Dr. Reichler's Spring 2010 Bio 311D Bonus #2  due in class on W 5/5

This assignment is optional and can be worth a maximum of 1 point added to your final course grade.

Please choose a book from the list below.  Read the book. 
After reading the book, write a four page or less essay about your impressions of the book.  DO NOT SUMMARIZE THE BOOK.  Tell me what you thought.  Some themes you might consider could be:  Was it good or bad?  Did you agree or disagree with it?  What did you feel when reading the book?  These are only some suggestions, and you can write whatever you like about the book as long as your essay is NOT SIMPLY A SUMMARY OF THE BOOK.  This is a fairly free-form assignment... make it what you want it to be.  I am looking for commentary, opinion or analysis; but support your ideas with information from the book and/or other sources.  The only real limit is that your report should be no longer than 4 typed/word-processed pages.  Based on your paper, you can receive up to 1 point added to your final course grade.  The typed/word-processed paper is due May 5, 2010 at the beginning of class.  If you have any questions about this, don't hesitate to ask.
(The most common error students make on this assignment is writing a paper that is a summary of the book.  Don't do that.)

Book Title Author
Any book by Edward Abbey Abbey, Edward
A natural history of the senses Ackerman, Diane
An alchemy of mind: the marvel and mystery of the brain Ackerman, Diane
Cultivating delight: a natural history of my garden Ackerman, Diane
The moon by whale light: and other adventures among bats, penguins, crocodilians, and whales Ackerman, Diane
The rarest of the rare: vanishing animals, timeless worlds Ackerman, Diane
A natural history of love Ackerman, Diane,
Last chance to see Adams, Douglas
The electric meme: a new theory of how we think Aunger, Robert
The myth of monogamy Barash and Lipton
The meme machine Blackmore, Susan
The biology of civilisation: understanding human culture as a force in nature Boyden, Stephen V.
Virus of the mind: the new science of the meme Brodie, Richard
Outgrowing the earth: the food security challenge in the age of falling water tables and rising temperatures Brown, Lester R.
A brain for all seasons: human evolution and abrupt climate change Calvin, William H.
Diet for a dead planet: how the food industry is killing us Cook, Christopher D.
Andromeda strain Crichton, Michael
Climbing mount improbable Dawkins, Richard
River out of eden: a Darwinian view of life Dawkins, Richard
The blind watchmaker: why the evidence of evolution reveals a universe without design Dawkins, Richard
The extended phenotype: the long reach of the gene Dawkins, Richard
The selfish gene Dawkins, Richard
Why we do it: rethinking sex and the selfish gene Eldredge, Niles
Middlesex   
Eugenides, Jeffery
Why we love: the nature and chemistry of romantic love Fisher, Helen E
Confessions of an eco-warrior Foreman, Dave
Race, racism, and science: social impact and interaction Jackson, John P
Emergence: the connected lives of ants, brains, cities, and software Johnson, Steven
Mind wide open: your brain and the neuroscience of everyday life Johnson, Steven
Everything bad is good for you: how today's popular culture is actually making us smarter Johnson, Steven
Apprentice to genius: the making of a scientific dynasty Kanigel, Robert
A feeling for the organism: the life and work of Barbara McClintock Keller, Evelyn Fox
The cave bear story: life and death of a vanished animal   
Kurtén, Björn
The origin of minds: evolution, uniqueness, and the new science of the self La Cerra, Peggy
Dinner at the new gene cafe: how genetic engineering is changing what we eat, how we live, and the global politics of food Lambrecht, Bill
The periodic table Levi, Primo
Rosalind Franklin: the dark lady of DNA Maddox, Brenda
Microcosmos: four billion years of evolution from our microbial ancestors Margulis, Lynn
What it means to be 98% chimpanzee: apes, people, and their genes Marks, Jonathan
Mendel's dwarf Mawer, Simon
Pandora's picnic basket: the potential and hazards of genetically modified foods McHughen, Alan
Survival of the sickest
Moalem, Sharon
The polymerase chain reaction Mullis, Kary
Dancing naked in the mind field Mullis, Kary
Eat your genes: how genetically modified food is entering our diet Nottingham, Stephen
Genescapes: the ecology of genetic engineering Nottingham, Stephen
Grizzly years Peacock, Doug
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance Pirsig, Robert
The wild trees
Preston, Richard
Food, inc.: Mendel to Monsanto-the promises and perils of the biotech harvest Pringle, Peter
Ishmael Quinn, Daniel
Making PCR : a story of biotechnology Rabinow, Paul
Not by genes alone: how culture transformed human evolution Richerson, Peter J.
Genome: autobiography of a species in 23 chapters Ridley, Matt
Nature via nurture: genes, experience, and what makes us human Ridley, Matt
Origin of virtue Ridley, Matt
Red queen Ridley, Matt
Hominids   
Sawyer, J.
Sex, time, and power: how women's sexuality shaped human evolution Shlain, Leonard
Adam's curse: a future without men Sykes, Bryan
The seven daughters of eve Sykes, Bryan
The double helix Watson, James
Nature wars: people vs. pests Winston, Mark L
Travels in the genetically modified zone Winston, Mark L.
Rattling the cage: toward legal rights for animals Wise, Steven M.
The moral animal: evolutionary psychology and everyday life Wright, Robert

(If you would like to use a book not listed, check with Stuart)

Most of these titles are available from the UT library.