As an arts student looking for an easy way out of the dreaded mandatory science elective, I found Dr. Kaye's course, and subsequently, his textbook, to be an excellent choice.

He writes with a strong sense of his audience, and manages to make every topic - from footprints to archaeological(...)- as interesting as possible. That said, he does get a little sidetracked when getting into the etymology of scientific terms, (a full page is devoted to how "chroma" and "soma" led to chromasome, for instance) but that's ultimately part of his charm, too.

It's a shame that he has passed away -- his work is as jovial and exciting as science gets.