Tag Archives: evolution

The Ghosts of Evolution

Posted on July 31, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsense Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms© 2000 Connie Barlow291 pages Grocery stores are excellent places to encounter ghosts. They lurk in the fruit section, feasting on anachronisms. The biological world is a wondrous web … Continue reading →

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Why We Get Sick

Posted on June 2, 2012 by smellincoffee

Why We Get Sick: the New Science of Darwinian Medicine© 1994 Randolph M. Nesse, M.D; George C. Wiliams, Ph.D.290 pages Years ago I read an exceptional book on evolution by David Sloan Wilson. I say exceptional because it advocated for … Continue reading →

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Catching Fire

Posted on May 9, 2012 by smellincoffee

Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human © 2009 Richard Wrangham309 pages Cooking has created a great many fantastic dish throughout the centuries, but Richard Wrangham holds that the culinary art’s greatest triumph is us — humanity, for the advent of … Continue reading →

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Life Ascending

Posted on March 31, 2012 by smellincoffee

Life Ascending: the Ten Great Inventions of Evolution© 2009 Nick Lane344 pages For my money, few subjects are as impressive, beautiful, and awe-inspiring as biology and evolution. Is there a greater drama in the cosmos outside the long play of … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (9 Feb – 15 Feb)

Posted on February 17, 2011 by smellincoffee

February has been dominated by fiction so far, helped in part by my recent back of Trek acquisitions which I’ve not yet exhausted. I’ve also been in a weird funk as of late, unable to find science and even history … Continue reading →

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African Exodus

Posted on September 29, 2010 by smellincoffee

African Exodus: the Origins of Modern Humanity© 1996 Christopher Stringer and Robin McKie282 pages “Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history…” Ever since Charles Darwin made that first and solitary reference to human evolution in … Continue reading →

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The Greatest Show on Earth

Posted on November 5, 2009 by smellincoffee

The Greatest Show on Earth: the Evidence for Evolution© Richard Dawkins 2009 470 pages 2009 is the “Year of Darwin”, giving us nice round anniversaries for both Charles Darwins’ birth and the publication of his most famous work, The Origin … Continue reading →

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Why Evolution is True

Posted on June 28, 2009 by smellincoffee

Why Evolution is True © 2009 Jerry A. Coyne 282 pages Evolution is actually one of my favorite science topics to read about. Back in high school, I was a young-earth creationist who wore Kent Hovind tapes out while shaking … Continue reading →

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Our Inner Ape

Posted on April 27, 2009 by smellincoffee

Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are the Way We Are© 2005 Frans De Waal288 pages I’ve been passing by this one for weeks now, and decided to give it a go this past weekend. It was … Continue reading →

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Evolution for Everyone

Posted on March 6, 2009 by smellincoffee

Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives© 2007 David Sloan Wilson390 pages It’s more difficult to look for science books on an online catalouge than any other, partially because I can’t access … Continue reading →

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