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The Beak Of The Finch Summary

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Diego Ochoa
The Beak of the Finch The Beak of the Finch is a book written by Jonathan Weiner about evolutionary biology. Evolution is the change of characteristics over several continuous generations. But evolution is not just simply a change over time. Many things change over time for example trees lose their leaves, these are not evolution because they do not involve genetics. The main idea of evolution is that all of the life on earth shares a common ancestor. Many fossils show that evolution did indeed happen

The beak of the finch shows an in-depth look at the research Charles Darwin did in the Galapagos Islands. Peter and Rosemary Grant show this by visiting and researching the Galapagos Islands for over 20 years. The book also shows …show more content…

It explains who the grants are, what they have been doing and what their goal is. It also shows some of the changes in the finches over the 20 years they have been researching. Not only is it focused on the grants but it gives us an insight on sexual and natural selection and environmental changes that contribute to evolution. There are also other researches doing the same as the grants, some observing animals for over two decades and it explains a little of some of the researchers. Some of the researches have begun researching not that long ago and were greatly influenced by the …show more content…

It had gotten good reviews on line and was recommended to me as a teacher so I decided to read it. I thought it was going to be an easy read, although at some points I was really interested in the book, at other points it bored me to death.
First things first, I didn’t really like the way the book was written. It seemed more like a journal at some points as opposed to a science book. The title of the book is also misleading in a way. It is not focused on the beaks finches as I thought it would but it shows that beaks of the finches CAN symbolize evolution. It is also a way to show Darwin’s visits to the Galapagos being that finches live in the Galapagos.
This is a great book for someone who does not know much about science. I feel like someone who already knows about science wouldn’t learn much from the book as I did. The book is a good introduction to evolution and don’t get me wrong, can

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Scientific Concepts in “The Beak of The Finch” On an island in the middle of a volcanic archipelago, where Darwin first created theories on the idea of evolution, Peter and Rosemary Grant spend twenty years proving that Darwin did not understand the power of evolution. I now understand better how natural selection, hybridization, and adaptation work in the real world. When I first took biology freshman year I didn’t quite understand how natural selection and evolution were real. But, as you read this book you begin to learn that natural selection is not a rare thing nor does it work slow.

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Science has said 99% of all species that existed have become extinct. That's "A LOT" of animals and organisms many of us have never seen before. If every life is precious shouldn't we be doing everything in our power to promote life and help all the endangered species stay in existent? 2. Explain your personal reaction to the book.

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It was effective in many aspects as well. To Be able to inform the reader of a dangerous and cruel being while making the book hard to put down makes this one of my favorite books of all time. I'd recommend this to a vast bracket of bookworms. Those absorbed in the world of science all the way to book junkies looking for an engrossing fix. I hope everybody finds the time to be exposed to this genius piece of

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After observing finch specimens from the Galapagos, Darwin concluded that species must have an ability to alter over time. Darwin then proposed that as species modified, and as old species disappeared, new versions could be presented.

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I did not enjoy this book for two reasons, the main being that it was slow moving, having little action. Even then, when it got to the action, in maybe three sentences it was over. Secondly, the characters in the book were too deep for this short of a book. The author went into too much detail for each character, taking up much unnecessary space and time. I would

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Planned parenthood is a non-profit organization that offers profusions of services’ around the world to help individuals. Birth control is one of the services that is provided for sexually active women and teenagers. Different birth control methods available to chose from such as, birth control implant, birth control patch, birth control pill, birth control shot, birth control vaginal ring, diaphragm, condom, fertility awareness method, IUD (copper), and spermicide. Another service is General Health Care in which people can get anemia testing, cholesterol screening, diabetes screening, high blood pressure screening, pregnancy planning services, and thyroid screening. Which is beneficial for people with low income.

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Dawkins utilizes the analogy of “history written all over us” in order to showcase the common ancestry that many animals share and how it is shown through various homologous traits. One such example that Dawkins uses is flightless birds, such as ostriches and emus, that never fly in their life but have remnants of wings from their remote flying ancestors (Dawkins 2009). This set of homologous traits in birds is clear evidence of evolution because it showcases how over the years certain species of birds have lost the ability to fly due to certain living conditions. Dawkins also mentions troglobites, which over time have lost the ability to see but still contain “dummy eyes”, in order showcase the fact that evolution is evident in the form of

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Lamott, now sixty-two years old, published Bird by Bird on September 28, 1994. Lamott uses her own life experiences to help connect to the reader on a personal level, but not only does Lamott use experiences to connect to the reader but to also give examples to better explain her main points. Lamott uses wacky and weird titles such as “Broccoli” but these titles serve a purpose, such as Broccoli serving as a metaphor for your intuition. Lamott does not censor herself and is honest with the reader. Lamott uses language that is easily understandable and feels like she is talking to you as if you were an equal rather than talking down on

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My experience with this novel can be explained as a roller coaster ride, it had its ups and downs but overall it is a very educational and enlightening book. This novel made me question several things like religion,science and history; for example, the chapters "Darwin and Freud" basically followed the ideas I learned in Ap Biology but went into more detail, this made me happy because I could finally make a real life connection to the book and understand it more. On the opposite side some parts that made me really think and question included the chapters "The "Garden Of Eden", "Two Cultures" and several others because they included the idea of religion. The idea of religion for myself is a hard topic to understand for a non-religious person,

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“When Darwin brought back some finches, he realized that their beaks were significant to the different foods on the island” (Darwin's Dangerous

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1.5.2 Finch beaks Many of you may have heard of the finch beaks of the Galapagos Islands which are so famously associated with Charles Darwin and his formulation of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Now, when this piece of information is analysed, it is incredible to consider that it is used as evidence for evolutionary theory and supposedly was instrumental in Darwin coming up with the theory of evolution and common descent. The story is that Darwin was on a voyage around the Galapagos Islands, and he observed various different types of finch birds over the separated Islands.

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People who enjoy science, botany, or space would love this book. I give it a 4 star rating. For the most part this was a very good book, there were just a lot of terms I didn’t completely understand. I liked it because the

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In Introduction to Evolutionary Biology by Chris Colby, the author’s purpose was to explain the basics of the theory of evolution and correct the many of the misconceptions. The main parts are the meaning of evolution and the misconceptions. The meaning of evolution according to Colby is a change in the gene pool of a population over time. The first misconception is that evolution can occur without morphological change and morphological change can occur without evolution. The second misconception of evolution is that natural selection and evolution are the same thing.

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Natural selection is seen in the finches that Darwin studied on the Galapagos Islands. Environment and food supply changes caused the finches beaks to adapt in a unique way. Studies on Darwin’s finches show us that natural selection in a natural environment is interpretable, observable, and repeatable (Grant, 2003). Natural selection is representable in different types of birds such as the Island Scrub-jay. A study published in 2015 on these Island Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma insularis) demonstrates examples of natural selection.

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I really enjoyed reading this biography; I think that it is one of the most interesting biographies that I have ever read. Melissa McDaniel, the author, did a remarkable job on making this book interesting for young adults. It has a nice language that can be understood by any one that speaks English. Even though it’s a book about a physicist, it doesn’t include all the scientific calculations, which would make the book less motivating to read. This text is easy to follow and it doesn’t skip from one idea to the next one, its simply blending them in together.

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