This is the Bibliography of my book, “Lamarck’s Due Darwin’s Luck”, and it shows all the books I have read, as contrasted with consulted in libraries, which are of relevance to evolution.
Appleyard, Brian. “Understanding the Present” (1992)
Subjective view of the history of science and current alarms.
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Armstrong, Patrick H. “Darwin’s Luck” (2009)
Any book with such a title which scarcely mentions Lamarck, doesn’t mention Blyth, and only touches on the issue of chance in Darwin’s theory in the final chapter, is hardly worth the paper it’s written on.
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Axelrod, Robert. “The Evolution of Co-operation” (1990)
The essence of this optimistic, repetitive, socio-political book can be found in one chapter of the 1989 edition of Richard Dawkins’ “The Selfish Gene”.
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Baker, Robin. “Sperm Wars” (1996)
Intriguing combination of semi-pornographic fictional episodes and factual research evidence concerning conception.
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Behe, Michael. “Darwin’s Black Box” (1996)
The book that spawned a new movement in America. Very well argued.
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Bergson, Henri. “Creative Evolution” (1911)
Rather heavy going, and notable for the fact that the author refuses to commit himself over the (then) controversial issue of Lamarckian Inheritance, despite his theory being totally dependent upon it.
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Black, Jeremy. (Ed) “World History Atlas” (2nd Ed 2005)
Absolutely fascinating way of presenting world history.
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Blackburn, Simon. “Think” (1999)
Very readable account of many philosophical issues.
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Bölsche, Wilhelm. “Haeckel: His Life and Work” (1906)
Very admiring biography of the great German evolutionist.
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Bryson, Bill. “A Short History of Nearly Everything” (2003)
Highly entertaining view of the eccentricities of scientists.
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Butler, Samuel. “Life and Habit” (1877)
“Evolution, Old and New” (1879)
“The Deadlock in Darwinism” (1890)
A supreme polemicist, Butler uses humour to great effect in the exposition of his passionate belief that Darwin had taken the life out of biology.
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Carey, Nessa. “The Epigenetics Revolution” (2011)
“Junk DNA” (2015)
Two very readable texts, the first of which is unnecessarily loaded with technical details, and both of which are too concerned with medical issues.
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Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca. “Genes, People and Language” (2000)
A readable view of human migrations based on genetics and languages. Much of the material was presented, more accessibly, in Steve Jones’ earlier book.
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Chambers, Robert. “Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation” (1844)
Sensational when it first came out, it all seems rather heavy going now.
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Clark, Ronald W. “The Survival of Charles Darwin” (1984)
A dispassionate account of the life and legacy of Darwin, which contains a lot of fascinating material and critical analysis.
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Dawkins, Richard. “The Selfish Gene” (1976 & 1989)
“The Blind Watchmaker” (1986)
“River Out of Eden” (1995)
“Climbing Mount Improbable” (1996)
“Unweaving the Rainbow” (1998)
“A Devil’s Chaplain” (2003)
“The Ancestor’s Tale” (2004)
“The Greatest Show on Earth” (2009)
Despite my disagreement with the author’s passionate advocacy of neo-Darwinism, these books are very readable, informative and convincing in their analysis of natural selection. In my opinion, his books started brilliant with “The Selfish Gene”, went downhill to the “River Out of Eden” and then climbed back up to “The Ancestor’s Tale”.
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Darwin, Charles. “The Origin of Species” (1859)
“The Descent of Man” (1871)
These two readable books undoubtedly did change the way we view the world, but that was because Darwin was the right person in the right place at the right time.
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Davies, Roy. “The Darwin Conspiracy” (2008)
A very readable book which presents flimsy evidence that Darwin plagiarised Wallace, and more impressive evidence that Darwin engaged in duplicity to cover up his numerous plagiarisms.
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de Beer, Gavin. “Charles Darwin” (1963)
Of all the biographies of Darwin I have read, this is the most uncritically admiring, though it does contain some interesting material.
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Dembski, William A. (Ed) “Mere Creation” (1998)
A collection of essays written by some of the leading lights of the Intelligent Design school. Some are just plain daft, but others are genuinely challenging.
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Dempster, W.J. “Evolutionary Concepts in the Nineteenth Century” (1996)
Some fascinating material about Patrick Matthew and Edward Blyth, but the overall ordering of this book is totally haphazard.
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Dennett, Daniel. “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea” (1995)
There’s a lot of discussion about the differences between cranes and skyhooks in this exhaustive, and exhausting, examination of the power of natural selection.
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Desmond, Adrian & Moore, James. “Darwin” (1991)
This comprehensive, and readable, biography portrays Darwin as a tortured individual, whose prolonged illness may have been psychosomatic, especially since it got much better after Blyth, Matthew and Grant died. The authors certainly believe that Robert Grant was a much more important figure than most other biographers maintain.
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Diamond, Jared. “Guns, Germs and Steel” (1997)
Extols the perfectly reasonable view that the dominance of the planet by Caucasians is due purely to historical contingency and not to any genetic factors.
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Dover, Gabriel. “Dear Mr Darwin” (2000)
A series of fictitious letters between the author and Darwin, bringing the latter up to date with his baby’s progress. Not as good as it could have been.
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Dower, Hugh. “The Alternative Life” (1996)
My first book was more concerned with the origin of life, proteins, genes and sex than with Lamarckism, and was necessarily more technical than this book.
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Eiseley, Loren. “Darwin’s Century” (1958)
“Darwin and the Mysterious Mr.X” (1979)
Had I known about the first book earlier, I could have saved myself a lot of research for this book (and possibly the need to write it). The second book presents the fairly convincing evidence that Darwin was heavily influenced by Edward Blyth.
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Eldredge, Niles. “The Miner’s Canary” (1991)
An ecologically-concerned look at extinctions through the ages and the future of life on this planet.
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Etcoff, Nancy. “Survival of the Prettiest” (1999)
More erudite than you might expect. The title says it all.
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Filler, Dr Aaron G. “The Upright Ape” (2007)
Rather technical justification for Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s view that vertebrates are inverted arthropods, and other apparent saltations.
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Fodor, Jerry & Piattelli-Palmarini, Massimo. “What Darwin got Wrong” (2010)
Extremely pedantic book, giving the authors’ philosophical and evidential objections to the supposed power of natural selection.
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Frossard, Philippe. “The Lottery of Life” (1991)
This whitewash job on genetic engineering also contains some fascinating discoveries in genetics.
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Fuller, Steve. “Dissent over Descent” (2008)
A missed opportunity to present the case for Intelligent Design accessibly. As it is, it merely questions scientific method in very academic language.
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Goodwin, Brian. “How the Leopard Changed Its Spots” (1994)
Very technical account of the author’s belief that there is much more to embryological development than genetic determinism.
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Gould, Stephen Jay. “Wonderful Life” (1989)
“The Structure of Evolutionary Theory” (2002)
“Reflections in Natural History” (1978-2002)
A wonderful writer who did much in the way of tinkering with neo-Darwinism and undermining biological determinism. His collected essays are always readable and informative, but “The Structure of Evolutionary Theory” is rather heavy-going.
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Gribbin, John & Cherfas, Jeremy. “The Monkey Puzzle” (1982)
My thinking about human evolution was greatly influenced by this book, which publicised the evidence from molecular anthropologists in an entertaining and challenging way.
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Haeckel, Ernst. “The History of Creation” (1868)
“The Evolution of Man” (1874)
“The Riddle of the Universe” (1899)
“The Wonders of Life” (1904)
“Last Words on Evolution” (1905)
Haeckel was the Richard Dawkins of 19th century Germany, producing very readable books with an extremely anti-religious stance.
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Haldane, J.B.S. “What is Life?” (1949)
A collection of articles about science, originally written for the Daily Mirror.
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Harari, Yuval Noah, “Sapiens” (2011)
Supremely readable, though sometimes idiosyncratic, History of Humankind, which takes the surprising view that we became slaves to the overlord – wheat.
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Hoyle, Sir Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra. “Lifecloud” (1978)
“Evolution from Space” (1981)
Whether preposterous, plausible or convincing, these erudite authors present a radical alternative to neo-Darwinism.
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Huxley, Julian. “On Being in a Revolution” (1946)
“Soviet Genetics and World Science” (1949)
My chapter on the Soviet Union was almost entirely based on material from the second book, the first being a collection of essays.
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Huxley, Robert. (Ed) “The Great Naturalists” (2007)
Impressive collection of biographical essays about naturalists throughout the ages, from Aristotle to Darwin.
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Huxley, T.H. “Man’s Place in Nature” (1863)
A collection of essays which left no-one in any doubt that, as far as Darwin’s Bulldog was concerned, we are just evolved apes.
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Irvine, William. “Apes, Angels and Victorians” (1959)
Biographical account of the relationship between Huxley and Darwin.
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Jablonka, Eva & Lamb, Marion J. “Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution” (1995)
“Evolution in Four Dimensions” (2005)
The first is effectively a text book on epigenetics, as it was then, whilst the second attempts, rather unsuccessfully, to be a popular science book. Too cautious.
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Joad, C.E.M. “Samuel Butler” (1924)
“Matter, Life and Value” (1929)
“Guide to Modern Thought” (1933)
Described in my biographical dictionary as a controversialist, Joad’s exposition of philosophical and scientific ideas was always accessible to the lay reader.
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Jones, Steve. “The Language of the Genes” (1993)
“Y: The Descent of Men” (2002)
“Darwin’s Island” (2009)
Professor Jones famously regards writing popular books as prostituting himself, but he is extremely good at it. The first covers much the same ground as Cavalli-Sforza’s, the second is concerned with being male, and the third looks at various aspects of natural history which Darwin mentioned in his less well-known books.
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Jordanova, L.J. “Lamarck” (1984)
An admiring biography, despite the fact that the author isn’t, or wasn’t, a Lamarckist.
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Kohn, Marek. “A Reason for Everything” (2004)
Fascinating biographical account of the lives of the British scientists most strongly associated with natural selection, from Wallace to Dawkins.
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Koestler, Arthur, “The Case of the Midwife Toad” (1971)
Admirable piece of investigative journalism into the ‘Kammerer Affair’.
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Lamarck, J-B. “Zoological Philosophy” (1809)
Much more readable than you might expect, and much bolder than any of the other evolutionary books of the time. Most of it still makes a lot of sense.
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Lane, Nick. “The Vital Question” (2015)
Just when you were getting used to our being biochemical machines, it turns out we’re all electrical machines. There is some fascinating, convincing and readable material in this account of what life is and how it arose and evolved.
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Leith, Brian. “The Descent of Darwin” (1982)
I read this book in 2021, and wished I had known about it much earlier. An early indication of the problems that were lining up for neo-Darwinism.
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Lewin, Roger. “Complexity” (1993)
More interesting for its portrayal of scientists than of science, about which this book seems to say almost nothing.
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Lewontin, R.C. “The Doctrine of DNA” (1993)
Taking a socio-political perspective, this book effectively applies the brakes to the orthodox notion that DNA is omnipotent, without providing any radical alternative.
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Loon, Hendrik van. “The Story of Mankind” (1922)
This is the way history books should be written. Very accessible.
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Lovelock, James. “Gaia” (Various books 1979-Present)
The author’s controversial view of the planet earth as a living organism does not detract from his obvious concern for the planet’s future and his scientific rigour.
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Malik, Kenan. “Man, Beast and Zombie” (2000)
Rather heavy-going account of the way in which our view of ourselves has changed over the centuries. The title says it all.
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Margulis, Lynn & Sagan, Dorian. “What is life?” (1995)
Margulis, Lynn. “The Symbiotic Planet” (1998)
Both books present Margulis’ view that symbiosis and co-operative mergers between bacteria have been more important than genetics in evolutionary history.
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Mason, Stephen. “Chemical Evolution” (1991)
Rather dry and unintelligible for the lay reader, this book gives a fairly comprehensive account of how chemicals arose.
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Matthews, Robert. “Unravelling the Mind of God” (1992)
A mind-boggling review of recent (then) discoveries in science.
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McGrath, Alister. “Dawkins’ God” (2005)
Though very critical of Dawkins’ well-known opposition to religion, the author has no real criticism at all of neo-Darwinism.
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Milton, Richard. “The Facts of Life” (1992)
Though his biological arguments are rather weak, this onslaught on neo-Darwinism was a major inspiration for me.
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Morgan, Elaine. “The Descent of Woman” (1972)
“The Aquatic Ape” (1982)
“The Scars of Evolution” (1990)
“The Descent of the Child” (1994)
In her unceasing efforts to gain acceptance for the aquatic ape theory, the author tried the feminist angle, the neotenous angle, the medical angle and the child angle, but she still failed to take the blinkers off the scientific establishment. She never tried the Lamarckist angle though.
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Morris, Desmond. “The Naked Ape” (1967)
Great entertainment, as long as you don’t take it seriously.
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Packard, A.S. “Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution – His Life and Work” (1901)
Praising, and praiseworthy, biography by a turn-of-the-century neo-Lamarckist.
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Pross, Addy. “What is Life?” (2012)
Taking a more conventional view of the origin of life than Nick Lane, this accessible book argues that it was due to natural selection of self-replicating chemicals.
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Rattray, R.F. “Samuel Butler” (1935)
Notable for its revelations about Butler’s sex life.
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Rensberger, Boyce. “Life Itself” (1996)
This book is intended to show that vitalism is unnecessary because biochemical procedures are well understood, but it had exactly the opposite effect on me.
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Ridley, Mark. “Mendel’s Demon” (2000)
This book explains why human beings are probably as complex as organisms based on DNA replication are capable of becoming.
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Ridley, Mark & Grafen, Alan. (Eds) “Richard Dawkins” (2006)
A collection of mainly-admiring essays by diverse writers about the effect Dawkins has allegedly had upon our the way we think about ourselves.
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Ridley, Matt. “Genome” (1999)
“Nature via Nurture” (2003)
Very readable, though sometimes technical, accounts of modern genetics. The second almost manages to endorse Lamarckism, but doesn’t.
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Rose, Steven. “Lifelines” (1997)
Rose is an enigma to me. He is not a vitalist, or a Lamarckist, yet he constantly upbraids ultra-Darwinists for their genetic determinism and for downplaying the roles of life and the environment in evolution. Nonetheless, it is a very readable book.
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Sagan, Carl & Druyan, Ann. “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” (1992)
Subjective, pretentious, hefty and highly readable.
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Scarre, Chris. (Ed) “The Human Past” (2005)
Large tome full of evidence from diverse sources, which managed to convince me that there is nothing simple and straightforward about human evolution.
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Schmidt, Oscar. “The Doctrine of Descent and Darwinism” (1873)
Notable for the fact that it still maintains that conception involves several sperms.
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Schopenhauer, Arthur. “Essays and Aphorisms” (1973)
An abridged English version of his “Parerga und Paralipomena”. Very readable.
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Semper, Karl. “Animal Life” (1880)
Written as a defence of Darwinism, this book presents a wide range of examples of ways in which animals are affected by their environments.
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Shapiro, Robert. “Origins” (1986)
A sceptical and readable account of the many origin-of-life hypotheses that exist.
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Shaw, Bernard. Preface to “Back to Methuselah” (1921)
Beautifully-written polemic against Darwinian Materialism.
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Sheldrake, Rupert. “The Presence of the Past” (1988)
“The Rebirth of Nature” (1990)
Sincere, sober and respectful, the former book appears to be less radical and revolutionary than it is whilst the latter verges on the “New Age” in its less scientific view of the mysteries of Nature. Literally life-changing.
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Shipman, Pat. “The Man Who Found the Missing Link” (2001)
Fascinating biography of Eugène Dubois, which reads more like a novel than most biographies, being full of unknowable details.
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Smith, Charles H. & Beccaloni, George.(Eds) “Natural Selection and Beyond” (2008)
Hefty tome full of essays about Alfred Wallace’s intellectual legacy.
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Stannard, Russell. “Doing Away with God?” (1993)
Simplistic to the point of being patronising, this increasingly-ludicrous book attempts to reconcile modern science with a purposeful Creator.
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Sterelny, Kim. “Dawkins vs. Gould” (2001)
As far as I’m concerned, this book shows just how pedantic the well-publicised spats between the two protagonists really were.
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Sutton, Mike. “Nullius in Verba: Darwin’s greatest secret” (2017)
Despite the repetitive, overreaching claims that he (and he alone) has 100% proved that both Darwin and Wallace plagiarised Patrick Matthew, this readable book does provide a lot of additional evidence that Darwin must have known about Matthew.
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Sykes, Bryan. “The Seven Daughters of Eve” (2001)
Intriguing and very readable combination of career autobiography of a molecular genealogist and fictional biographies of the seven ancestors of all indigenous Europeans, contrived as Neanderthal co-exister, trader, needleworker, artist, marine traveller, domesticator of wolves and farmer.
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Waddington, C.H. “The Nature of Life” (1961)
Waddington was the most readable and open-minded of the mid-century writers.
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Wallace, Alfred. “Darwinism” (1889)
Overall, this book is not quite the tirade against Lamarckism that I have made it sound in the main text, but it’s not particularly illuminating either.
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Watson, James D. “The Double Helix” (1968)
This famous, fascinating book was given to me by a Chemistry Professor in order to inspire me, though I fancy not into eventually writing this.
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Watson, Lyall. “Lifetide” (1979)
I single out this book from the many that the author wrote, on the grounds that it is the most scientific and comprehensive, and least supernatural, in its analysis of science mysteries. It also contains the information about glycerine that had such an effect upon my own views.
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It would be unfair of me not to include the Watchtower Bible Society publication, “Life – How did it get here?” (1985), which germinated the seeds of doubt in my mind about neo-Darwinism, despite the ludicrousness of their alternative.