When I asked Stanford biologist Robert Sapolsky which 10 books the general public should read to gain a basic understanding of biology, nine of the books were published in the last 10 years. Only one book he recommended was older than 10 years. You know the book - it's 150 years old today.

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1. 1pm New York time
You can watch at 1pm ET E.O. Wilson speak via taped comments - through a collaboration we set up wih the British Council. No registration needed but you do need the latest version of Adobe Flash. Go here at 1pm on Tuesday, Nov 24: http://www.open2.net/darwinlecture

2. Free webcast from our partners at the New York Academy of Sciences at 6pm ET Nov 24
Register here: http://www.nyas.org/darwin150 *
* You must register separately for this to get into the New York Academy system.

Our Facebook group has grown to 260,000 members. Join us there and leave your congratulations to Darwin.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53320310123

Thanks - and, on behalf of everyone at Darwin150 and the Reading Odyssey, congratulations on a successful lecture series, Facebook campaign and online reading group this fall.

Phil
Founder, Reading Odyssey and Darwin150

It all begins at 8pm New York time (that's 7pm at the University of Wisconsin).

To sign-up for a free webcast pass, click here:

http://DarwinLecture3.Eventbrite.com

With the help of Darwin150 volunteers around the world, we have assembled a global audience from India to Mexico, from Europe to Canada and South America.

Phil

Visit our new Darwin Vimeo Channel and see the lectures in their entirety!

Don't forget to register for our next free lecture on "The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and the DNA Record of Evolution" with world-renowned scientist, Sean Carroll tomorrow, Wednesday, November 4 at 7pm Central Time (8pmET/5pmPT).

He is the Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Wisconsin, and the author of a number of books for the general reader, including The Making of the Fittest (2006, W.W. Norton) and of Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo, as well as over 100 scientific papers.

Join us tomorrow live or via Webcast or teleconference for free--register here!

To sign-up for the free webcast, click here:
http://DarwinLecture3.Eventbrite.com

American Museum of 
  Natural History
Ashland University, OH
Baylor University
Brandeis University
Botanic Gardens & Parks
  Authority, Western Australia
California Institute of
  Technology
Cal State Univ.,  Northridge
Children’s Hospital Denver
Clarkson University, NY
Clemson University
Collegiate School, NY
Columbia University
DoDDS-Europe
Edgewood College
Ege University, Turkey
Emory University
Evansville Community Schools
Florida Gulf Coast Univ.
Georgia State University
Georgia Tech
Hampshire College
Hardin-Simmons Univ.
Harvard University
Illinois Wesleyan
Indian Inst. Science Ed, India
Indiana University
Kansas Citizens for Science
Kansas State University
Iowa State
LakeHill Prep, TX
Lon Morris College, TX
Marian University, WI
Masconomet Regional
   School District, MA
MIT
McMaster University, CA
Miami University of Ohio
Michigan State
Middlebury College, VT
Mills College
Mississippi School for Math & Science
Ecology Institute at the   
  National Autonomous  
  University of Mexico
National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
New York Hall of Science
Normandale Community Colll, MN
Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy
Penn State University
Purdue University
Princeton University
Rhode Island College
San Jacinto College, TX
Society for Developmental Biology
St. Louis Community College
Saint Louis University
The Salk Institute
San Jacinto College, Texas
Santa Clara University
Texas A&M
The Scripps Research Institute
Towson University, MD
Tufts
Tyler Junior College, TX
UC San Francisco
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
University of Alabama
University of Barcelona, Spain
University of California, Davis
University of Hawaii
University of Maryland
University of North Carolina
University of Hyderabad, India
University of Illinois
Universität Münster, Germany
University of Southern California
University of Toronto
University of York, UK
University of Wisconsin
University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona (Spain)
Wagner Free Institute
Washington University in St. Louis

As we approach the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's "Origin of Species" on November 24, we'll start updating the status of the group.

Our goal is 1 million by November 24.

Here are the stats:

- Members: 257,285 (as of 6:24pmET, Sun 11/1)
Help us reach the goal - ask people to join and invite everyone they know. And remember that for the Darwin birthday campaign we got to 200,000 folks in 12 days - with a rapidly accelerating rate as we got very close to the birthday (i.e. in the remaining few days).

- Discussion topics:
     - 139 topics
     - many thousands of posts

- Database of articles
       552 links to articles about Darwin, evolutionary biology and related topics.

- Videos
     - 15 videos uploaded (not including many links to videos in the links database)
     - Links now to videos from the Darwin150 lecture series

- Wall posts
There are something like 10,000+ wall posts but Facebook does not give a way to count the number of wall posts in a group (or we haven't found one).

Thanks for all your support. Let's keep up the effort to reach the goal and make a large cultural statement about the breadth and depth of support for the importance of evolutionary biology.

- Phil Terry

Register here for the live webcast (or seats in the audience at the University of Wisconsin):

http://DarwinLecture3.Eventbrite.com

Professor Carroll is one of the most highly regarded scientists working today. He conducts pioneering research in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (Evo Devo). He's also written some of the best  general audience books explaining natural selection, evolutionary developmental biology and the history of science.

How can you help?

1. Join our Facebook page (250,000+ members)

Join our Darwin150 group on Facebook and get as many friends, colleagues, faculty, students, church members to join with you. Show we can continue to grow even in the face of their concerted illegal attacks.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53320310123 

2. Organize a group to watch a live webcast

Organize a group viewing of an upcoming live webcast either with scientist Sean Carroll, E.O. Wilson or the New York Academy of Sciences. Let's bring the words of these top scientists out to groups all over the world. This is a free and wonderful resource.

Register free here:

Wednesday, Nov 3 @8pm ET with Sean Carroll (great writer, scientist and speaker)
http://darwinlecture3.eventbrite.com

Tuesday, Nov 24 @1pm ET with E.O. Wilson (great time for high school and college classrooms to watch together this legendary biologist)
http://darwinlecture4.eventbrite.com

Tuesday, Nov 24 at 6pm ET with New York Academy of Sciences
webcast link coming soon

3. Consider volunteering

We need volunteers to help us build the campaign and continuously manage/clean-up from the creationist attacks. E-mail Phil at pterry at reading odyssey dot com, if you'd like to volunteer.

Why do they attack us?

We know how to reach mainstream Americans through the web and that it is a real threat to the creationist camp. We have more than 250,000 Facebook members making us the largest Darwin/evolution group by far. The size of our group shows the breadth and depth of support for evolution and it means all of our online activities are a target for continuous 24/7 attack by creationists. 

Plus we have free webcasts with some of the top scientists talking about Darwin and evolution. Fun but serious and compelling talks by the likes of Sean Carroll, E.O. Wilson, Jonathan Weiner and others threaten the creationist community. 

Look forward to your help!

Phil 

P.S. Why are we going public now with the attacks? We have been under daily 24/7 attack since we began in January 2009 with a Darwin birthday celebration. But the small group of extreme creationists that attack us have stepped up their efforts as we get closer to the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's "Origin of Species."

P.P.S. Why don't we detail the attacks? We don't want to help more creationists attack us by giving ideas out. Our all-volunteer campaign just keeps working and striving to stay positive and focused on what's important (and btw - we do *not* condone nor want illegal counter-attacks on creationist websites).