versus PE, seeing room for both mechanisms. Still, I'm a fan of Dennett's and his latest book, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon is a great read, though unrelated to evolution and biology.

I've only listed the few books that were on the top of my head. Just about anything by Gould is certainly worth reading as well.

I suggest you to be vigilant to selecting books regarding evolution, the resources are easy to find now, but the real resources are not.

Could you list some examples then? I'm working on Darwin's four-book collection, "From So Simple a Beginning," as well as The Selfish Gene, and after that I'm going to check out The Extended Phenotype, also by Dawkins. Anything wrong with those? What books/resources do you advocate?