Recommended books
for learning about evolution, botany, the history of farming, and the human/nature connection
These are some of the books I’ve used in putting together Cosmic Evolution Story over the years. They all are written by scientists or science writers, and have a commitment to evidence-based data. While stories and spiritual texts are incredibly important as well, Cosmic Evolution Story is based on the story that science tells (though science can only strive to be Progressively Less Wrong rather than find absolute truth). Some, such as books by Ursula Goodenough and Stephanie Kaza, have philosophical/spiritual approaches, but the books are scientifically accurate.
*An asterisk means I highly recommend the book and it might be a good one to start with: fun to read and full of new (at the time of writing) insights.
—For those feeling a bit overwhelmed by anxiety about the environmental predicament we’re in, I recommend Mindfully Green and Buddha’s Brain
—For those feeling that the modern, scientific view leaves them unmoored, I recommend The View from the Center of the Universe and videos by Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams.
Suggested Reading:
“Big History” curriculum: Google “big history”; look specifically for videos by David Christian, who originally put it all together as a high school curriculum
Carroll, Sean B.: The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why it Matters
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihalyi: Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience
*Dunbar, Robin: Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language
Gleick, James: Chaos: Making a New Science
Gleick: The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood
Goodenough, Ursula: The Sacred Depths of Nature (informed by a Christian perspective)
*Haidt, Jonathan: The Happiness Hypothesis
Haidt, Jonathan: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
Hanson, Rick: Buddha’s Brain
Heying, Heather, and Bret Weinstein: A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life
Kaza, Stephanie: Mindfully Green: A Personal and Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking (informed by Buddhist perspective)
Kricher, John: The Balance of Nature: Ecology’s Enduring Myth
Lewin, Roger: Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos
*Logan, William Bryant: Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth
Mitchell, Melanie: Complexity: A Guided Tour
Montgomery, Scott: Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
*Nesse, Randolph M. and Williams, George C.: Why We Get Sick (other books on this topic have been written since, but I think this one is the best—written by evolutionary biologists)
Pinker, Steven: The Blank Slate
Pinker: The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence has Declined
*Pollan, Michael, Second Nature
–A humorous tale of a man’s venture into gardening and how he comes to terms with how nature works. Lots of good information on ecological principles, evolution.
*Primack, Joel and Nancy Abrams: The View from the Center of the Universe
Quammen, David: Spillover
–it would have been good if more of the public had read this before COVID-19 came along—science writers were warning us that new zoonoses were coming—see The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett, 1994
Quammen, David: The Tangled Tree
Ridley, Matt: Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
Ridley, Matt: The Origins of Virtue
Shubin, Neil: Your Inner Fish
Shubin: Some Assembly Required
*Wilson, David Sloan: Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way we Think about our Lives
Wilson, E.O.: Biophilia
Wilson, E.O. On Human Nature
Wilson, E.O.: Consilience
Wilson, E.O.: The Social Conquest of Earth
*Wrangham, Richard: Catching Fire
Sapolsky, Robert: Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers
Zimmer, Carl: Life’s Edge: The Search for What it Means to be Alive and anything else by Carl Zimmer: https://carlzimmer.com/books/
Suggested Reading: The History of Agriculture:
*Anderson, Edgar: Plants, Man and Life (1952)
Harlan, Jack: Crops & Man
Heiser, Charles: Seed to Civilization
Heiser: The Fascinating World of the Nightshades
Solbrig & Solbrig, So Shall you Reap
Plants & People 