So, here is a list of my favourite books on evolution and the history of life. I won't really be reviewing them; just giving an overview of what they are about (you can take it as read that, to a greater or lesser extent, I enjoyed each).
Remarkable Creatures, by Sean B. Carroll isn't as heavily focused on the science of evolution as some of the others that I'm going to mention. It's really more of a history of the science. As it happens, I read this most recently of the books I'm listing, but I think it would work better as an introduction to the subject as, though it's fairly light on the science aspects of this, it does introduce many of the concepts of evolution and the people that discovered them and developed the theory.
Darwin's Origin of Species I'm sure needs no introduction. Essential for anyone interested in the origins of life on the planet. What I think is remarkable, and a testament to his genius and, moreover thoroughness, is that though there are aspects of the theory that have altered slightly, is how right he actually was. The discovery of things like DNA have actually served to enhance and further back Darwin's theory. That said, as other books on this list will attest, genius though he was, he wasn't operating in an intellectual vacuum.
A lot of people get turned off by Richard Dawkins', um, combative style. This is a shame, The Selfish Gene is a fantastic piece of popular science writing. Accessible, persuasive and often humourous, Dawkins looks at life from the point of view of genes succeeds admirably in describing the development of life. Though never overly simplistic I believe that this could (and should) be read by everyone, including school children. A fantastic achievement.
Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish, traces how the history of life on earth (and the history of human beings) by showing how various organs and body parts have evolved - for example, the similarity between our hands and fish fins. Again, this is enthusiastic and accessible writing. Great fun.
Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould (who, incidentally, played himself in the "Angel" episode of the Simpsons, I forget what it was called now) is a fascinating work. It looks at the wonderfully (and unusually well preserved) soft-bodied creatures whose imprint can be found in the Burgess Shale. There is a measure of controversy over Gould's theories amongst paleobiologists, this is still, however, essential reading. Gould believes that the creatures discovered here show "roads not taken" in the history of life.
In The Making of the Fittest, Sean B. Carroll explains, through the evidence of DNA, how the various species that exist today arose. Compelling, accessible and interesting.
Nick Lane's Life Ascending chooses 10 things that have arisen in life on earth that he believes are important and demonstrate some of the more up to date aspects of evolutionary theory and some of the controversies that are raging today. An interesting read.
Naturally, much of Jared Diamond's book (he's written many other fascinating books, by the way, interesting author) The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee, looks at how close in genetic inheritance to the great apes (especially chimpanzees) human beings are. He makes the (not uncontroversial) argument that the current delineation of species which sees Humans and Chimps described differently is, in the light of genetic inheritance, artificial and incorrect. He recognises, of course, however that if we were to start seeing "homo troglodytes" in zoos there would be something of an outcry. Whatever you believe, however, this book is thoughtful and intelligent. And I like chimps.
Life on Earth is actually the first book I ever read on natural history and evolution - my grandad put me on to it. Naturally, given that it was to accompany a television series (which is still worth seeing, incidentally), this is extremely accessible, but none the worse for it. Also, I have a nice early edition hardback of this that I bought from Amazon for the princely sum of 34p.
