The Galapagos archipelago is a forbidding place, even though romantics tend to imbue it with the rosy glow of a Pacific Eden. John Hess, Emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of Central Missouri, is also a photographer who has worked at the interface of art and science throughout his career. In 2009 he published a book of the same title through the University of Missouri Press. In this presentation he will talk about how the Galapagos works – why it is the way it is, and how the lives of some of the “Galapagos Royalty” are woven into the tapestry of life.