Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution by Richard Fortey (Flamingo, £6.99 in UK)

Many dedicated readers wouldn't touch a science book, an aversion learned through repeated exposure to hyped authors who in reality are as engaging as a few hundred pages of the telephone book. But there among the wasteland is this treasure with writing so entertaining that you won't want to put it down. At times it reads like a beautifully penned travel book, at others a diary. Fortey treats literature, history, politics and just about everything else in this wonderfully written book, which celebrates a fossilised beastie that hasn't been seen for 350 million years. The author is a senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, London, who since the age of 14 has been enthralled by these nasty looking critters. Yet it reads like the work of an accomplished full-time novelist. This book is a little gem. Find it, read it and learn about evolution without knowing you are actually doing so.