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The Beak of the Finch
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The Beak of the Finch - Jonathan Weiner 4/5
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My husband is a scientist and he read both of these early in his career (undergrad maybe, or grad school) and loved both of them.
I finished this before my little adventure, so none of it is top of mind right now.
This book is literally about the beaks of finches in the Galapagos. And it's also about natural selection, but as it relates to these finches. The first 25% I thought I'd lose my mind if they talked about the beaks of these finches anymore, but then I got fascinated.
The patience these scientists have is amazing. Years and years of work to understand these microscopic developmental changes. It's pretty mind blowing. What I think I found most interesting was the birds reactions to drought and El Nino.
Shortly after I finished this I started Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies and in a million years, I wouldn't have thought the two were in any way related, but it turns out that (among other things) Jared Diamond is an evolutionary biologist, so "Beak" laid a very good foundation for what I've heard so far in this new book.
Who knew science could be interesting? Besides Nicole.