Is anyone going to read this book?

There's Icons and Evolution, and then there's Icons of Evolution. The first one I (unfortunately) became acquainted with shortly after my interest in evolution was sparked and the second was just released this past December (although I knew nothing about it until Greg mentioned it), but I doubt that the newer book is going to have any lasting effect. Outside of it seeming like a collection of more technical essays, the sticker price on the 2-volume set is $175.00 (the cheapest copy on amazon.com being $145.00), and I know I wouldn't pay that much money for a book that contains information that probably already exists in various sources in my library. I doubt that the refutation of Wells' horrifying screed is going to be popular with anyone else, either, and it will likely slide into obscurity. Why bother to produce such a book at all? Couldn't the authors have done something similar in a more accessible format?

Over the past few years many, many books have been written about creationism and evolution, but many of the ones I have had time to read haven't been very good. Outside of generally being repetitive (and some waffling on the topic by trying to maintain a journalistic illusion of "objectivity" as in Where Darwin Meets the Bible), the books are typically pretty stale, and even though I'm glad a number of scientists want to speak out against creationism I have to wonder who is really reading the books. I know I do and some of you do, but are the people who really should be learning more about this topic (creationists and people who don't know very much about evolution) picking up these books?

There are many "popular science" books, but I don't know how many popular books about science there have been in recent years. They almost exist as a kind of specialist literature for people already interested. I know I was drawn in by questions I had about evolution and have a seemingly unquenchable thirst to learn more, but other people would much rather read one book or two and move on to other things. That's what makes it so difficult to recommend books to friends who want to know more about evolution; it's very difficult to think of any one book that I think would accurately and entertainingly explain why the topic is so important. I can't load them down with a stack of my books, a bottle of Tylenol, and a list of things to ignore in some books but embrace in others, and this frustration is at least partially a driving force behind why I want to write my own book on this topic.

Presently there are many people who write about evolution, and I would almost say that there's too many. With so many voices and titles, so many people with prestigious sounding titles and appointments explained on the back flaps of books, it can be difficult to decide who to listen to for the uninitiated. I knew I had this problem when I started and decided that I would have to read as much as I could get my hands on from a variety of perspectives (and I'm still at it), but not everyone can make similar resolutions. There will never be a perfect book about evolution, something that everyone agrees is the book to pass around to help people understand the issue, but right now the overall situation as far as books go seems to be more of a muddle. Perhaps next year, being the bicentennial of Darwin's birth, there will be some better releases and more public attention drawn to the topic, but for all that's been written about evolution I have to wonder how much of it is never read and left to rot on the shelves.