John Xántus, the Fort Tejon letters, 1857-1859

By Xántus, János

Publishing Date: 1986

Classification: 500

Call Number: 508.324 XAN

Offers a brief profile of Xantus, a colorful charlatan who collected specimens for the Smithsonian Institution, and shares his letters describing his work in California - (Baker & Taylor)

The beak of the finch: a story of evolution in our time

By Weiner, Jonathan

Publishing Date: 1995

Classification: 500

Call Number: 598.8 WEI

On a desert island in the heart of the Galapagos archipelago, where Darwin received his first inklings of the theory of evolution, two scientists, Peter and Rosemary Grant, have spent twenty years proving that Darwin did not know the strength of his own theory. For among the finches of Daphne Major, natural selection is neither rare nor slow: it is taking place by the hour, and we can watch. In this dramatic story of groundbreaking scientific research, Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.--From publisher description.