Subject Knowledge: Great books for biology teachers

There is only one short cut to improving subject knowledge—reading great books. In this post I compile a selection of the books that have really helped me develop as a biology teacher. Lists are never perfect, but these books helped me see things, and/or provided the concrete examples I needed to be a better teacher. I have specifically chosen more accessibly-written books (good narrative & level not too high)—avoiding more academic books or papers. As such, it isn't a complete list of my favourites, and I'm sure there are many great books I'm yet to read.

Great Books

Human ecophysiology & evolution

• On Fertile Ground: A Natural History of Human Reproduction

• A Story of Us: A New Look at Human Evolution

• I, Mammal: The Story of What Makes Us Mammals

Evolution

• How Birds Evolve: What Science Reveals about Their Origin, Lives, and Diversity

• Improbable Destinies: How predictable is evolution?

• Arrival of the Fittest: Solving Evolution's Greatest Puzzle

• The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life

Ecology

• Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction

• Spillover: the powerful, prescient book that predicted the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic

• Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter

• Rebirding: Rewilding Britain and its Birds

• Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures

• Lives of Weeds: Opportunism, Resistance, Folly

• The Story of N: A Social History of the Nitrogen Cycle and the Challenge of Sustainability

Biochemistry

• The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life

• Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life

• Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World

• Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death (good if you teach Krebs cycle 16-18)

Botany

• The Life of a Leaf

• The Emerald Planet: How Plants Changed Earth's History

• The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World

• Woodlands

• Lives of Weeds: Opportunism, Resistance, Folly

Genetics & Inheritance

• Superior: The Return of Race Science

• She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity

Systems theory

• The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future

• Runaway: Gregory Bateson, the Double Bind, and the Rise of Ecological Consciousness

Consciousness, cognition, intelligence

• Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

• Planta Sapiens: Unmasking Plant Intelligence

History of Biology

• The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth

• The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science

Marine biology & Fisheries

• The Unnatural History of the Sea

More academically written texts

Systems theory

• Thinking in Systems

• The Systems View of Life: A unifying vision

• Introduction to Systems Theory

• Cybernetics for the Social Sciences

• Principles of Systems Science

Biology (based on systems theories)

• Gaian Systems: Lynn Margulis, Neocybernetics, and the End of the Anthropocene

• Evolution from a Thermodynamic Perspective: Implications for Species Conservation and Agricultural Sustainability

If you're interested in how I teach, check out my book. Download chapter 1 here—English edition, edición española—or check out my other posts.

Christian Moore-Anderson

@CMooreAnderson (twitter)