National Book Award Finalist: A biologist's "thoroughly enjoyable" account of the expeditions that unearthed the history of life on our planet (Publishers Weekly). Not so long ago, most of our world was an unexplored wilderness. Our sense of its age was vague and vastly off the mark, and much of the knowledge of our own species' history was a set of fantastic myths and fairy tales. But scientists were about to embark on an amazing new era of understanding....

"Gould is a natural writer; he has something to say and the inclination and skill with which to say it." -P. B. Medawar, New York Review of Books With sales of well over one million copies in North America alone, the commercial success of Gould's books now matches their critical acclaim. The Panda's Thumb will introduce a new generation to this unique writer, who has taken the art of the scientific essay to new heights. Were dinosaurs really dumber...

This title is a brief, yet informative, biography on Charles Darwin. Readers will learn about Darwin's early life, personal life, and all about his contributions to science, natural selection, evolution, and common descent. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Core Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

Charles Darwin published his most important book in 1859 called THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. In this book Darwin claimed that plants and animals living today are descended from similar species that lived long ago. It caused an immediate uproar and upset some people because it appeared to go against the Bible. The genius of Charles Darwin is his discovery of a unifying theory of biology, explaining the diversity of life.

"In the tradition of E.H. Gombrich, Stephen Hawking, and Alan Weisman-an entertaining and uniquely informed narration of Life's life story. In the beginning, Earth was an inhospitably alien place-in constant chemical flux, covered with churning seas, crafting its landscape through incessant volcanic eruptions. Amid all this tumult and disaster, life began. The earliest living things were no more than membranes stretched across microscopic gaps in...

"From acclaimed writer and biologist Sean B. Carroll, a rollicking, awe-inspiring story of the surprising power of chance in our lives and the world. Why is the world the way it is? How did we get here? Does everything happen for a reason or are some things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have pondered these questions for millennia, but startling scientific discoveries over the past half century are revealing that we live in a world driven...

Traces the life of the English naturalist from his early years through his expedition aboard the H.M.S. Beagle and the development of his theory of evolution by natural selection.