Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
by Robert M. Sapolsky (Penguin, 2017); audiobook read by Michael Goldstrom (Penguin Audio, 2018)
A monumental but very readable explication of the many biological factors (from immediate brain chemistry right back to evolutionary development) that determine human behaviour at both an individual and a societal level. Self-aware and with a focus on achieving betterment through understanding.
The Blind Watchmaker
by Richard Dawkins (Norton, 1986); audiobook read by Richard Dawkins & Lalla Ward (Bolinda, 2014)
In this measured (pre-confrontational) treatise on evolution, biologist Richard Dawkins cites numerous real-world examples and constructs thoughtful analogies to make accessible a topic of vast complexity. Sections of the audiobook are read alternately by Dawkins and Lalla Ward, which invigorates the text.
The Fox Busters
by Dick King-Smith (1978)
Endemic to an era when it was de rigueur for children’s authors themselves to be literate, this story remains a high-spirited classic: skills honed by natural selection, farmyard fowls fight to outwit then turn the tables on the foxes who hunt them.