Animal Evolution

New from the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs (“A masterpiece of science writing.” —Washington Post) and “one of the stars of modern paleontology” (National Geographic), a sweeping and revelatory history of mammals, illuminating the lost story of...

"Animal communication doesn’t need to resemble human language to be full of meaning and nuance. Arik Kershenbaum delivers an expert overview of the astonishing discoveries made in the last few decades" —Frans de Waal From leading zoologist Arik Kershenbaum, a delightful and groundbreaking...

Owen gazes at his newest asset—an underground slime habitat. Here, he’ll raise baby forest slimes and harvest goo to be sold at market. It’s one of many new investments. As the farm expands, so do his opportunities. New projects take shape across the valley, villagers eager for help. A new inn. A potion workshop. A woodland fairy habitat. There’s much to do. But a challenge lurks in the shadows. In the ocean. In the mountains. Owen’s final trial grows closer each day. The time has come. Is the creature farm ready?

Darwin developed the theory of sexual selection to explain why the animal world abounds in stunning beauty, from the brilliant colors of butterflies and fishes to the songs of birds and frogs. He argued that animals have "a taste for the beautiful" that drives their potential mates to evolve features that make them more sexually attractive and reproductively successful. But if Darwin explained why sexual beauty evolved in animals, he struggled to understand how.

Are men literally born to cheat? Does monogamy actually serve women's interests? These are among the questions that have made The Moral Animal one of the most provocative science books in recent years. Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics - as well as their implications for our moral codes and public policies.

A FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, SMITHSONIAN, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL A major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the...

As singular and strange as some of the weapons are, we learn that similar factors set their evolution in motion. He looks at everything from our armor and camouflage to the evolution of the rifle and the structures human populations have built across different regions and eras to protect their homes and communities.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WITH OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE A “brilliant [and] entrancing” (The Guardian) journey into the hidden lives of fungi—the great connectors of the living world—and their astonishing and intimate roles in human life, with the power to heal our...

A New York Times’s Notable Book of 2025 An impassioned celebration of humility before the living world that leads us to a new understanding of other species—and ourselves Darwin considered humans one part of the web of life, not the apex of a natural hierarchy. Yet today many maintain that...

Equal parts Sapiens, Behave, and Superintelligence, but wholly original in scope, A Brief History of Intelligence offers a paradigm shift for how we understand neuroscience and AI. Artificial intelligence entrepreneur Max Bennett chronicles the five “breakthroughs” in the evolution of human...

Mary Roach meets Bill Bryson in this uproarious tour of the basest instincts and biggest mysteries of the animal world. "Lucy Cooke unravels myths that will make you laugh out loud. Her knowledge of all things, furry, slimy and scaly is jaw-dropping." —The Sun (UK) Humans have gone to the Moon...

“You'll root for these creatures and their survival. A marvelous narration.”—Booklist “Paleontologist Riley Black’s vivid writing and Wren Mack’s wonderstruck narration make these vignettes of prehistoric life on Earth fascinating listening.”—AudioFile Winner, A Friend of Darwin...

Varian Farm—a place shrouded in mystery. Led by an iron-fisted noble, its fields bear endless fruit. Its animals produce the finest wools, milks, and cheeses. But prosperity comes at a price. Deep beneath the manor house, a secret slumbers. For hundreds of years, it’s sat dormant, controlled by the noble House of Varian. The world is changing though. A recent earthquake has unearthed treasure in the valley. Hidden from view, a chain reaction is underway. The valley is evolving. Life will never be the same.

"HARROWING THRILLS . . . FAST-PACED AND ENGAGING." --People It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park, six years since the extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end--the dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, the island indefinitely closed to...

Longlisted for PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award “A bulletproof case that sexual diversity exists in the natural world…The Sexual Evolution is a thoughtfully and delightfully written book full of illuminating and entertaining information that will be new to most readers. At a...

The Development of an Extraordinary Species We human beings share 98 percent of our genes with chimpanzees. Yet humans are the dominant species on the planet -- having founded civilizations and religions, developed intricate and diverse forms of communication, learned science, built cities, and...

Why do we look the way we do? What does the human hand have in common with the wing of a fly? Are breasts, sweat glands, and scales connected in some way? To better understand the inner workings of our bodies and to trace the origins of many of today’s most common diseases, we have to turn to...

Brought to you by Penguin. 'Wonderful, mind-broadening... a journey to alternative realities as extraordinary as any you'll find in science fiction' - The Times, Book of the Week Humans have three or four colour-detecting cones in their retinas. Mantis shrimp have 16. In fact, their eyes seem to...

The Sunday Times Bestseller A new, fully updated narrative edition of David Attenborough’s seminal biography of our world, The Living Planet. Nowhere on our planet is devoid of life. Plants and animals thrive or survive within every extreme of climate and habitat that it offers. Single species...

“Immersive . . . bracingly ambitious . . . rewinds the story of life on Earth—from the mammoth steppe of the last Ice Age to the dawn of multicellular creatures over 500 million years ago.”—The Economist LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE “One of those rare books that’s...