Seminar in Natural Science (online)

  BGS 391 
 Spring 2010

Required Texts

Ernest Callenbach, Ecology: A Pocket Guide.  
Univ of CA Press, 2008 (paper).  Available at both RU bookstores.

Chicago Wilderness, An Atlas of Biodiversity, 2000.  This free publication is available in digital format (pdf) or print.  A digital copy is also accessible on our 391 Bb site in the Course Documents section. To order a print copy, scroll down to the bottom of this webpage from Chicago Wilderness.

 

The Callenbach book is available from Roosevelt's bookstores at both the Chicago and Robin campuses.  If you live near either campus, you may drop by and pick it up directly.  If you don't live close by, you can

  • Call either store (847.619.8660 RC; 312.341.3592 DT) to have the book shipped directly to your address.

  • Order the book online from a web-based bookseller, such as the Seminary Co-op in Chicago.

In addition to these two texts, our required readings will include many web-based documents and websites, accessible via the Weekly Schedule or the Course Documents section of our Bb site. 

A Selected Natural Science Bibliography

The following books are not required reading.  However, for those of you who are interested in further reading and research, this list is a good starting point.  Some of these books have been used in my classes from past semesters (these authors are highlighted).  

General Science

  • Angier, Natalie.  The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science.  Houghton Mifflin, 2007.

  • Bill Bryson.  A Short History of Nearly Everything.  Broadway Books, 2003.

  • Michael A. Bryson, Visions of the Land:  Science, Literature, and the American Environment from the Era of Exploration to the Age of Ecology.  Univ. Va Press, 2002. 

  • Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World:  Science as a Candle in the Dark.  Ballantine, 1996.

  • Leslie Stevenson and Henry Byerly, eds.  The Many Faces of Science:  An Introduction to Scientists, Values, and Society.  Westview Press, 1995. 

  • Stephen Tchudi, ed.  Science, Values, and the American West.  Nevada Humanities Committee, 1997.

  • Charles Wynn and Arthur Wiggins. The Five Biggest Ideas in Science.  
    John Wiley and Sons, 1997.

  • -----.  The Five Biggest Unsolved Problems in Science.  John Wiley and Sons, 2003.

  • E. O. Wilson, Consilience:  The Unity of Knowledge.  Random House, 1999.

Genetics

  • Maxim Frank-Kamenetskii, Unraveling DNA:  The Most Important Molecule of Life.  Perseus, 1997.

  • Larry Gonick and Mark Wheelis, The Cartoon Guide to Genetics.  HarperPerennial, 1991.

  • Ruth Hubbard and Elijah Wald, Exploding the Gene Myth:  How Genetic Information is Produced and Manipulated by Scientists, Physicians, Employers, Insurance Companies, Educators, and Law Enforcers.  Beacon Press, 1999.

  • Evelyn Fox Keller,  A Feeling for the Organism:  The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock.  W. H. Freeman, 1983.

  • Matt Ridley, Genome:  The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters.  Harper, 2000.

  • James Watson, The Double Helix:  A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA.  Norton Critical Edition.   Norton, 1980.

Evolution

  • Tim Berra.  Evolution and the Myth of Creationism:  A Basic Guide to the Facts in the Evolution Debate.  Stanford Univ. Press, 1990.

  • Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker:  Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design.  Norton, 1996.

  • Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan.  What Is Life?  Univ. of CA Press, 2000.

  • David Quammen, The Song of the Dodo:  Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions.  Touchstone, 1997.

  • Jonathan Weiner, The Beak of the Finch:  A Story of Evolution in Our Time. 
    Vintage Books, 1995.

Ecology / Natural History

  • Daniel Botkin, Discordant Harmonies:  A New Ecology for the 21st Century.  Oxford, 2000.

  • Rachel Carson, Silent Spring.  Houghton Mifflin, 1962.

  • Joel Greenberg, The Natural History of the Chicago Region.  Chicago, 2002.

  • Sandra Steingraber, Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment.   Vintage Books, 1998.

  • E. O. Wilson, The Diversity of Life.  Norton, 1999.

  • E. O. Wilson, The Future of Life.  Borzoi, 2002.

General Biology

  • Anne Fausto-Sterling, Myths of Gender:  Biological Theories about Women and Men.  Basic Books, 1992.

  • Ernst Mayr, This Is Biology:  The Science of the Living World.  Harvard, 1997.

 Mike Bryson
Associate Professor
College of Professional Studies
Roosevelt University

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Last updated 02/05/10