THE BEAK OF THE FINCH A Story of Evolution in Our Time

Charles Darwin never observed natural selection. He only induced it from his studies of the natural world. In 1973, Rosemary and Peter Grant began camping on a remote Galapagos island, studying the finches Darwin found there. They performed one of the most intensive and valuable animal studies ever conducted in the wild, which was reported in this book, first published in 1994. Zoologists and evolutionists already regard the experiment as a classic—the best and most detailed demonstration to date of the power of Darwin’s process. Narrator Victor Bevine’s English accents include Australian, American, and British, with seamless switches to Ecuadorian Spanish. He senses just the right pace for his well-pronounced deluge of scientific words and arguments. His enthusiasm for what the finch studies demonstrated heralds the Grants’ momentous contribution to our knowledge of biology today. J.A.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2010]