Beak of the Finch Chapter Summaries
Eliel Pepito
8/1/10
The Beak of the Finch Summary
The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner explores evolution through the most famous examples in history—the finches of the Galápagos Islands. Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection and the process of evolution are applied directly to what scientists refer to as Darwin’s Finches. Weiner follows scientists Peter and Rosemary Grant as they study the finches in real time on the Galápagos. Years of previous work, study and data is collected and analyzed. Different species of animals are observed and explained throughout history. The Grants have one goal, and that is to find the origin of the species, how organisms first began. They find that it really is about the “survival of the fittest” and who nature selects to thrive and produce generations far greater than the last. The Beak of the Finch opens with Peter and Rosemary Grant studying their well-recognized finches on one of the islands on the Galápagos called Daphne Major. The couple records their data carefully, collecting the birds’ wing length, tarsus length, beak length, beak depth, plumage and weight. The reader first notices and questions such tedious, meticulous measurements of the simple finch. However, later, the novel reveals later that the precise measurements these scientists are taking are crucial, especially for the bird. The Grants briefly review the bird’s history, including its age, how often it had bred and any offspring it had raised. Recording information about each of the finches on Daphne Major is an important part of studying evolution. The novel explains that not many scientists have actually studied evolution, though it is an extremely important subject in science. Darwin’s theory of natural selection has been neglected, with very few experiments testing its extraordinary capability. It actually seems as if no one realizes the power of Darwin’s theory, not even Darwin himself. When Charles Darwin first landed on the mysterious
8/1/10
The Beak of the Finch Summary
The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner explores evolution through the most famous examples in history—the finches of the Galápagos Islands. Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection and the process of evolution are applied directly to what scientists refer to as Darwin’s Finches. Weiner follows scientists Peter and Rosemary Grant as they study the finches in real time on the Galápagos. Years of previous work, study and data is collected and analyzed. Different species of animals are observed and explained throughout history. The Grants have one goal, and that is to find the origin of the species, how organisms first began. They find that it really is about the “survival of the fittest” and who nature selects to thrive and produce generations far greater than the last. The Beak of the Finch opens with Peter and Rosemary Grant studying their well-recognized finches on one of the islands on the Galápagos called Daphne Major. The couple records their data carefully, collecting the birds’ wing length, tarsus length, beak length, beak depth, plumage and weight. The reader first notices and questions such tedious, meticulous measurements of the simple finch. However, later, the novel reveals later that the precise measurements these scientists are taking are crucial, especially for the bird. The Grants briefly review the bird’s history, including its age, how often it had bred and any offspring it had raised. Recording information about each of the finches on Daphne Major is an important part of studying evolution. The novel explains that not many scientists have actually studied evolution, though it is an extremely important subject in science. Darwin’s theory of natural selection has been neglected, with very few experiments testing its extraordinary capability. It actually seems as if no one realizes the power of Darwin’s theory, not even Darwin himself. When Charles Darwin first landed on the mysterious