The Beak of the Finch: Story of Evolution in Our Time - Hardcover

Weiner, Jonathan

4.17

9,359 ratings by Goodreads

9780224042307: The Beak of the Finch: Story of Evolution in Our Time

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224042300 ISBN 13: 9780224042307

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1994

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For all that has been said and written about it, evolution has always been - necessarily - theoretical, a matter of fossils demonstrating slow change over many millenia. No longer. For twenty years, in an extraordinary ongoing study as intensive and demanding as George Schaller's work with lions in the Serengeti or Jane Goodall's with the chimps of the Gombe, biologists Peter and Rosemary Grant have been observing the various species of finches on the tiny volcanic island of Dapne Major in the Galapagos. They are now able to say that they have actually seen evolution taking place before their eyes. In "The Beak of the Finch", Jonathan Weiner tells the Grants' story for the first time, and goes on to show how their findings have led scientists into studying evolution in still more surprising sub-microscopic realms, where with new techniques they may soon be able to watch DNA evolve. The synthesis of genetics and evolution, in fact, has suddenly become one of the most important new target areas in modern biology.

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Review:

"A book that reads as easily as a good novel, while adroitly conveying information" (John Gribbin Sunday Times)

"Jonathan Weiner's powerful and elegant book is a meditation on Darwinism, from its beginnings to our current planetary crisis... At its core is a study of the changes that are still happening to the 13 finch species that inhabit the Galapagos Islands. They are famous ( and fabled) birds, whose eccentric adaptations to the raw, unformed habitats of these young volcanoes gave Darwin one of the crucial clues in the development of his theory of "the Origin of the Species by means of Natural Selection"" (Richard Mabey Independent on Sunday)

"No other book has displayed so dramatically the tiny but momentous changes that are taking place all around us in the living world. Darwin would be cheering" (Derwent May Evening Standard)

"The subtle interweaving of historical fact, hard scientific detail and humorous anecdote makes this the kind of popular science writing to which many authors aspire but which so few achieve" (Economist)

From the Back Cover:

'Jonathan Weiner's powerful and elegant book is a meditation on Darwinism, from its beginnings to our current planetary crisis...At its core is a study of the changes that are still happening to the 13 finch species that inhabit the Galapagos Islands. They are famous (and fabled) birds, whose eccentric adaptations to the raw, unformed habitats of these young volcanoes gave Darwin one of the crucial clues in the development of his theory of "the Origin of the Species by means of Natural Selection"'
-Richard Mabey, Independent on Sunday

'No other book has displayed so dramatically the tiny but momentous changes that are taking place all around us in the living world. Darwin would be cheering'
-Derwent May, Evening Standard

'This is a work of huge fascination and importance...It has every chance of becoming a classic'
-Nigel Hawkes, The Times

'The subtle interweaving of historical fact, hard scientific detail and humorous anecdote makes this the kind of popular science writing to which many authors aspire but which so few achieve'
-Economist

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