--- title: Evolution description: Evolution is the study of how populations of organisms change over generations through mechanisms like natural selection. Learners will understand the genetic basis of adaptation, speciation, and the shared evolutionary history of all life on Earth. category: sciences subcategory: biology difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/evolution --- # Evolution Evolution is the study of how populations of organisms change over generations through mechanisms like natural selection. Learners will understand the genetic basis of adaptation, speciation, and the shared evolutionary history of all life on Earth. ## Available Resources 7 Books • 2 Courses • 2 Websites ## Books ### 1. Vertebrate Palaeontology (5th Edition) **Author:** Michael J. Benton Standard vertebrate palaeontology textbook tracing early fish through mammals across 500 million years, with chapters on key transitions such as terrestrialization, flight, and endothermy, plus mass extinctions, phylogenetic methods, and macroevolutionary analysis. Fifth edition, 688 pages. The canonical reference for the vertebrate half of the field, and the natural next step after Prothero for anyone going deeper into tetrapod evolution. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1394195087?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** vertebrate-paleontology, tetrapods, phylogenetics, evolution, textbook ### 2. Bringing Fossils to Life: An Introduction to Paleobiology (3rd Edition) **Author:** Donald R. Prothero University-level paleobiology textbook treating taphonomy, functional morphology, systematics, speciation, extinction, and quantitative methods, then working through the fossil record of the major invertebrate phyla, land plants, and vertebrates. Third edition, 672 pages, heavily illustrated. The best single-volume anchor for paleontology as a discipline rather than dinosaurs specifically — one of the few texts covering both paleobiological theory and systematic treatment of invertebrates, which is where most of the actual fossil record lives. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0231158939?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** paleobiology, taphonomy, invertebrate-fossils, systematics, textbook ### 3. On the Origin of Species **Author:** Charles Darwin Darwin's 1859 argument that species change through descent with modification under natural selection, built from breeding, biogeography, and fossil evidence. Darwin Online hosts the full text of all six editions alongside his other published works and manuscripts. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://darwin-online.org.uk/ **Tags:** book, health-medicine, medical-sciences ### 4. The Selfish Gene **Author:** Richard Dawkins Argues that natural selection is best understood as acting on genes rather than individuals or groups, with organisms as vehicles built to propagate them. Introduces the meme, and explains altruism, kin selection and evolutionarily stable strategies through game theory. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/Selfish-Gene-Anniversary-Landmark-Paperback/dp/0198788606?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** book, health-medicine, medical-sciences ### 5. Why Evolution Is True **Author:** Jerry Coyne Marshals evidence for evolution by natural selection — the fossil record, vestigial structures, biogeography, embryology and direct observation of speciation — aimed at general readers, and rebuts common creationist and intelligent-design objections chapter by chapter. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199230846?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, science-research, biology ### 6. The Blind Watchmaker **Author:** Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins explains how natural selection can produce the appearance of design in living things without a conscious designer, using the analogy of a blind watchmaker. Covers cumulative selection, evolvability, and rebuttals to intelligent-design arguments. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140144811?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, science-research, biology ### 7. The Dialectical Biologist **Author:** Richard Levins, Richard Lewontin Essay collection by two Harvard biologists arguing, from a Marxist dialectical standpoint, that organisms and environments, parts and wholes, co-determine each other. Chapters critique reductionism, adaptationism and sociobiology, and examine how politics shapes science, giving readers a framework for questioning gene-centered explanations of evolution. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/8189833774?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** philosophy-of-biology, dialectics, reductionism, adaptationism, evolutionary-theory, science-and-politics ## Youtubes ### 1. PBS Eons **Author:** PBS Eons PBS series on the history of life across deep time, from Cambrian animals to hominin origins. Each episode reconstructs extinct organisms and vanished ecosystems from fossil and geological evidence, explaining how researchers arrived at the interpretation. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzR-rom72PHN9Zg7RML9EbA **Tags:** youtube, health-medicine, medical-sciences ## Courses ### 1. Introduction to Genetics and Evolution Introduction to Genetics and Evolution is a college-level class being offered simultaneously to new students at Duke University. The course gives interested people a very basic overview of some principles behind these very fundamental areas of biology. We often hear about new "genome sequences," commercial kits that can tell you about your ancestry (including pre-human) from your DNA or disease predispositions, debates about the truth of evolution, why animals behave the way they do, and how people found "genetic evidence for natural selection." This course provides the basic biology you need to understand all of these issues better, tries to clarify some misconceptions, and tries to prepare students for future, more advanced coursework in Biology (and especially evolutionary genetics). No prior coursework is assumed. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/genetics-evolution **Tags:** courses, health-medicine, medical-sciences ### 2. Evolution A Leiden University and Naturalis Biodiversity Center course covering natural selection, genetic variation, and levels of selection. Learners analyze evolutionary constraints and human-driven evolutionary change, applying evolutionary thinking to real-world cases in medicine, agriculture, and biodiversity. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/evolution-today **Tags:** courses, science-research, biology ## Websites ### 1. evolution.berkeley.edu Understanding Evolution is a free, educator-friendly resource from UC Berkeley that explains how evolution works and the evidence supporting it. It features accessible articles, interactive activities, and classroom-ready materials on topics like natural selection, fossils and genetics, speciation, and human evolution. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://evolution.berkeley.edu **Tags:** websites, science-research, biology ### 2. talkorigins.org TalkOrigins.org is a comprehensive resource about evolution and the origins of life, featuring FAQs, essays, and rebuttals to common creationist claims with extensive references. It covers topics from evolution and the fossil record to dating methods and cosmology. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://talkorigins.org **Tags:** websites, science-research, biology --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/evolution