Biology

A Suggested Reading List for A Level Biologists

Magazines, Newspapers and journals

New Scientist

Scientific American

Nature

Science

Biological Sciences Review

British Medical Journal

Any scientific articles in newspapers (eg the Guardian on Wednesday)

Websites

• http://www.ibiblio.org/virtualcell/index.htm – An interactive cell biology site
• http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/VL/GG – A web site showing illustrations of many processes of biotechnology
• http://www.uq.oz.au/nanoworld – Visit the world of electron-microscopy
• http://www.dnai.org/a/index.html – Explore the genetic code
• http://nobelprize.org – Details of the history of the best scientific discoveries
• http://nature.com – The site of the scientific journal
• http://royalsociety.org – Podcasts, news and interviews with scientists about recent scientific developments
• http://www.nhm.ac.uk – The London Natural History Museum’s website with lots of interesting educational material
• http://www.bmj.com – The website of the British Medical Journal
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science_and_environment - The BBC news page for Science and the Environment

Books

Richard Dawkins:

The Selfish Gene

The Blind Watchmaker

Unweaving the Rainbow

Climbing Mount Improbable

The Ancestor’s Tale

Steve Jones:

Y: The Descent of Men

In the Blood: God, Genes and Destiny

Almost Like a Whale: The 'Origin of Species' Updated 

The Language of the genes

Matt Ridley

Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature

The Language of Genes

Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code

Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience and What Makes Us Human 

James Watson:

DNA: The Secret of Life

The Double Helix: Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA

Lewis Thomas:

The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher.
The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher Barry Gibb

Charles Darwin: The origin of species

Armand Marie Leroi: Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body

David S. Goodsell: The Machinery of Life

Ernst Mayr: This Is Biology: The Science of the Living World
 

George C. Williams: Plan and Purpose in Nature

Steve Pinker: The Language Instinct

Edward O Wilson: The Diversity of Life

Primo Levi: The Periodic Table

Richard Leaky: The Origin of Humankind

Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything