New Biologist?

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by MVP, May 5, 2004.

  1. MVP Registered Member

    Messages:
    2
    Hi! My name is Greg and I'm a junoir in High School. In my quest to find a college, and a career for that matter, I remembered I really liked biology my 10th grade year.. my Average was only a 92 (My test average was way up, my homework suffered though, I also had a 96% on the final). So I started reading some books, and I got more interested in it quickly. So I decided, Biology is right for me. I signed up for AP Biology for my senior year, and I'm already studying for the AP tests (not even done my Junior year yet).

    So I want to learn more about the science, particularly evolution and genetics. What are some good books to pick up? What kind of career is Biology? Who employs you? Salary? Any tips would be great!

    Books I'm reading/read/planning to read(already own)

    Genome - Matt Ridley
    The Red Queen - Matt Ridley
    Nature Via Nurture - Matt Ridley
    The Blind Watchmaker - Charles Dawkins
    Molecular and Cell Biology - Schaum
    Instant Biology - Boyce Rensberger
    Biology - STG
    Princeton Review (AP Biology)
    CliffsAP (AP Biology)
     
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  3. blankc Your superior Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    300
    I might as well use you thread since our answers would be similar;
    I was forced to drop out of high school before graduation for financial reasons, but now(at age 20) that I have drastically improved my financial straights(I pretty much won't need to worry about finances for awhile) I can resume my planned career path. Don't worry about me having trouble getting into University not having a high school diploma, I've already got that setup. So since I've been out of school for over 2 years, does anyone have suggestions of what I should brush up on for first year biology(planning on going for cellular genetics etc)? I planned on just reading a couple dozen books from the local library that looked usefull. And please, I don't need biggoted people saying how a highschool dropout isn't smart enough to do that type of thing, I've made more money than you probably could starting from broke, in 2 years, and all with my brain, and I was always a 90's student in highschool, and have always been good with biology. So, any good tips, book/website suggestions?
     
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  5. paulsamuel Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    882
    Well, congratulations.

    The Blind Watchmaker is by Richard Dawkins.

    Without knowing you it's difficult to know what to reccommend;

    if you're advanced, the absolute best are;

    The Growth of Biological Thought by Ernst Mayr; and,

    The Structure of Evolutionary Thought by Stephen J. Gould

    if you're an advance beginner;

    Evolutionary Biology by Douglas Futuyma; and,

    An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology by J.R.Krebs and N.B.Davies, which is an extremely fun book, and

    Evolutionary Genetics by John Maynard Smith
     
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  7. eddymrsci Beware of the dark side Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    584
    Hey, I am a junior in High School too, and I am very interested in biology, especially genetics. I have read several books on this subject, and I recommend these:
    DNA: The Secret of Life - James Watson (yes that's the guy who discovered DNA)
    Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea - Carl Zimmer

    Those are pretty big books, took me a long time to finish them.
     
  8. My Sexy Blue Feet Out sunbaking, leave a msg... Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    606
    "From Gaia to selfish genes" i can't remember who wrote it, but it is quite good. Not just facts but perseptions as well.

    For the guy who's just going back into studying, most of the stuff you'll relearn. I'm at 2nd year now, and i found most of the stuff i needed to know was more common sense rather than anything else. Campbel and Reece "Biology" is a normal textbook we learn from, but just pick any biology textbook up, they have almost the exact data in them
     

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