Home > Evolution in the Classroom
From Kansas to Dover, Pennsylvania, the debate
over including intelligent design as part of the science curriculum
has been catapulted to the forefront of national discussion. Random
House, Inc. publishes a broad range of titles examining the history
of the theory of evolution, its related developments, and its
controversies. Many of these books address the larger historic,
political, scientific, and religious questions at the forefront
of the debate.
Evolutionary Theory
Evolution and the Separation of Church and
State
Evolution and the Debate over Science and Religion
Genetics
Evolution
for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think
About Our Lives
Written By: David Sloan
Wilson
About the Book: “Evolution
for Everyone is a remarkable contribution. No other author
has managed to combine mastery of the subject with such a clear
and interesting explanation of what it all means for human self-understanding.
Aimed at the general reader, yet peppered with ideas original
enough to engage scholars, it is truly a book for our time.”
—Edward O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of On Human
Nature
 The
Origin of Species
Written By: Charles Darwin
About the Book: Easily
the most influential book published in the nineteenth century,
Darwin’s The Origin of Species is also that most
unusual phenomenon, an altogether readable discussion of a scientific
subject. On its appearance in 1859 it was immediately recognized
by enthusiasts and detractors alike as a work of the greatest
importance: the revolutionary theory of evolution by means of
natural selection that it presented provoked a furious reaction
that continues to this day.
Evolution:
The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory
Written By: Edward Larson
About the Book: Pulitzer
Prize–winning science historian Edward J. Larson takes us
on a guided tour of Darwin’s “dangerous idea,”
from its theoretical antecedents in the early nineteenth century
to the present. Replete with fresh material and new insights,
Evolution is an expert, taut, and comprehensive history
of a controversial and important scientific theory.
Darwin
for Beginners
Written By: Jonathan Miller
and Borin Van Loon
About the Book: Splendidly
illustrated, this clever, witty, highly informative book is the
perfect introduction to Darwin’s life and thought.
The
Beak of The Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time
Written By: Jonathan Weiner
About the Book: “An
engaging narrative of a modern scientific study that will forever
change the way that we view evolution.... This is a rare book:
The Beak of the Finch is at once absorbing scientific
history, deftly crafted popular science treatise and engagingly
personal narrative.” —The Los Angeles Times Book
Review
Other Titles of Interest:
 Inherit
The Wind
Written By: Jerome Lawrence
and Robert E. Lee
About the Book: Inherit
the Wind is a play based on the famous trial regarding the
legality of teaching evolution in the classroom: Tennessee vs.
John Thomas Scopes, or as it would come to be known, the Scopes
“Monkey Trial.” It is far more than the story of twelve
exciting days in a Tennessee courtroom; it is a narrative of a
nation and its people as they struggle to come to grips with the
forces of change.
 What's
God Got to Do with It?: Robert Ingersoll on Free Thought, Honest
Talk and the Separation of Church and State
Written By: Robert Ingersoll
Edited By: Tim Page
About the Book: An outspoken
and unapologetic agnostic, Robert Ingersoll was a fervent champion
of the separation of church and state, and a tireless advocate
of the rights of women and African Americans. Edited and with
a biographical introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Tim Page,
this new popular collection of Ingersoll’s thought—distilled
from the twelve-volume set of his works, his copious letters,
and various newspaper interviews—promises to put Ingersoll
back where he belongs, in the forefront of independent American
thought.
Other Titles of Interest:
 The
Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality
Written By: The Dalai Lama
About the Book: After forty
years of study with some of the greatest scientific minds as well
as a lifetime of meditative, spiritual and philosophical study,
the Dalai Lama presents a brilliant analysis of why both science
and spirituality must be pursued in order to arrive at a complete
picture of the truth. Through an examination of Darwinism and
karma, quantum mechanics and philosophical insight into the nature
of reality, neurobiology and the study of consciousness, the Dalai
Lama draws significant parallels between contemplative and scientific
examination of reality.
 Rocks
of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life
Written By: Stephen Jay
Gould
About the Book: Gould sheds
new light on a dilemma that has plagued thinking people since
the Renaissance. Instead of choosing between science and religion,
Gould asks, why not opt for a golden mean that accords dignity
and distinction to each realm? “People of good will wish
to see science and religion at peace.... I do not see how science
and religion could be unified, or even synthesized, under any
common scheme of explanation or analysis; but I also do not understand
why the two enterprises should experience any conflict.”
—Stephen Jay Gould
 The
God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired into Our Genes
Written By: Dean H. Hamer
About the Book: “Fascinating....
A compelling case that spirituality very well may be part and
parcel of our genetic structure.” —Los Angeles
Times
 Fire
in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order
Written By: George Johnson
About the Book: Fire
in the Mind is a gripping intellectual adventure story that
compels us to ask where science ends and religion begins.
Other Titles of Interest:
 Living
with Our Genes: The Groundbreaking Book About the Science of Personality,
Behavior, and Genetic Destiny
Written By: Dean H. Hamer
and Peter Copeland
About the Book: "A
pioneer in the field of molecular psychology, Hamer is exploring
the role genes play in governing the very core of our individuality.
Accessible... provocative." —Time
 The
Language of Genes
Written By: Steve Jones
About the Book: “This
intelligent and informative book deserves to be read widely...provides
a vivid demonstration of what a remarkable and fragile product
of evolution our species is.” —Nature
DNA:
The Secret of Life
Written By: James D. Watson
and Andrew Berry
About the Book: “James
Watson has been an eyewitness to each revolution in molecular
biology, from the double helix to the genome. He sees further
and clearer than anybody else in the field. Give this fabulously
good book to anybody who wants to understand what all the excitement
is about.” —Matt Ridley, author of Genome
Time,
Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins
of Behavior
Written By: Jonathan Weiner
About the Book: “Stellar.
. . . Weiner’s compelling portrait tells how [Seymour Benzer]
and his fruit flies bestow one of the most scientifically significant
legacies of the century.” —Science News
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