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swalkerc's review
I didn't finish this book because I ran out of time, but I found it fascinating and if I had more time I definitely would finish it. If you're interested at all in evolution or natural selection this is a great read. I don't have any science background and I found it easy to read and interesting.
mgromko's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.0
This book deservedly won a Pulitzer Prize; it is an excellent, non-technical account of evolution in action. It focuses on Peter and Rosemary Grant's (and through them, their students') work on Galapagos Finches and the comprehensive and vast data they collected, which allowed them insights into the pervasive action of selection leading to evolution. The strength of the book is in the concrete details those data sets reveal. Where the author strays toward extrapolation and speculation, which he does in greater and greater frequency in Parts Two and Three, the book is less strong. I would go so far as to call the latter parts of the book tedious and speculative, departing in large measure from the solidly grounded information in Part One.
simont24's review
4.0
A good book. Maybe a bit too much repetition about oscillating selection, however. It felt like a broken record at times. The last 100 pages were the best, with more examples and stories outside the realm of the finch.
branch_c's review
4.0
Anyone with an interest in evolution will know of the Galápagos finches, but before reading this book, I didn't realize their importance any more than Darwin did. Darwin's view was fairly simplistic - he thought there was one species per isolated island, each adapted to the conditions there, which would be interesting enough. But the real story, as observed by Peter and Rosemary Grant and described here by Weiner, is much more complex. It turns out that Darwin was right about natural selection, sexual selection, and evolution, but wrong about it not being observable in the short term.
The studies performed by the Grants and their colleagues demonstrate that natural selection happens, and can be observed from one year to the next, with selective pressures varying with the changing conditions of drought or flood. There are thirteen species of finches, each adapted to fill a niche for a particular food source and lifestyle, but the species grade into one another; they sometimes migrate among the islands and they sometimes mate across species lines to form hybrids.
Some may still doubt that small incremental changes in physical characteristics - such as a difference of fractions of millimeters in the size of a beak - can eventually lead to divergence and different species. If you're one of these people, you're in good company, because even Darwin himself had doubts on this point. But it turns out it can be observed in near real time, if only you're willing to look carefully enough, as the Grants have done. There are various other examples of this adaptive radiation mentioned in passing, including guppies in South America, sticklebacks in British Columbia, cichlids in east Africa, and fruit flies in Hawaii.
My only minor criticism of this book is the writing itself is ever so slightly dry - precise and clear, to be sure, but lacking a bit in excitement, like reading a well-written but overly straightforward news article. Also note that it was written in 1994, which is fine since much of the content is historical, but of course that leaves out any linking of these ideas and observations to more recent findings.
Anyway, this book is well worth reading; a fine addition to the growing volume of evidence that evolution has occurred by natural selection, and that it explains the variety of biology we see around us today.
Also recommended... Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters, by Prothero, Why Evolution Is True, by Jerry Coyne, and from Richard Dawkins, the brief River Out of Eden and the lengthy but engagingly written The Ancestor's Tale.
The studies performed by the Grants and their colleagues demonstrate that natural selection happens, and can be observed from one year to the next, with selective pressures varying with the changing conditions of drought or flood. There are thirteen species of finches, each adapted to fill a niche for a particular food source and lifestyle, but the species grade into one another; they sometimes migrate among the islands and they sometimes mate across species lines to form hybrids.
Some may still doubt that small incremental changes in physical characteristics - such as a difference of fractions of millimeters in the size of a beak - can eventually lead to divergence and different species. If you're one of these people, you're in good company, because even Darwin himself had doubts on this point. But it turns out it can be observed in near real time, if only you're willing to look carefully enough, as the Grants have done. There are various other examples of this adaptive radiation mentioned in passing, including guppies in South America, sticklebacks in British Columbia, cichlids in east Africa, and fruit flies in Hawaii.
My only minor criticism of this book is the writing itself is ever so slightly dry - precise and clear, to be sure, but lacking a bit in excitement, like reading a well-written but overly straightforward news article. Also note that it was written in 1994, which is fine since much of the content is historical, but of course that leaves out any linking of these ideas and observations to more recent findings.
Anyway, this book is well worth reading; a fine addition to the growing volume of evidence that evolution has occurred by natural selection, and that it explains the variety of biology we see around us today.
Also recommended... Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters, by Prothero, Why Evolution Is True, by Jerry Coyne, and from Richard Dawkins, the brief River Out of Eden and the lengthy but engagingly written The Ancestor's Tale.
noahbw's review
5.0
This book was part of EED required reading, but I really enjoyed it. It gives a face to some leading evolutionary biologists, to the point that I kind of feel like I've met them. Beyond that, the science is really cool - this book describes a lot of really interesting evolutionary principles with specific examples. I'd say that this book is best for people who have some knowledge of (and "belief" in) evolution, but if I'd imagine that even without that, this would still be a good read. Either way, this book takes a lot of concepts and explains them in a way that is concrete and therefore much easier to remember.
rickenbacker's review
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
5.0
This was a fascinating read and I learned so much!
interrowhimper's review
4.0
A lucid popular science account of the evidence for evolution. I was initially off-put by the inclusion of Bible verses in the book's dedication and chapter openings, but I think Weiner was mostly trying to convey a sense of wonder and put his more religious readers at ease. The epilogue deals explicitly with people who deny evolution, and seems intent on reconciling religion with evolution rather than displacing it. This is probably a great introduction for someone interested in the ideas but struggling with the secular nature of evolutionary biology.
In general, this book is a really solid introduction to the study of evolution if you're unfamiliar. For more evolutionary-minded folk, this book is still a pretty good read, bouncing around in fluid prose from discussions of experiments and findings to descriptions of the lives of the researchers themselves.
In my opinion, the book's one major downfall is that it fails to give names to some of the scientific principles it discusses, leaving readers unarmed for subsequent discussions as a result of its striving to remain accessible to all audiences.
In general, this book is a really solid introduction to the study of evolution if you're unfamiliar. For more evolutionary-minded folk, this book is still a pretty good read, bouncing around in fluid prose from discussions of experiments and findings to descriptions of the lives of the researchers themselves.
In my opinion, the book's one major downfall is that it fails to give names to some of the scientific principles it discusses, leaving readers unarmed for subsequent discussions as a result of its striving to remain accessible to all audiences.