Honors Biology
Summer Reading- due by the last day of September
Honors Biology Summer Reading
Choose one of the following books to read:
Genetics
 The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
 Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley
 Rosalind Franklin and DNA by Anne Sayre
 The Panda’s Thumb or any book by Stephen Jay Gould
 Chance in the house of fate : a natural history of heredity by Jennifer Ackerman
 Living with our genes : why they matter more than you think by D. Hamer and P. Copeland
Viruses and Bacteria
 The Hot Zone by Robert Preston
 Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It
by Gina Bari Kolata
 Black death : AIDS in Africa by Susan S. Hunter
 Scourge : the once and future threat of smallpox by Jonathan B. Tucker
 Demon in the freezer: a true story (anthrax scare) by Richard Preston
 Germs : biological weapons and America's secret war by J. Miller, S. Engelberg, W. Broad
 The mold in Dr. Florey's coat : the story of the penicillin miracle by Eric Lax
 Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
Evolution
 On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
 The Diversity of Life by Edward O. Wilson
 Biomimicry : innovation inspired by nature by Janine M. Benyus
 Beyond evolution : the genetically altered future of plants, animals, the earth by M. Fox
 Dr. Tatiana's sex advice to all creation by Olivia Judson
 The Beak of the Finch : a story of evolution in our time by Jonathan Weiner
 Traces of an Omnivore by Paul Shepard
Environmental Issues/Extinction
 Cry of the Kalahari by Mark and Delia Owens
 The Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey
 A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
 Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
 Seal Wars: twenty-five years on the front lines with the harp seals by Paul Watson
 Eagle's plume : the struggle to preserve America's bald eagle by Bruce E. Beans
 The Fate of the Elephant by Douglas H. Chadwick
 The Last Panda by George B. Schaller
 To Touch a Wild Dolphin by Rachel Smolker
 The Return of the Wolf : reflections on the future of wolves in the Northeast by Bill McKibben
 Walking with the Great Apes: Jane Goodall, Diane Fossey, Birute Galdikas by Sy Montgomery
 The Sixth Extinction by Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin
 Wild Solutions : how biodiversity is money in the bank by Andrew Beattie and Paul Ehrlich
 Why Big Fierce Animals are Rare by Paul Colinvaux
 Pandora's picnic basket : the potential and hazards of genetically modified foods by A. McHughen
 Nature wars : people vs. pests by Mark L. Winston
 Journey of the Pink Dolphins : an Amazon quest by Sy Montgomery
 Last chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
Potporri
 Corpse : nature, forensics, and the struggle to pinpoint time of death by Jessica Snyder Sachs
 Phantoms in the brain : probing the mysteries of the human mind by V.S. Ramachandran & S. Blakeslee
 The Pig Who Sang to the Moon: the emotional life of farm animals by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
 Rats : observations on the history and habitat of the city's most unwanted inhabitants by R. Sullivan
 Brave New World by Adolph Huxley
 Better by Atul Gawande
 Complications by Atul Gawande
 Stiff by Mary Roach
 Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
 A Brief History of Everything by Bill Bryson
Honors Biology
Summer Reading- due by the last day of September
You will be responsible for submitting a short summary, or “synopsis” for your book, describing the book
you selected. Make sure you compose and complete your own synopsis. Students submitting identical
synopses or portions of synopses will not receive credit.
The synopsis should contain the following five sections. Please separate the sections and label each.
I.
SUMMARY: Describe the entire content of the book. Please be sure this part of your paper is in
your own words! This should include a description of each of the main characters, as well as
highlights describing the basic plot of the book. Minimum of one page single spaced.
II.
QUOTES: Include two exact quotes from the book -- choose sentences that you think were
particularly interesting or makes important points in the book (it does not need to be a quote from
a person—just a direct quote from the book) and explain why you chose it. Please be sure to put
quotation marks around the words of the quote—not doing so is plagiarism! Indicate the page
number on which the quote may be located in parentheses at the end.
III.
QUESTIONS TO ASK THE AUTHOR: List and number at least 5 thought provoking/ deep
questions you would like to ask the author. In general, what are some of the things you wanted to
ask the author when you were done reading the book? Explain why you asked each of the
questions.
IV.
RELATIONSHIP TO TOPICS ON BIOLOGY: Biology is the science that studies how living
organisms are put together and how they function—both as individuals and within the biosphere.
How do you think the information described in the book you read relates to Biology? You must
include 2 or more non-trivial ideas to earn full credit. Provide specific evidence for your answer.
This is one of the sections of your synopsis that I will be looking at most closely for grading
purposes.
V.
OPINION: What did you think? Was it a good book? Was it engaging? Did it provide a balanced
view of the content it was covering? Would you recommend it to other people to read?
VI.
CITATION: Complete a proper works cited (bibliography) for your book.
GRADING RUBRIC
Possible Points
Components of Book Review
Summary- Describes the entire content of the book-- minimum of one page
single spaced.
10
Quotes w/ explanation- using proper format
10
Questions to the Author w/ explanation as to why you asked the question
10
Relationship to Topics on Biology- “Wow me!”- make sure you relate the
content of the book to what you’ve been learning about/ hope to learn about
in class this year.
10
Opinion: What did you think of the book? Minimum ½ page typed
10
Grammar, Punctuation, Organization & Citation
10
GRAND TOTAL
60
Earned Points