The Beak Of The Finch Essay, Research Paper

The Beak of the Finch: Evolution Before my Eyes

The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner has dramatically changed my understanding of the world and also of myself. I remember one of my friends reading it during our AFS trip to Bolivia and asking her if it was any good. “Oh ya, it is!” She responded. “It’s one of the best books I have ever read!” Later, I asked to borrow it. There I was, reading of the biodiversity of Earth while living in Valle de Sajta of the Chapare region of Bolivia and savoring every moment of my experience….

This book’s focus on evolution and biodiversity compelled me to see my surroundings in a new way and to question life in its present forms. In Bolivia, one moment I would be reading of finches evolving just over the time of one season, and the next instant I would be chasing after bright blue butterflies and marveling at the forests of the Amazon’s edge. Still, when I returned home to my own bland ecosystem, I noticed things that I hadn’t before, and I saw things with new eyes. I suddenly wondered about the sand lions that lived in their inverse ant hills and how they came to be; I wondered how the honey bees were evolving to adjust to increased pesticide use; and I wondered just how much I had in common with one of Darwin’s finches…. Was I in a state of change as well, or are we humans more static than that?

I had always been an environmental activist prior to reading this book, but after reading it my convictions were even more pronounced. If a single drought could leave its mark on a species of Galapagos finches, what does our changing ecosystem portend for all of our animals, not to mention us?

The Beak of the Finch was a book that I might not normally be inclined to read, but the insights that it has provided me with have impacted my view of my world and myself in ways that few other books have.