For example, in Richard Dawkin's book the Ancestors Tale, there is a section I really enjoyed towards the end where he speculated on what would happen if evolution would be "re-run" on Earth from a certain point in the past. For example, if evolution were executed many times from the point where the first multicellular organism arose, what should be the distribution of the results? He goes on to say that there were many "good ideas" in evolution that would likely occur every time; such as bilateral symmetry, sensors that take in EM radiation (eyes) and so on. He also discusses things that would be unlikely to arise. He also speculated on evolution on other planets with, for example, stronger or weaker gravity than that found on Earth.
Not a book, but I also recently listened to Dan Dennett on Sean Carrol's Mindscape podcast. The conversation was very philosophical, but had a good basis in science.
I'm not looking to read any more Dawkins or Dennett, and want to branch out a bit in my reading. Any suggestions that may fit the above criteria?
