Back in late 2009, we started offering free evolution book excerpts on the NCSE web site and via Facebook. (Starting in 2012, we added excerpts from climate change books.) The excerpts—often complete chapters—were culled from a range of tomes, from illustrated versions of the Origin to textbooks (such as Douglas Futuyma's Evolution) to kid's books (such as Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be).
These excerpts are still accessible for your delectation:
The Accidental Species: Misunderstandings of Human Evolution (University of Chicago Press) by Henry Gee
Am I a Monkey? (Johns Hopkins University Press) by Francisco J. Ayala
The Atlas of Climate Change (University of California Press) by Kirstin Dow and Thomas E. Downing
The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change (Island Press) by Yoram Bauman and Grady Klein
Charles Darwin's On the Origin Of Species: A Graphic Adaptation (Rodale) by Michael Keller
Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change (Hill and Wang) by L. Hunter Lovins and Boyd Cohen
Climate Smart & Energy Wise (Corwin) by Mark McCaffrey
Cold Cash, Cool Climate (Analytics Press) by Jonathan Koomey
Creation: How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself (Current/Penguin) by Adam Rutherford
Darwin: A Graphic Biography (Smithsonian Books) by Eugene Byrne and Simon Gurr
The Darwin Archipelago (Yale University Press) by Steve Jones
The Darwinian Tourist (Oxford University Press) by Christopher Wills
Darwin's Lost World (Oxford University Press) by Martin Brasier
Darwin's Armada: Four Voyages and the Battle for the Theory of Evolution (W.W. Norton) by Iain McCalman
Darwin's Universe: Evolution from A to Z (UC Press) by Richard Milner
The Dawn of the Deed: The Prehistoric Origins of Sex (University of Chicago Press) by John A. Long
Dodging Extinction: Power, Food, Money, and the Future of Life on Earth (UC Press) by Anthony D. Barnosky
Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change (Bloomsbury USA) by George Marshall
Evidence of Evolution (Abrams Books) by Susan Middleton and Mary Ellen Hannibal
The Evidence for Evolution (University of Chicago Press) by Alan R. Rogers
Evolution, 2nd Edition (Sinauer Associates) by Douglas J. Futuyma
Evolution, Creationism, and the Battle to Control America's Classrooms (Cambridge University Press) by Berkman and Plutzer
Evolution vs. Creationism, 2nd edition (Greenwood) by Eugenie C. Scott
Evolution vs. Creationism (Chapter 2), 2nd edition (Greenwood) by Eugenie C. Scott
Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be (Kids Can Press) by Daniel Loxton
Evolution: Making Sense of Life (Roberts & Company) by Carl Zimmer
Evolution: The Story of Life (UC Press) by Douglas Palmer
Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth (Hill and Wang) by Jay Hosler. Illustrated by Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon
The Evolutionary World: How adaptation explains everything from seashells to civilization (Thomas Dunne Books) by Geerat J. Vermeij
Extinction and Evolution: What Fossils Reveal About the History of Life (Firefly Books) by Niles Eldredge
The Flooded Earth: Our Future In a World Without Ice Caps (Basic Books) by Peter D. Ward
The Fossil Hunter (Palgrave Macmillan) by Shelley Emling
Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company) by Mark Hertsgaard
How and Why Species Multiply: The Radiation of Darwin's Finches (Princeton University Press) by Peter R. Grant and B. Rosemary Grant
How to Change Minds About Our Changing Climate (The Experiment) by Seth B. Darling and Douglas L. Sisterson
How We Do It: The Evolution and Future of Human Reproduction (Basic Books) by Robert Martin
In the Light of Evolution: Essays from the Laboratory and Field (Roberts & Company Publishers) edited by Jonathan B. Losos
Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution (W.W. Norton) by Nick Lane
Life's Ratchet: How molecular machines extract order (Basic Books) by Peter M. Hoffmann
Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land (Palgrave Macmillan) by James McClintock
The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy (Columbia University Press) by Michael E. Mann and Tom Toles
Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins (Palgrave Macmillan) by Ian Tattersall
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (Bloomsbury Press) by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway
The Missing Link: An Inquiry Approach for Teaching All Students About Evolution (Heinemann) by Lee Meadows
The Monkey's Voyage: How Improbable Journeys Shaped the History of Life (Basic Books) by Alan de Queiroz
My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) by Brian Switek
Nature's Compass: The Mystery of Animal Navigation (Princeton University Press) by James L. Gould and Carol Grant Gould
New Trends in Earth-Science Outreach and Engagement (Springer) by Minda Berbeco and Mark McCaffrey
Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk (University Of Chicago Press) by Massimo Pigliucci
Once We All Had Gills (Indiana University Press) by Rudolf A. Raff
The Origin Then and Now: An Interpretive Guide to the Origin of Species (Princeton University Press) by David N. Reznick
Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live (W.W. Norton) by Marlene Zuk
Paleoclimate (Princeton University Press) by Michael L. Bender
Principles of Life (Sinauer Associates) by Hillis, Sadava, Heller, and Price
Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten Our Future (Indiana University Press) by Donald Prothero
Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact (McFarland) by Hunt Janin and Scott A. Mandia
The Rocks Don't Lie (W.W. Norton) by David R. Montgomery
The Rough Guide to Climate Change (Rough Guides Ltd.) by Robert Henson Richard Conniff
Shaping Humanity: How Science, Art, and Imagination Help Us Understand Our Origins (Yale University Press) by John Gurche
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Henry Holt) by Elizabeth Kolbert
The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth (W. W. Norton) by Richard Conniff
Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating (Yale University Press) by Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L. Craig
Stones & Bones (Polebridge Press Norton) by Char Matejovsky and Robaire Ream
Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion (Basic Books) by Edward J. Larson
The Tangled Bank (Roberts and Company) by Carl Zimmer
The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution, Second Edition (Roberts and Company) by Carl Zimmer
The Thinking Person's Guide to Climate Change (American Meteorological Society) by Robert Henson
The Third Horseman: A Story of Weather, War, and the Famine History Forgot (Penguin Books) by William Rosen
Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology (Oxford University Press) by Stephen H. Jenkins
Waking the Giant (Oxford University Press) by Bill McGuire
Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place In Nature (Bellevue Literary Press) by Brian Switek
CONTACT: Robert Luhn, Director of Communications, NCSE, 510-601-7203, luhn@ncse.com
Web site: www.ncse.com
The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit, membership organization that defends and promotes the teaching of evolution in the public schools. The NCSE provides information and resources to schools, parents, and concerned citizens working to keep evolution in public school science education. We educate the press and public about the scientific, educational, and legal aspects of the creation and evolution controversy, and supply needed information and advice to defend good science education at local, state, and national levels. Our 4000 members are scientists, teachers, clergy, and citizens with diverse religious affiliations.