576. Books on genetics and evolution

Further reading:

Richard A. Forney Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth, 1997.

Paleontologist Richard Fortney looks at the history of life on the planet from the earliest beginnings over four billion years ago to the diverse life forms Earth hosts today.

Marc Kaufman First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth, 2011.

Astrobiology is a relatively new field of scientific study. Scientists are examining the life that exists under extreme conditions and are using our most powerful telescopes to find exoplanets. They hope to answer the question: does life exist elsewhere in the universe? Marc Kaufman brings the latest research to general readers.

Marc Kirschner and John Gerhart The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin’s Dilemma, 2005.

Kirschner and Gerhart seek to discover the reasons for the amazing variety of lifeforms on the Earth using biological and medical research as their guide.

William Schopf Cradle of Life: The Discovery of the Earth’s Earliest Fossils, 1999.

In 1993, William Schopf identified previously undiscovered microscopic lifeforms three and a half billion years old. In doing so, he opened up a world as yet undreamed of, which comprise 85 percent of the world’s history.

Seth Shostak Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, 2009.

As the senior astronomer at SETI, Seth Shostak knows a thing or two about extraterrestrials. He shares what goes on behind the scenes of this scientifically-based exploration of life on other planets. His speculations may surprise you.

For more information on the Further Reading series, please see Further Reading: Start Here.