99 Books: The Beak of the Finch
Weiner’s The Beak of the Finch (Pulitzer winner in 1995 and thus the 40th of 99 books) seems to belong to a modern school of nonfiction. Which may be why I am reading a twentieth anniversary reprint—not the case with any of the others on the list!
Like many of the earlier Pulitzers, it has lots of detail in a subject that, at first glance, might not interest so many general readers. It has footnotes and maps. And illustrations of barnacles.
But it weighs in at a scant 303 pages and is written in a lively, accessible style. And not since the Pulitzer of 1983, Tracy Kidder’s The Soul of a New Machine, have I seen a non-downer. Like Kidder’s book, The Beak of the Finch is kind of “look at these cool nerdy people and the amazing things they are discovering!”