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One Step Sideways, Three Steps Forward

One Woman’s Path to Becoming a Biologist

B Rosemary Grant author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Princeton University Press

Published:30th Jul '24

£25.00

Available for immediate dispatch.

One Step Sideways, Three Steps Forward cover

The story of the unorthodox and inspiring life and career of a pioneering biologist

Scientist Rosemary Grant’s journey in life has involved detours and sidesteps—not the shortest or the straightest of paths, but one that has led her to the top of evolutionary biology. In this engaging and moving book, Grant tells the story of her life and career—from her childhood love of nature in England’s Lake District to an undergraduate education at the University of Edinburgh through a swerve to Canada and teaching, followed by marriage, children, a PhD at age forty-nine, and her life’s work with Darwin’s finches in the Galápagos islands. Grant’s unorthodox career is one woman’s solution to the problem of combining professional life as a field biologist with raising a family.

Grant describes her youthful interest in fossils, which inspired her to imagine another world, distant yet connected in time—and which anticipated her later work in evolutionary biology. She and her husband, Peter Grant, visited the Galápagos archipelago annually for forty years, tracking the fates of the finches on the small, uninhabited island of Daphne Major. Their work has profoundly altered our understanding of how a group of eighteen species has diversified from a single ancestral species, demonstrating that evolution by natural selection can be observed and interpreted in an entirely natural environment. Grant’s story shows the rewards of following a winding path and the joy of working closely with a partner, sharing ideas, disappointments, and successes.

"In a memoir infused with a sense of joy and wonder, the author combines details of challenging research with warm portraits of the scientific community in which she has flourished. . . . A charming memoir of determination and discovery." * Kirkus Reviews *
"Inspiring. . . . [An] intimate look at a life spent in dogged pursuit of scientific knowledge." * Publishers Weekly *
"Grant recounts her amazing accomplishments with humility and humor in this delightful memoir. . . . [An] incredible not-to-miss story of an evolutionary scientist who combined her passion for science with her love and devotion to her family, the environment, and many social causes." * Library Journal *
"In her book, Rosemary recounts the successes that mark her life, but does not dwell on them in any self-serving fashion. Instead the pages are filled with commitment to humanity writ large, and the fervent hope that one day we can get beyond our never-ending capacity for war, discrimination and hatred of the other. This great scientist is patently also a great humanitarian."---David Gascoigne, Travels with Birds
"Contains a wealth of observations and philosophical thoughts that could serve [any of us] in our own life."---Kate Daniels, WARM 106.9
"This memoir is a must-read for anyone with an interested in evolutionary biology and/or women in STEM."---Ian Paulsen, The Birdbooker Report

ISBN: 9780691260594

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

328 pages