The Origins Library. That's how I fancy the name of my future self-sufficient library that will house, hopefully, a comprehensive collection of great books on origins, most specially, human origins. I have started to collect the books by the greatest evolutionary biologists like Theodosius Dobzhansky, Sewall Wright, R.A. Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane, Motoo Kimura, John Maynard Smith, Stephen Jay Gould, Ernst Mayer, George Gaylord Simpson, Richard Dawkins, and of course Charles Darwin. A lot of things have been discovered, new ideas introduced, and old ideas refuted since Darwin. Evolutionary theory has undergone many revisions in the course of the last hundred and fifty years that Darwin's ideas are not sufficient to understand evolution in its current incarnation. I would like to get as many books as possible that contributed immensely to the current understanding and/or consensus on evolution as well as the current issues and debates peripheral to the theory. Aside from evolutionary biologists, I would also like to include books by Frans De Waal and Jane Goodall of which I have a few already, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas. I will post the list of books in a website I would like to build in conjunction with it for purposes of "advertising" it to the community. I would like it to be accessible to college students taking up biology as well as to teachers of science. I am still thinking of how best to manage it since the books are not so cheap specially if preference is given to hardcover editions over paperbacks to make them last longer.
The Origins Library, founded 2007.
2 comments:
Sounds like a great idea. Might I recommend you get books by Niles Eldridge, Steven Rose, Richard Lewontin, Henry Gee, Sean Carroll, and Massimo Pigliucci. They'll give you a comprehensive view of evolution.
BTW, do you have an account in Shelfari or LibraryThing? I'd like to see what's in your book catalogue from time to time. Might find some overlooked gems. :D
thanks for the recommendations. Yes, I think Gould is the best writer when it comes to popularizing evolution. I have a few of his books only but I intend to collect all of his books. The last one I read was his Full House (http://www.andreas.com/gould.html). I have his magnum opus in my shelf (see picture in the other post) and I have started to read it but my progress is slow since I get to pick it up only at home (obviously it's heavy).
On Shlfari, I might create an account soon. :)
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