The phenomenon of the emergence of life is something that as human beings arouses interest in us, whether to understand what surrounds us or to know how our own body works.
In fact, if we think and act as we do, it is because our organism has emerged through a biological process: evolution. Our psychological dimension can also be studied from the point of view of biology. This selection of biology books may be useful for those people interested in delving deeper into the science that studies life.
Biology is a science as complex as life itself, which is why it branches into a multitude of disciplines to get the most out of the subject. In fact, some of these branches have strengthened strong ties with other sciences that have ended up generating other already independent disciplines, such as biochemistry or paleoanthropology.
One of the ways to increase our knowledge independently is by reading texts that expand our knowledge on the various topics related to this broad science. Here I present a selection of manuals, books and popular texts with which we can cover different topics of interest in modern biology without needing to have extensive prior knowledge. And all of them are biology books in Spanish
1. Biology for Dummies (René Fester Kratz and Donna Rae Siegfried)
The book “Biology for Dummies” It is ideal for an introduction to biology in a general way, with a clear, easy and well-organized text so that any reader understands the fundamentals of life science. Ideal if you are not looking for anything specific on the subject.
2. The cell (Geoffrey M. Cooper and Robert E. Haussman)
This biology book is for many the manual par excellence to fully immerse themselves in knowledge about the unit of life, that is, the cell. It is characterized by the use of simple and clear language and by being supported by a multitude of graphics and drawings that facilitate the understanding of the explanations. With each edition it is nourished by new advances in the field of cellular and molecular biology, disciplines that are rapidly expanding.
3. Genome: The autobiography of a species in 23 chapters (Matt Ridley)
Matt Ridley’s work is a good way to get into the fundamentals of genetics in aspects such as inheritance or DNA replication, since it is presented with pleasant language and from the point of view of a journalist, who investigates and corroborates the information with real experiments carried out, in order to obtain conclusions to help understand terms that They are difficult to understand on their own. That it contains 23 chapters is no coincidence, since it represents the 23 chromosomes that human beings have in their genetic code.
4. The chosen species: the long march of human evolution (Juan Luis Arsuaga and Ignacio Martínez)
Human evolution is a thorny, complicated and complex topic. But this book on evolutionary biology is written in such a way that it makes the subject seem very simple. A very well-known text that is already a few years old, although it is so well written that it has become a popular classic. The reading is enjoyable and easy to understand without giving up all the rigor expected from two renowned researchers on the subject, who have been working in Atapuerca for so many years.
5. The selfish gene (Richard Dawkins)
What are we? Where we come from? Where are we going? We have asked ourselves these questions more than once, and zoologist Richard Dawkins gives us his answer with this book that presents evolution from a different point of view: focusing on behavior. With this work, Dawkins offers us the biological basis of animal and human behavior, and how evolution has been partly to blame for its development.
6. Introduction to botany (Murray W. Nabors)
Murray W. Nabors is an American botanist who also teaches biology and who He looked for a way to transmit his knowledge of the plant kingdom And this is how Introduction to Botany was born, a very didactic biology book about this branch of life science, mainly focused on higher plants; that is, in herbs, bushes and trees.
If in the previous biology book we talked about botany at a taxonomic level, “Plant Physiology” focuses on how the different tissues that make up plants are structured A didactic text, with a multitude of illustrations so as not to lose detail of the knowledge that your reading wants to convey.
If you are interested in this reading, here you can learn more about this book.
8. Comprehensive Principles of Zoology (Cleveland P. Hickman Jr., Larry S. Roberts, Allan Larson, Helen I’Anson and David J. Eisenhour)
This manual presents the basic knowledge of the discipline called zoology He talks about both the biology of invertebrates and vertebrates in general terms, with an understandable and didactic language for understanding the principles of the study of the animal kingdom.
It is available at this link.
9. Principles of animal physiology (Christopher D. Moyes and Patricia M. Schulte)
Zoology does not explain everything about animals, as happens with botany, since it is accompanied by animal physiology This biology book by Moyes presents in a didactic way the basic principles to understand the study of the structure of different animals and the vital processes that keep them alive and adapted to their environment.
You can consult more information about this work here.
10. Your inner fish: 3.5 billion years of history of the human body (Neil Shubin)
This work tries to explain to us in an easy way how our body has become what we know today through 3.5 billion years of evolution. To do this, the author makes an anatomical comparison with other species of living beings. This biology book was born from the discovery made by the author of the text with his team of the fossil Tiktaalik roseae, a fish with limbs, which marked the discovery of the form of life that helps us understand the passage from the sea to the land of ours. ancestors.
You can get it here.
11. Microbiology (Lansing M. Prescott, John P. Harley, Donald A. Klein)
Microbiology is an excellent manual to fully introduce us to the world of microorganisms A work that is recommended for both biology and medicine, since it not only deals with the structure, functioning and classification of bacteria and so on, but also deals with diseases caused by them when they act as parasites.
In this link you have more information about it.
12. Viruses and pandemic (Ignacio López-Goñi)
Viruses have always been present in human history. The author of this book presents to us in an informative, simple and illustrative way what a virus is, its transmission mechanisms and its existence within cells. In addition, he also addresses a topic related to viruses: pandemics.
Here is more information about the book.
13. Ecology. Individuals, populations and communities (Michael Begon, John L. Harper, Colin R. Townsend)
The environment is an issue of great importance, and even more so in recent times Although ecology is a fairly complicated science, Begon and company set the goal of writing a biology book that would present the study of the environment to curious people and novices in the subject.
You will find the book in Spanish here.
14. Lehninger. Principles of Biochemistry (David L. Nelson, Michael M. Cox)
The biochemist Albert L. Lehninger wrote this work for the first time in 1970, creating an introductory manual to the discipline of which he was a participant, biochemistry. This is the science that studies the chemistry within living beings, such as in the analysis of proteins and their functioning. It was so well presented and had such understandable and educational content that it continues to be updated today with the latest discoveries, even though its original author is no longer a participant in the new content.
If you are interested in it, this link will help you learn more about the work.
15. How does the brain work? (Francisco Mora)
Francisco Mora, professor in human physiology at the Faculty of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid, presents us with easy and enjoyable language the complicated world around the study of the brain Although it is not strictly a biology book, it does address a closely related topic: neuroscience. The nervous system is a topic of interest for biologists, in addition to being a fundamental part of the life of the most complex organisms.
You can find it here.
16. Evolution: the greatest show on Earth (Richard Dawkins)
In this book, the famous popularizer Richard Dawkins talks about how biological evolution works with a feeling of fascination that is contagious.
To learn more about the book, click here.
17. Junk DNA (Nessa Carey)
A good book to understand the functioning of DNA, the “architectural plan” of living beings that is inside our cells, no matter how different their functions may be.
If you want to read more about this work, access this link.
18. The Ghosts of Evolution (Connie Barlow)
A very interesting book about oddities of nature that seem to have remained anchored in the past millions of years ago and that still survive today. This is a tour of species that appeared a long time ago and that speak to us of remote times.
If you are interested, you will find more information about the book here.
19. Beyond biofatalism (Gilliam Barker)
This book raises a cross between biology and philosophy on a fascinating topic: do our genes predestine us to create societies that are not very inclusive and based on the satisfaction of our individual needs?
You can learn more about him here.
20. Birds, field guide (Àngels Julivert)
An excellent book to start learning about the fascinating world of birds, very useful to begin to recognize them in flight and distinguish the characteristic attributes of the most common and well-known species.
