Interesting, as well as scientific
We visited Galapagos recently and saw the island where most of the story takes place, but were not allowed to land. Although visiting the islands gives you a feel for the location, it is not necessary to enjoy the book. The findings of the research on the finch beaks were very enlightening, explaining how evolution can take place quite quickly. The size of the beaks of the finch would fluctuate back and forth, depending on the climate. It is explained very well.

A Reasonable Introduction to Evolution
Beak of the Finch appears to be unique among popular evolution texts in the way that the author illustrates his points by highlighting measurable changes in the physical attributes of animals to prove the validity of Darwin's thesis: that plants and animals, through selective breeding, sprout biologically advantageous features.

His main subject are (no surprise) the finches first recorded in detail by Darwin in the 19th century. A band of researchers making meticulous observations and measurement over three decades, have compiled a catalog of data so extensive that meaningful averages have been firmly established to show how certain species of finch have responded within a handful of generations (or less!) to pressures exerted on them by their local environment. Clear variations in beak depth and width have been observed in response to adverse weather, bountiful food, scarce food, plant changes, nesting habitat availability and more. Such factors have directly altered these finches -- within the scale of far less than a human lifetime -- where it was once thought that "evolution in action" could _never_ be observed. True, the measurable average change is neither enormous nor startlingly obvious, but it's real none the less.

Interspersed with this tale of observation and measurement is a good narration of how Darwin himself gradually shifted from pious adherence to Creationism to a truth he could no longer deny in the face of what he considered to be incontrovertible evidence.

A good book, but it loses steam towards the end as the observations of the finches is not quite meaty enough alone to fill an entire book. The author moves on to some other notable examples of observable evolution such as moths and apple flys. This material, while casually interesting, made for less compelling reading.

A time for every finch
A serious effort to educate the layman about the intricacies of evolution, against a historical background, with the emphasis on Darwin's thoughts and the work of the Grants. I had two problems with the book. The best part was the description of Daphne Major, the logistics of working there, and the amazing findings of the Grants. The continual references to what Darwin thought quickly became tedious, and seemed irrelevant. I felt much the same about the way the author broke away from the Grants to discuss other similar studies, because they seemed much less interesting, and were distracting, almost like filler, though I realize they were part of the book's educational element. So, I found the basic organization of the book unsatisfying. A more in depth account of the Galapagos and the Grants would have been preferable. The second gripe I have is not the fault of the author, it's just the way science goes. The book is seriously outdated now, since there is no mention of evo-devo, which has emerged as a powerful paradigm in evolution. This would not be such a big problem if the author had stuck with the Grants. Their story is never going to get old, that's the way it is with adventure, geography, and biographical accounts of amazing people.

Repetitive, Incorrect, and Trying too Hard
This is one of the worst books I've ever read. I strongly recommend against reading it, especially for the science folks or lay people who are not stupid. That was a joke; in my opinion, no one on Earth who is actually interested enough to read a book on this topic will be such a poor thinker that a book in this style is appropriate for them.

Specifically, this book is:

* Repetitive -- on the same page, the author will often have multiple paragraphs saying exactly the same thing; within these paragraphs, sentences repeat each other as well. If this sounds outlandish, it is. The author was either talking down to the audience, trying to fill space, trying to explain the content to his own dense self, or some combination.

* Incorrect -- in the world of science writing for lay people, some simplification of the material is necessary and of course good (so lay people can access the material!). But this book presents material in such a warped, compressed manner as to be simply WRONG. For example, the author explains that researchers created and validated a predictive computer model using the same set of field data. That would be like a person who had seen one screw that tightened when turned clockwise, developing a prediction that all screws tighten by clockwise motion, and then testing the prediction by trying it out on the same screw. Clearly that is not something Harvard researchers were doing.

* Trying to hard -- it does not let the awesomeness of evolutionary study stand for itself. It has to develop drama by telling stories only in little broken bits, it constantly restates things (in what I took to be an attempt to find a particular phrasing that struck a given reader as poignant), etc.

In summary, it was an awful read. It was too bad that it did indeed explore some of the coolest evolutionary biology around, but in such a terrible fashion.

The Beak of the Finch
Brilliant writing and organization shows that evolution can occur in as short a time frame as two years. Never boring. The non-scientist will find this book of our changing world a good read.