قراءات إضافية
It is well worth reading On the
Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (John Murray, 1859); the masterly
synthesis of innumerable facts on natural history to support the theory of evolution
by natural selection is dazzling, and much of what Darwin has to say is still highly
relevant. There are many reprints of this available; Harvard University Press have
a
facsimile of the first (1859) edition, which we used for our
quotations.
Jonathan Howard, Darwin: A Very Short
Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2001) provides an excellent
brief survey of Darwin’s life and work.
For an excellent discussion of how natural selection can
produce the evolution of complex adaptations, see The Blind
Watchmaker: Why The Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without
Design by Richard Dawkins (W.W. Norton, 1996).
The Selfish Gene by
Richard Dawkins (Oxford University Press, 1990) is a lively account of how modern
ideas on natural selection account for a variety of features of living organisms,
especially their behaviour.
Nature’s Robots. A History of Proteins
by Charles Tanford and Jacqueline Reynolds (Oxford University Press, 2001) is a
lucid history of discoveries concerning the nature and functions of proteins,
culminating in the deciphering of the genetic code.
Enrico Coen, The Art of Genes. How
Organisms Make Themselves (Oxford University Press, 1999) provides an
excellent account of how genes control development, with some discussion of
evolution.
For an account of the application of evolutionary principles
to the study of animal behaviour, see Survival
Strategies by R. Gadagkar
(Harvard University Press, 2001).
Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin, Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (Time Warner
Books, 1993) gives an account of human evolution for the general
reader.
J. Weiner, The Beak of the
Finch (Knopf, 1995) is an excellent account of how work on Darwin’s
finches has illuminated evolutionary biology.
B. Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson, Journey to the Ants. A Story of Scientific Exploration (Harvard
University Press, 1994) is a fascinating
account of the natural history of ants, and the evolutionary principles guiding the
evolution of their diverse forms of social organization.
For a discussion of the fossil evidence for the early
evolution of life, and experiments and ideas on the origin of life, Cradle of Life. The Discovery of Earth’s Early Fossils
by J. William Schopf (Princeton University Press, 1999) is
recommended.
The Crucible of Creation
by Simon Conway Morris (Oxford University Press, 1998), which is
beautifully
illustrated, provides an account of the
fossil evidence on the emergence of the major groups of
animals.
كتب أكثر تخصُّصًا (تتطلَّب معرفةً متقدِّمةً في الأحياء)
Evolutionary Biology
by D. J. Futuyma (Sinauer Associates, 1998) is a detailed and authoritative
undergraduate textbook on all aspects of evolution.
And a somewhat less detailed undergraduate textbook of
evolutionary biology: Evolution by Mark
Ridley (Blackwell Science, 1996).
Evolutionary Genetics
by John Maynard Smith (Oxford University Press, 1998) is an unusually
well-written text on how the principles of genetics can be used to understand
evolution.
For a comprehensive account of the interpretation of
animal behaviour in terms of natural selection, refer to Behavioural Ecology by J. R. Krebs and N. B. Davies (Blackwell
Science, 1993).