Books to enrich myself in biology

[Dory]

I have my textbook, but I want peripheral knowledge. What books would you guys recommend other than the obvious Dawkins?

[Berthold]

You mean, general biology with an emphasis on the evolutionary context?

Authors that I enjoyed are Stephen Jay Gould, Carl Zimmer, Matt Ridley, Mark Ridley, and then some...

[hackenslash]

Language of the Genes by Steve Jones is excellent, if a bit dated now (I have been hoping that he does a new edition). He does get a bit hung up on snails, but it's very good.

[Animavore]

Evolution: What The Fossils Say and Why It Matters by Donald Prothero.

[Dory]

Genes and evolution (lump up ecology as well) are actually the less interesting part of biology to me, though interesting nonetheless. What I really like is physiology, biochemistry and cell functions. Physiology especially.

Genes and evolution sorta gets boring after a while....yes, genes, natural selection, alleles, crossing-over, recessive, homosexual-zygotes...but I think I'll just enrich myself with my new

Bresser LCD!

[SevenOfNine]

In no particular order, some of my favourites

Anything [non-technical] by George C. Williams, or W.D. Hamilton. J.B.S Haldane's "The Causes Of Evolution"
Books by Sean Carroll, especially "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" [Unfortunately out of print until 2011, but you may find it in a library]
Neil Shubin's "Your Inner Fish"
Books by Matt Ridley, especially "Genome" and "The Red Queen"
Jerry Coyne's "Why Evolution Is True"
Stephen Rose "The Chemistry Of Life"
Daniel C. Dennett's "Darwin's Dangerous Idea"
Carl Zimmer: "Parasite Rex" and "Evolution"
Nick Lane "Life Ascending" & "Oxygen"
Grant & Grant "How & Why Species Evolve"
Frank Ryan "Virolution"
E. O. Wilson "The Diversity Of Life"
Mayr, E. "What Evolution Is"
DeDuve, C. "Vital Dust"
Almost anything by Stephen Jay Gould
Jarad Diamond "The Rise & Fall of the 3rd. Chimpanzee"
Conway Morris "Life's Solution"
Anything by Charles Darwin. [But a bit outdated in parts, of course]
There are some more good popular books, but that should get you started.

If you want refs for more technical books/textbooks on biology, let me know.

[Dory]

The chemistry of life seems interesting...I think I'll stick to my textbooks though in second thought.

[SevenOfNine]

The chemistry of life seems interesting...I think I'll stick to my textbooks though in second thought.

Could you give us a better idea of what type of stuff you are interested in? Biochem? OOL? Wat?

[Jay G]

How about the Bible? That has loads of accurate scientific information in it.

[SevenOfNine]

How about the Bible? That has loads of accurate scientific information in it.

Oh. Yeh! How could I forget ? There is a complete periodic table, lucid and accurate descriptions of quantum mechanics, particle physics, relativity, advanced evolutionary mathematics that puts Fisher, Wright, Haldane Rice and many other to shame. In fact, the bible is chock full [page after page] of advanced mathematical models...how could I have missed all that?

[Dory]

The chemistry of life seems interesting...I think I'll stick to my textbooks though in second thought.

Could you give us a better idea of what type of stuff you are interested in? Biochem? OOL? Wat?

Not 100% sure. "General biology" as of right now...really general. Everything.

[Jay G]

How about the Bible? That has loads of accurate scientific information in it.

Oh. Yeh! How could I forget ? There is a complete periodic table, lucid and accurate descriptions of quantum mechanics, particle physics, relativity, advanced evolutionary mathematics that puts Fisher, Wright, Haldane Rice and many other to shame. In fact, the bible is chock full [page after page] of advanced mathematical models...how could I have missed all that?

You probably haven't read it in the original Hebrew/Aramaic. Like all Godless Atheist Bible critics who obviously can't read Hebrew because if they could they would see plainly that the Bible is the Word of God.

[GenesForLife]

You got yourself that microscope? I'm very envious, I only have a bog standard compound microscope.

[SevenOfNine]

The chemistry of life seems interesting...I think I'll stick to my textbooks though in second thought.

Could you give us a better idea of what type of stuff you are interested in? Biochem? OOL? Wat?

Not 100% sure. "General biology" as of right now...really general. Everything.

Well, how about plants? A lot of folks forget about plants, but they have their own fascinations....

Cool Microscope, by the way, I am a little jealous...

[GenesForLife]

These are all textbooks, but are good for general biology.

Biology by Mitchell Reece and Campbell, Fifth Edition
Biological Science, Scott Freeman
Biological Science , Soper et al.
Basic Biotechnology is rather interesting.
If you're looking for Undergrad levels of understanding with respect to specific areas, you may want to try the Instant Notes series
which consists of no-frills texts establishing a solid foundation for further study.

One you shouldn't miss is Alberts' Molecular Biology of the Cell V