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Book List and Description

1. Abraham Lincolns DNA and other Adventures in Geneticsby Phillip R. Reilly: Rememberlearning about Marfans Syndrome? Guess who had itAbraham Lincoln! This book is acollection of 24 stories about genetics arranged under six topics: history, justice, behavior,plants and animals, diseases, and ethical dilemmas.{Genetics}

2. Diversity of Life by E.O. Wilson: This book tells the great story of how life on earth evolved.

[It] eloquently describes how the species of the world became diverse and why the threat tothis diversity today is beyond the scope of anything we have known before. {Evolution}

3. Hens Teeth and Horses Toes by Stephen J. Gould: Horses are mammals so why dont theyhave toes like most mammals? Do chickens have teeth? This book explores the peculiarmysterious particulars of nature. Reading this book will allow you to think about some of themanifestations of evolutionary biology. {Evolution/Genetics}

4. Hot Zone by Richard Preston: With the threat of biological warfare ever-present, is this nationprepared to save its citizens? This nonfiction book tells the account of a highly infectious,deadly virus from Africa that suddenly appears in Washington, D.C. Will the outbreak be

stopped? This book tells of true accounts of rare and lethal viruses and their crashes into thehuman race. {Viruses}

5. In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall: This book tells the first-hand account of JaneGoodalls experiences with Chimpanzees. Learn about her remarkable discoveries she madeas she got to know the chimps and they got to know her. {Ecology/Animals}

6. Prey by Michael Crichton: In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. Acloud of nanoparticles has escaped from the laboratory. It is intelligent and learns fromexperience. For all practical purposes, it is alive. Are we ready to embrace new biologicaladvances like nanotechnology? This fiction novel posses some interesting cautions into

scientific advancementsare our advancements becoming smarter than we are?{Nanotechnology}

7. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNAby Brenda Maddox: Did you ever wonder howWatson and Crick developed the structure of DNAthey used the research of a femalescientist! In the 1950s when most women were housewives, not only was Rosalind Franklin aworking woman, but she was also a female scientist. Truly a pioneer in the discovery of DNAand a pioneer as a female scientist, this book explores the life and contributions of RosalindFranklin. {DNA}

8. Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson: Have you ever stopped to think about how healthy your

fruits and vegetables really are? Did you ever wonder if those pesticides and insecticides youingest are harmful? Nearly 50 years later, we now know that some of the chemicals once usedon food were actually harmful. What could that say about the chemicals used today? SilentSpring alerted a large audience to the environmental and human dangers of indiscriminateuse of pesticides, spurring revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land and water.{Ecology/Environment}

9. State of Fearby Michael Crichton: Are Americans in a state of constant fear? Is the worldreally going to end? Is Global Warming actually happening or is it a way to get attention fromenvironmentalists? How much is fact? How much is fiction? What influence does the mediahave on the way we perceive information? This book combines research and fiction that

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raises interesting points and hopefully gets you thinking for yourself about importantenvironmental issues. {Environment}

10.Stiffby Mary Roach: Ever wonder what scientists do with cadavers? Stiff is an oddlycompelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortemMaryRoach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story ofour bodies when we are no longer with them.{Research/Death/Anatomy}

11.Survival of the Sickest, by Sharon Moalem: Was diabetes evolutions response to the lastIce Age? Did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues ofEurope? Will a visit to the tanning salon help lower your cholesterol? This book providesfascinating insights on diseases and our genes. {Genetics/Evolution}

12.The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth by E.O. Wilson: Can religion and sciencecome together for the good of preserving species and our ecosystems? Can we afford to be indenial any longer? Why should we care? These are all questions that are answered inWilsons latest book about the state of our world and the need for everyone to rally to save it.{Conservation Biology/Evolution}

13.The Double Helix by James Watson. In the 1950s a race was on to discover the structure ofDNA. How exactly did Watson and Crick discover the structure of DNA? Were they sodesperate to beat Linus Pauling at the discovery that they used Rosalind Franklins workwithout her knowing? Read this truthful and firsthand account about the discovery of theHoly Grail of the Life Sciences. {DNA}

14.The Great Influenza:The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in Historyby John M. Barry:Think getting the flu shot is a waste of time? This book may change your mind. A non-fictionyet entertaining account of the greatest Influenza outbreak on record, killing as many as 100million. Occurring around the time of WWI, it is argued that this event killed more people thanthe Black Death. How did we overcome this devastating outbreak? Can learning from this

viral outbreak provide insight to other viruses like AIDS? {Disease/Genetics}

15. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Deathby John Kelly: This bookgives a modern and entertaining account of one of the most devastating time for the humanspecies - the time of the Black Death. Where did it start? How did so many people die? Wasit really caused by the bubonic plague or could it have been caused by another contagiousdisease like the Ebola or Anthrax viruses? {Disease/Genetics}

16. The Making of the Fittest by Sean B. Carroll: This nonfiction book explores evolutionarybiology by examining DNA sequences amongst dozens of species. By comparing sequencesof T, A, G, and C, Carroll argues that survival of the fittest is directly correlated to DNA

sequencing. {DNA}

17.The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks: Thisauthor recounts the fascinating case histories of patients with neurological disorders. Frompatients who shout involuntary obscenities to those whose limbs have become alien, this bookis sympathetic and deeply human while allowing us to imagine ourselves living with aneurological disorder. {Neuroscience}

18.The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Mealsby Michael Pollan: Whatshould you eat for dinner? Sure that Sonic burger looks good, but do the benefits outweigh thedrawbacks? This book takes you from Iowa cornfields to food-science laboratories to fast-food

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restaurants. The answers that Pollan provides have profound political, economic,psychological, and even moral implications forall of us. It will certainly have you questioningwhat foods you put into your body! {Food Science/Environment}

19.The Origin of Speciesby Charles Darwin: Perhaps one of the most controversial books andauthors of all time, this book gives a firsthand account of Darwins experiences and thoughtprocesses as he developed his theory of Natural Selection. What did Darwin really mean bynatural selection and evolution? A bit lengthy (around 400 pages), this book would be good

for someone who has time to devote to reading. {Evolution}

20. The Scars of the Evolution by Elaine Morgan: The scars of human evolution are visible inmany forms, from our propensity to suffer from lower back pain to obesity, varicose veins,[and] acnethey are all the result of some cataclysmic event that happened eons in our past.This book takes an interesting and unique approach into human evolution. {Evolution}

21.The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins: Do you tend to be more selfish or altruistic in nature?This book explores reasons for loving and hating, fighting and cooperating, giving andstealing, [and] our greed and generosity by taking a look at evolution and human genes.{Evolution}

22.The Brain that Changes Itselfby Norman Doidge, M.D.The discovery of neuroplasticity,that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains, even into old age, is themost important breakthrough in our understanding of the brain in four hundred years. Thisbook explores brain trauma and disorders and how people can overcome their neurologicaldisorders. {Neuroscience}