On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin. It's pretty dense, dry, and can require a bit of a commitment, but there's some pretty interesting bits and pieces in there aside from just proposing evolution.
I'll second the recommendation of Bryson's A Short History of Everything. The thing I liked most about that book was its depiction of truly exceptional people in the history of science.
Thanks for the recommendations. I've been wary of other books on evolution, even though the subject fascinates me, because I worry that they will be either repeating the same information (even the evolution bits of HTMW seemed repetitive since I read it immediately after TSG), or worse, dissecting creationist arguments. Dennett's book looks like it might be a good complement to TSG though, so I'll check it out.
The Language Instinct is on my list too now. Thanks.
Good article. If you want more, rather than reading Darwin, I suggest Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea, which gives a broader, more modern view of the importance of evolution. Especially of "variation and selection", the core ideas of Darwin, and without a lot of frequently irrelevant, for the general reader, biological details.
It is one of the books that is referenced all of the time over the span of my life. Realized I never thought to actually read it for myself...I recommend checking it off the list.
You recommend Behe's book; I read his earlier book "Darwin's Black Box"a while back. I found it interesting, well-written, and superficially convincing but fundamentally flawed and ultimately a waste of time.
Darwin is far more readable than any of the others you mention.
Possibly Mein Kampf could compete in short passages by a "reading difficulty" score, but it's really tedious and much longer (by a factor of 5!). Darwin could actually write. Origin of Species was intended for the educated public as well as for scientists.
Darwin is fantastic. Not only did he bootstrap the field of evolutionary biology despite his lack of access to modern genetics, but he also wrote about it beautifully. On the Origin of Species is still a great read and a lucid explanation of a difficult subject. He's a great person to strive to emulate.
If you are into this kind of thing I highly recommend 'The Vital Question: Why Is Life The Way It Is' by Nick Lane "In The Vital Question, Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a cogent solution to conundrums that have troubled scientists for decades."
I also like everything written by Stephen C Meyer. As far as I am concerned Meyer is the world's leading historian and philosopher of science.
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