As the first signs of autumn start to appear, we take one last look at some of the summer's most popular titles. Let's see what reviewers have been saying, and what the authors themselves have said during media appearances across the country.

The answer to questions such as "Why are women more likely to become compulsive shoppers and men more likely to become addicted to pornography?" and "Why do men's testosterone levels rise when they drive a Ferrari or a Porsche?" is "the consuming instinct," the underlying evolutionary basis for most of our consumer behavior. In this highly informative and entertaining book, Dr. Gad Saad, the founder of the vibrant new field of evolutionary consumption, illuminates the relevance of our biological heritage to our daily lives as consumers. 

While culture is important, Saad shows that innate evolutionary forces deeply influence the foods we eat, the gifts we offer, the cosmetics and clothing styles we choose to make ourselves more attractive to potential mates, and even the cultural products that stimulate our imaginations (such as art, music, and

religion). 

"Saad's book should be required reading at business schools," said Psychology Today's blog "Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life." "Besides a broad-ranging overview of research on marketing, psychology, economics, anthropology, and biology, Saad peppers the book with lots of take-home messages for consumers, policy-makers, and business people...[I] challenge you read this book...and not come away thinking very differently about people's motives for buying the many, many, things they buy." 

Booklist said, "Covering everything from pornography to Wall Street, this thought-provoking title induces readers to take a deep look at how they live." 

Watch Saad discuss his thesis at TEDxConcordia.

Evolution is often described as a "theory." While this is certainly technically true, it is misleading to dismiss evolution as "just a theory" (an unfounded idea), as opponents of evolution like to do. In this illuminating work of popular science, anthropologist Cameron M. Smith amply demonstrates that there are few more well-established facts in the scientific canon than that life evolved on earth. 

Walking the reader through the steps in the evolutionary process, Smith uses plenty of real-world examples to show that not only does evolution happen, it must happen. Smith analyzes evolution as the unintended consequence of three independent facts of the natural world that we can observe every day: (1) the fact of the replication of life forms (producing offspring); (2) the fact that offspring are not identical (variation); and (3) the fact that not all offspring survive (selection). Viewed in terms of this analysis, evolution is no longer debatable; in fact it has to occur. It is simply the inevitable consequence of three obvious, observable, factual natural phenomena. 

Smith has appeared on "Science Fantastic" with Host Dr. Michio Kaku, and the book was listed in Science Book News. He is scheduled to appear on Think Atheist on September 11. The San Francisco Book Review called the book "...a fascinating look at why evolution must happen, and the diversity it brought about.

This is a great book for someone looking for a primer as to how evolution works."

The Washington Independent Review of Books called it "...a thorough, well-referenced and generally well-organized book. Smith's greatest feat, of service to laypeople and researchers alike, is in compiling a large number of examples of "evolution in

action" from the natural world, thus making concrete what is too often a theoretical and abstract topic...a good introduction." 

In this successor volume to The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails, John Loftus-a former minister and now a leading atheist spokesperson-has assembled a stellar group of respected scholars. Contributors include Victor Stenger, Robert Price, Hector Avalos, Richard Carrier, Keith Parsons, David Eller, and others. Loftus is the author of Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity.

Taken together, the Loftus trilogy poses formidable challenges to claims for the rationality of the Christian faith.

Loftus has been interviewed and reviewed by online media such as Think Atheist and Unreasonable Faith.

"Loftus's book is admirable for its bluntness and single-minded drive toward the belief that science-itself a human construct and thus as subject to flaws as religion-is mankind's saving grace...Provocative," said Kirkus Reviews.

"What makes the book interesting... is its historical review of how Christianity came into being, what religious beliefs preceded it in the ancient world, and how, theologically, it challenges believers to accept some extraordinary beliefs on pure faith," said Bookviews, which selected it as one of its August Picks of the Month. "This book is not some screed decrying Christianity, but rather a studied effort to understand its roots, its spread, and the assertions on which it is based. As such, it makes for some very interesting reading. We all need our beliefs challenged on occasion to determine the strength of one's faith."

Just published in late August and with a foreword by Tom Hayden, Kill the Messenger is a "gripping book that richly and passionately demonstrates the power and importance of media to the human condition," says Robert W. McChesney, co-author of The Life and Death of American Journalism. "Rich in contemporary world history, [it] is exactly the book the world needs to read in our perilous times." 

Veteran journalist Maria Armoudian-host and producer of "The Insighters" on KPFK Los Angeles and WPRR Grand Rapids, a fellow of the Center for International Studies, and a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California-has authored an in-depth examination of the media's power to either help or harm in world events.

Her recent op-ed about the Rupert Murdoch scandal was published in the Huffington Post, Grist, The Media Briefing and Business Insider.  

Actor and activist Ed Begley Jr. says, "Kill the Messenger clearly demonstrates how media help to shape beliefs, societies, and policies that impact the fate of the world. It's a must read for everyone who cares about the welfare of humanity and the planet itself."