When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859, it was not an end, but a beginning. No scientific theory is accepted without question, especially not one as controversial as Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. In the hundred and forty years since Darwin wrote the Origin, a great deal more work has been done on the theory. It's fascinating to look at how the theory itself has evolved and changed over the years, adapting to new discoveries in the life sciences.
| General history of evolutionary theory | Old books about evolution | Books from the synthetic theory | Recent books about evolution |
Analyses of the whole history of evolutionary theory
In recent years, several very good books have been published that provide overviews of the whole history of evolutionary theory. Here are a few of the ones that I have.
EVOLUTION AND THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE
Mayr, Ernst
c.1976, Hardvard University Press
ISBN: 0-674-27104-1
A collection of articles on evolutionary biology.
THE GROWTH OF BIOLOGICAL THOUGHT
Mayr, Ernst
c.1982, Harvard Univ. Press
ISBN: 0-674-36446-5
Mayr's long, detailed, comprehensive history of biology. Very good and very thorough, but occasionally it's very slow slogging.
DARWIN'S CENTURY: EVOLUTION AND THE MEN WHO DISCOVERED IT
Eiseley, Loren
c.1958, Doubleday
DARWINISM EVOLVING
Depew and Weber
c.1995, MIT Press
ISBN: 0-262-54083-5
This book is an overview of the history of evolutionary theory from Darwin on. It's intended to be used as an undergraduate college text, and is written to that level.
THE DISCOVERY OF EVOLUTION
Young, David
c.1992, Cambridge Univ.
ISBN: 0-521-43587-0
Another history of evolutionary theory and its powers for explaining the natural world. This one is written for the layman who starts with little knowledge of biology.
EVOLUTION: THE HISTORY OF AN IDEA
Bowler, Peter J.
c.1984, Univ. of California
ISBN: 0-520-04890-3
I've been lucky enough to find a few very old (as science books go) books about evolutionary theory. It's rather surprising to find that while the information in these books have largely been superseded by more recent discoveries, the basics of evolutionary theory actually haven't changed very much at all.
EVOLUTION AND ANIMAL LIFE
Jordan and Kellogg
c.1908, D. Appleton & Co.
A textbook of evolutionary theory as it was thought of in 1908.
MODERN BIOLOGY AND THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION
Wasmann, Erich
c.1910, Paul, Trench, Turner, & C
Translated English version of Wasmann's textbook on biology and evolution as it was being taught in Germany at the turn of the century.
TEXTBOOK OF EVOLUTION AND GENETICS
Lindsey, Arthur
c.1929, MacMillan
Another textbook on evolutionary theory as of the early 20th century. This one is from a genetic standpoint, reflecting what biologists had learned in thirty years of experimenting with genes.
Books from the synthetic theory
In the 1950s, the new science of population biology was combined with genetics and Darwin's ideas on natural selection to create the synthetic theory of evolution, also known as the neo-Darwinian synthesis. These books were written during that time-period and help illustrate this great transformation of evolutionary theory.
ADAPTATION AND NATURAL SELECTION
Williams, George C.
c.1992, Princeton Univ. Press
ISBN: 0-691-02615-7
A reprint of George Williams's classic work on the nature of adaptation.
ANIMAL SPECIES AND THEIR EVOLUTION
Cain, A. J.
c.1993, Princeton Univ. Press
ISBN: 0-691-02098-1
Reprint of a 1950s work on animal species, how they are defined and how they evolve from parent stocks. Focuses heavily on "spectrum species" in birds and insects. This book is considered a classic of evolutionary theory, and rightly so in my opinion. Cain does a very good job of explaining the complexities of species: how do you define a species, and how fuzzy a species definition can get around the edges.
EVOLUTION IN ACTION
Huxley, Julian
c.1953, Signet
A thin paperback book containing some of Huxley's ideas on evolution. Julian Huxley was the grandson of "Darwin's Bulldog," Thomas Henry Huxley, and was just as outspoken as his grandfather was.
EVOLUTION, GENETICS, AND MAN
Dobzhansky, Theodosius
c.1955, John Wiley & Sons
THE MEANING OF EVOLUTION
Simpson, George Gaylord
c.1949, Yale Univ. Press
Of course, progress in evolutionary theory didn't stop with the neo-Darwinian synthesis. It's continued to advance ever since. These are a few recent books that document some of the recent developments in evolutionary theory.
THE COEVOLUTIONARY PROCESS
Thompson, John N.
c.1994, Univ. of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0-226-79760-0
A look at how organisms can co-evolve, such as insects and the flowers they feed on.
EVOLUTION: Readings from SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
various
c.1978, W. H. Freeman
ISBN: 0-7167-1066-8
Reprint of all articles from the September 1978 issue of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.
MAJOR TRANSITIONS IN EVOLUTION
Maynard Smith & Szathmary
c.1995, Bell & Bain
ISBN: 0-7167-4525-9
TEMPO AND MODE IN EVOLUTION
Fitch & Ayala
c.1995, National Academy Press
ISBN: 0-309-05191-6
A collection of journal-quality papers on evolutionary tempo. Intended as a revisit to George Gaylord Simpson's book of the same name, published fifty years ago.
