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Life Ascending by Nick Lane is a fascinating book about evolution from a biochemical background- which is of course the level at which evolution itself operates. The ten sections of the book deal with the great "inventions" of evolution; the origin of life, DNA, photosynthesis, the complex cell, sex, movement, sight, hot blood, consciousness and death. It certainly adds to and updates our ideas of Darwinism. |
Although I have reviewed some of these books and DVDs personally, I have also included links to purchase these items via Amazon.co.uk. The BioTopics site is effectively maintained by this activity, as a small discount is channeled this way if you follow these links.
You can also follow these links (which open in separate windows) if you decide to buy your own choice of other products like CDs  , DVDs and portable electrical items
or even general science and nature books
from Amazon. In fact you can easily browse the full Amazon menu.
This is effectively an opportunity for you to support the BioTopics site, especially if you have not made a direct donation. |
Some classical Biological books |
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Click here for a search page for other School Books  |
| Bill Indge is the main man for this course! Martin Rowland and Mike Bailey are also Principal examiners (for AQA) |
These student's books by Glenn and Susan Toole are exclusively endorsed by AQA | Robert Mitchell has a website offering all sorts of revision aids for each unit of the AQA A level Biology (and Chemistry) specification. He also has a site dedicated to Writing the Synoptic Essay in BIOL 5. |
| I was quite interested in his recent TV series entitled "The Genius of Charles Darwin"
( 3 1-hour programmes) and I see it is available as a DVD, and also together with previous TV material. As yet no supporting book, but lots of other books (below).
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Richard Dawkins' books in chronological order. The most recent one - The Magic of Reality - is aimed at younger children, attempting to bring a more satisfactory scientific explanation to popular misconceptions. |
| Matt Ridley is a science writer who produces very readable books, not quite as reactionary as Richard Dawkins. He also has an interesting background. As well as being titled, he has been a journalist with the Economist and was non-executive chairman of Northern Rock from 2004 to 2007, in the period leading up to the bank's near-collapse. |
2006 Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code | 2003 Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, & What Makes Us Human, also later released under the title The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture in 2004 |
1999 Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters | 1996 The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation | 1993 The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature |
Amazon search page to do him justice.
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I enjoyed reading this book, which would be very useful in relation to "How science works" sections of the syllabus.
It has been quite high in the Amazon best-seller charts! |
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (also known as a travel writer) is an impressive book which attempts to chart the development of the universe, planet Earth and life upon it, so it is a sort of compendium of science and history. Alongside this, the author brings out interesting facts about the scientists who made the discoveries, and their idiosyncracies and interactions. I was especially interested in the techniques employed to explain the scale involved in some of the stories. What I found especially uplifting was the way in which he was able to get to meet the people in the know (presumably as a result of his reputation gained in writing his other books), and pass on some fascinating conclusions. ISBN 0- 552 - 99704-8 |
A Guinea Pig's History of Biology focuses on the various organisms chosen by Biologists in their study, some of which were more fortunate choices than others. I have taken a long time reading this book - not much of a recommendation on the face of it. But as you get into it (i.e as it gets nearer to modern times from Darwin and Mendel onwards) it gets quite interesting and there is certainly a lot of detail about the key players in Biological Science, and their interactions at the research group level. |
| March of the Penguins is a very good wildlife video (not to be confused with others of a cartoon nature!) which covers the Emperor Penguins life on land.
Great for thinking about life in extreme conditions. Also included on the video are other sections about how penguins hunt (fascinating!), and some interesting background stuff - the camera crew got badly frostbitten!
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