My training is in engineering/programming, and my genetics knowledge doesn't much exceed anything taught at the high school level. I am, however, prepared to read college-level textbooks on the subject.
We read this in med school, a bit too wordy for my taste but easy to understand.
I am very interested in how evolution started [...] How did evolution work in the beginning?
Nobody knows for sure. The primordial soup is just an educated guess based on the fact that complex molecules had to arise from simpler ones. This paper focuses on the evolution of multicellularity and briefly references other necessary milestones in early evolution.
I'll make this short and sweet.
I've been reading Dawkin's The Selfish Gene, and it's been really helpful filling in some of the gaps I have in my understanding of how evolution actually works.
The last biology class I took was in high school, and I don't think the mechanics of evolution is covered particularly well in American high schools.
I'm looking for recommendations - has anyone read any books that accurately describe the process of evolution for someone without specialized knowledge of biology? I've already checked LessWrong's recommended textbooks, and while it recommends some books on evolutionary psychology and on animal behavior from an evolutionary perspective, it doesn't appear to have anything that describes evolution itself in sufficient detail to model it.
I'm toying with the idea of trying to program an evolution simulator, and so I need a fairly detailed, accessible account.
Thanks for the help!