The Beak Of The Finch: A Story Of Evolution In Our Time
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
On a remote volcanic island in the Galápagos archipelago, two Princeton scientists — Peter and Rosemary Grant — have spent two decades doing what most biologists once thought impossible: watching evolution happen in real time. The Beak of the Finch chronicles their extraordinary vigil among Darwin's finches, tracking the minute shifts in beak size and shape that ripple across generations in direct response to drought, flood, and the relentless pressure of natural selection. Jonathan Weiner brings the reader into the heart of this scientific adventure, transforming meticulous field data into a narrative as gripping as any thriller, and in doing so, dismantles the long-held assumption that evolution moves too slowly for human eyes to witness. Weiner's prose is lucid and deeply humane, weaving the Grants' Galápagos fieldwork into a broader tapestry that encompasses Darwin's original voyage, the modern synthesis of genetics, and the urgent implications of evolution for medicine and conservation. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1995, the book stands as a landmark work of science writing — a testament to the power of patient observation and intellectual rigor. It raises a question that lingers long after the final page: if evolution is unfolding all around us, what else are we failing to see?
Author: Jonathan Weiner
Format: Paperback
Published: 1994, Alfred A. Knopf
Genre: Natural history
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
On a remote volcanic island in the Galápagos archipelago, two Princeton scientists — Peter and Rosemary Grant — have spent two decades doing what most biologists once thought impossible: watching evolution happen in real time. The Beak of the Finch chronicles their extraordinary vigil among Darwin's finches, tracking the minute shifts in beak size and shape that ripple across generations in direct response to drought, flood, and the relentless pressure of natural selection. Jonathan Weiner brings the reader into the heart of this scientific adventure, transforming meticulous field data into a narrative as gripping as any thriller, and in doing so, dismantles the long-held assumption that evolution moves too slowly for human eyes to witness. Weiner's prose is lucid and deeply humane, weaving the Grants' Galápagos fieldwork into a broader tapestry that encompasses Darwin's original voyage, the modern synthesis of genetics, and the urgent implications of evolution for medicine and conservation. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1995, the book stands as a landmark work of science writing — a testament to the power of patient observation and intellectual rigor. It raises a question that lingers long after the final page: if evolution is unfolding all around us, what else are we failing to see?