Observing Evolution

"Engrossing, amusing, and endlessly fascinating, Bruce Grant's account of his decades-long exploration of a key piece of evidence of evolution by natural selection is a gem. Grant reveals how science works both as a process and as a profoundly personal activity. Observing Evolution will become a classic."

"Grant is a renowned scholar who greatly pushed evolutionary biology research forward. There is no one else alive who could have written this book."

"Bruce Grant is a marvelous writer. This book will inform and entertain a diverse audience and, in the process, educate them about the joys and rewards of doing and living science. An adventure story that brings the reader along for the ride and introduces them to some of the most distinguished biologists of modern times, this book is also a mystery that scientifically probes and tests every bit of evidence that is available."

"I greatly enjoyed this book. It is written as well as the very best thrillers yet communicates how science works in a beautiful and informative way. This is first-class public science communication about a very interesting phenomenon."

"Bruce Grant has written a wonderful book that is at once both deeply personal and unerringly scientific. Part memoir, part history of science, and part detective story, Observing Evolution reminds us that under even the most familiar of scientific tales lurk unexpected new truths."

"Highly recommended."

"Grant's writing is accessible, his explanations of complex science easily digestible, and he is full of genuinely amusing stories. If you ever doubted the validity of this iconic example of rapid evolution, Observing Evolution will set you straight."

"For others who simply enjoy a good scientific detective story, this is among the best."

"In this engaging book, Grant documents the places he went and the extraordinary people he met, on this quest to understand parts of the peppered moth story that did not quite add up."

"Highly recommended for all biology students, especially those interested in entomology and evolutionary biology...It's a real treat to read about some of the giants of entomological research."

"Provides a rare, unfiltered glimpse into what doing science is actually like....For Grant, the process of becoming an authority on peppered moths was a truly ground-up affair that began unplanned, with nothing more than a question. To begin working with Biston, he needed to step outside of what, at the time, was his well-defined scientific comfort zone of lab-based research....On a fundamental level, this book reveals that there's an art to doing science."

"Fascinating...Grant's story is both personal and engaging...His book presents a validation of natural selection data plus a critical assessment of speculation over 50 years in a gripping personal science adventure story."

"This book chronicles Grant's efforts to wrestle with details of the operation of natural selection in wild populations of widely geographically separated species of the peppered moth....Grant is a good writer and a great storyteller....[He] is clearly devoted to the scientific process, and wide open to his research subjects showing him something completely unexpected."

"Perhaps what is most special about Grant's chronicle is the passion with which he writes about scientific practice. His love of biology shines through, and it is quite contagious."

"[Grant] beautifully describes how science works and what it is like to be a practicing evolutionary scientist. I recommend his book to all readers, but especially to students. I cannot think of another volume that might be as great an inspiration."