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Enchanted by Daphne - by Peter R Grant (Hardcover)
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Enchanted by Daphne - by Peter R Grant (Hardcover)
From Princeton University Press
Current price: $35.49
TARGET
Enchanted by Daphne - by Peter R Grant (Hardcover)
From Princeton University Press
Current price: $35.49
Loading Inventory...
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About the Book The extraordinary life story of the celebrated naturalist who transformed our understanding of evolution Enchanted by Daphne is legendary ecologist Peter Grants personal account of his remarkable life and career. In this revelatory book, Grant takes readers from his childhood in World War II-era Britain to his ongoing research today in the Galapagos archipelago, vividly describing what it is like to do fieldwork in one of the most magnificent yet inhospitable places on Earth. This is also the story of two brilliant and courageous biologists as they raised a family together while balancing the demands of professional lives that would take them to the far corners of the globe. In 1973, Grant and his wife Rosemary embarked on a journey that would fundamentally change how we think about evolution. Over the next four decades, they visited the Galapagos every year to observe Darwins famous finches on the remote, uninhabited island of Daphne Major. Documenting how eighteen species have diversified from a single ancestral species, they demonstrated that we could actually see and measure evolution in a natural setting. Grant recounts the blind alleys and breathtaking triumphs of this historic research as he and Rosemary followed in Darwins footsteps-and ushered in a new era in ecology. A wonderfully absorbing portrait of a life in science, Enchanted by Daphne is an unforgettable chronicle of the travels and discoveries of one of the worlds most influential naturalists-- Book Synopsis The extraordinary life story of the celebrated naturalist who transformed our understanding of evolution Enchanted by Daphne is legendary ecologist Peter Grants personal account of his remarkable life and career. In this revelatory book, Grant takes readers from his childhood in World War II-era Britain to his ongoing research today in the Galpagos archipelago, vividly describing what its like to do fieldwork in one of the most magnificent yet inhospitable places on Earth. This is also the story of two brilliant and courageous biologists raising a family together while balancing the demands of professional lives that would take them to the far corners of the globe. In 1973, Grant and his wife, Rosemary, embarked on a journey that would fundamentally change how we think about evolution. Over the next four decades, they visited the Galpagos every year to observe Darwins famous finches on the remote, uninhabited island of Daphne Major. Documenting how eighteen species have diversified from a single ancestral species, they demonstrated that we could actually see and measure evolution in a natural setting. Grant recounts the blind alleys and breathtaking triumphs of this historic research as he and Rosemary followed in Darwins footsteps--and ushered in a new era in ecology. A wonderfully absorbing portrait of a life in science, Enchanted by Daphne is an unforgettable chronicle of the travels and discoveries of one of the worlds most influential naturalists. Review Quotes An exhilarating and warm personal memoir that will be of interest to a broad audience. ---Thomas B. Smith, The Quarterly Review of Biology A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year [Leaves] the impression that the Grants are interesting, unassuming people youd like to meet. ---M. Gochfeld, Choice In more than 40 years of painstaking measurements, the Grants mapped how serendipitous changes in weather and habitat changed the lives and beaks of finches. Peter Grant is similarly attuned to the role of happenstance in his own life. ---Emily Bobrow, Wall Street Journal About the Author Peter R. Grant is the Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology Emeritus at Princeton University. His books include Ecology and Evolution of Darwins Finches and (with B. Rosemary Grant) 40 Years of Evolution: Darwins Finches on Daphne Major Island (both Princeton).