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Booklists
Lists of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on the lists. Titles are generally listed alphabetically by author.
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Booklists and Suggested Reading
Darwin, Naturalists & Evolution Stars
Page Modified: April 5, 2008
Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.
Fiction
- Darwin's Wink: A Novel of Nature and Love
Author: Anderson, Alison
Publisher: St Martins $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312331991 Date: 2004
LJ
An exquisite story of two naturalists who find unexpected love as they work to save a rare bird species on an island off the coast of Mauritius. "An exquisitely written, deeply felt novel."--Alev Little Croutier (Seven Houses).
Suggested Reading: For the Birds
Updated 8.16.04 - The Darwin Conspiracy
Author: Darnton, John
Publisher: Knopf $ 24.95 ISBN: 1400041376 Date: 2005
LJ
Fact and fiction become intertwined in this novel that explores the mysteries attached to the life and work of Charles Darwin. The narrative unfolds through Darwin's view, that of his youngest daughter, Lizzie, and two scholars.
Updated 9.17.05 - The Conjurer's Bird
Author: Davies, Martin
Publisher: Crown $ 24 ISBN: 1400097339 Date: 2005
PW
Here is a gripping mystery and rich love story set against a stunning naturalist backdrop. Spanning two time periods, it is the story of an 18th century naturalist given a rare bird, and of a present-day conservationist who tries to relocate the species' only known remains.
Updated 9.26.05 - Confessing
a Murder
Author: Drayson, Nicholas
Publisher: Norton $ 23.95 ISBN: 0393051293 Date: 2002
Kirkus
In this debut novel by an Australian naturalist, murder, a vanished tropical island, and a thwarted love affair are all clues to the origin of Charles Darwin's famous theory.
Suggested Reading: Debuts
Updated 2/28/02 - Mr. Darwin's Shooter
Author: McDonald, Roger
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic List Price: $ 25 ISBN: 087113733x Date: 1999
PW
Kirkus
Aboard the HMS Beagle, 15-year-old Syms Covington enters the service of Charles Darwin, shooting and collecting hundreds of specimens for his "gent", specimens that become fundamental to the formation of Darwin's theory of evolution.
Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars - The Amazing Dr.
Darwin: The Adventures of Charles Darwin's Grandfather
Author: Sheffield, Charles
Publisher: Baen $ 24 ISBN: 074343529x Date: 2002
PW
In 18th century Europe, Dr. Erasmus Darwin is called upon to heal a man dying of an ailment that seems impossible. Darwin has no idea that he will begin a quest that will take him to Scotland for a stunning encounter with the famous inhabitant of a Scottish loch. - The Origin: A Biographical Novel of Charles Darwin
Author: Stone, Irving
Publisher: Doubleday $ 17.95 ISBN: 0385120648 Date: 1980
From his 1831 voyage aboard the H.M.S. Beagle to his death in 1882, Charles Darwin experiences grueling sea passages, conducts demanding scientific research, and encounters opposition to his theory of evolution.
Updated 9.26.05 - Ever After
Author: Swift, Graham
Publisher: Knopf $ 21 ISBN: 0679409548 Date: 1992
Dazzling in its structure and shattering in its emotional force, Graham Swift's Ever After spans two centuries and settings from the adulterous bedrooms of postwar Paris to the contemporary entanglements in the groves of academe. It is the story of Bill Unwin, a man haunted by the death of his beautify wife and a survivor himself of a recent brush with mortality. And although it touches on Darwin and dinosaurs, bees and bridge builders, the true subject of Ever After is nothing less than the eternal question, "Why should things matter?"
Updated 9.26.05 - Galapagos
Author: Vonnegut, Kurt
Publisher: Delacorte $ 16.95 ISBN: 0385294166 Date: 1985
Observed by a ghost of the Vietnam War for one million years, the descendants of survivors of a cruise to the Galapagos Archipielago prove Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
Updated 9.26.05
Nonfiction
- Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evodevo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom
Author: Carroll, Sean B.
Publisher: Norton $ 25.95 ISBN: 0393060160 Date: 2005
LJ Booklist
As described in this fascinating book, Evo Devo is evolutionary development biology, the third revolution in the science, which shows how the endless forms of animals--butterflies and zebras, trilobites and dinosaurs, apes and humans--were made and evolved.
Updated 4.7.05 - Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma
Author: Kirscher, Marc & John Gerhart
Publisher: Yale $ 30 ISBN: 0300108656 Date: 2005
Booklist
In the 150 years since Darwin, the field of evolutionary biology has left a glaring gap in understanding how animals developed their astounding variety and complexity. The standard answer has been that small genetic mutations accumulate over time to produce wondrous innovations such as eyes and wings. Drawing on cutting-edge research across the spectrum of modern biology, Marc Kirschner and John Gerhart demonstrate how this stock answer is woefully inadequate. Rather they offer an original solution to the longstanding puzzle of how small random genetic change can be converted into complex, useful innovations. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 9.23.05 - A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: The Life of William Dampier
Author: Preston, Diana & Michael
Publisher: Walker $ 27 ISBN: 0802714250 Date: 2004
Kirkus Booklist
The first major biography of the explorer--and pirate--who inspired Darwin, Defoe, and Cook, A Pirate of Exquisite Mind restores William Dampier to his rightful place in history--one of the pioneers on whose insights our understanding of the natural world was built.
Suggested Reading: Pirates
Updated 3.11.04 - The Heretic in Darwin's Court: The Life of Alfred Russel Wallace
Author: Slotten, Ross A.
Publisher: Columbia Univ $ 39.50 ISBN: 0231130104 Date: 2004
Booklist
During their lifetimes, Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin shared credit for the independent and almost simultaneous discovery of natural selection. Yet few people today know much about Wallace. The Heretic in Darwin's Court explores the controversial life and works of this Victorian traveler, scientist and spiritualist.
Updated 9.23.05
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