All Things Reconsidered: My Birding Adventures [Hardcover]

Roger Tory Peterson (Author), Bill Thompson III (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 16, 2006

The world's most famous bird watcher recounts his travels in pursuit of birds.

A decade after the death of Roger Tory Peterson, his unique perspective on birding comes to life in these highly personal narratives. Here he relates his adventures during a lifetime of traveling the world to observe and record nature. Peterson's sense of adventure and curiousity could not be extinguished. While in his eighties, as one essay relates, his boat capsized in freezing water off the coast of Maine as he was filming a documentary. In another essay we watch his tiny rowboat get caught in an angry sea off the coast of Argentina. Then there is what Peterson called his most exciting bird experience: searching for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

Though Peterson was widely known for his illustrations, this collection reminds us of his accomplishments as a phtographer, for Peterson was nearly as passionate about photography as he was about painting. The essays, photographs, and illustrations included here were carefully selected by Bill Thompson III, the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest, which ran Peterson's column, "All Things Reconsidered," during the last twelve years of his life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Once, when Peterson was in a Nairobi restaurant, the headwaiter addressed him as "Bwana Ndege," or "Mr. Bird." And Mr. Bird he was: naturalist Peterson's 1953 classic, A Field Guide to the Birds, introduced a quick way of identifying live birds that is well known and used today as the Peterson Identification System. The Peterson Field Guide series is used by experts and novices alike. But Peterson also wrote a regular and delightfully personal column for Bird Watcher's Digest from 1984 until his death in 1996. This selection of small gems, carefully collected by current Digest editor Thompson, displays many of Peterson's little-known interests as well as fascinating descriptions of birding adventures in the wilds of Africa, Mexico and New York City. Peterson also displays an elegant and precise writing style. While there's often a certain elegiac quality to Peterson's last essays, in which he recalls some of his naturalist friends and peers who have died, this collection overall stands as a tribute to the joy he experienced through birding: "To take a chance once in a while and to get away with it is to feel alive." 80 color photos. (Nov. 16)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Scientific American

"All Things Reconsidered" was the title of Peterson’s monthly column in Bird Watcher’s Digest, which he wrote from 1984 until his death in 1996. Thompson, editor of the Digest, has chosen 40-odd columns and illustrated them with Peterson’s own photographs (the great naturalist was nearly as passionate about photography as he was about painting). These are the best of Peterson’s chatty columns, in which he shared his birding adventures—from the hot plains of the Serengeti, where he stabilized his long lens on "a cloth bag filled with rice," to freezing water off the coast of Maine, where his boat capsized as he, then in his 80s, was filming a documentary.

Editors of Scientific American

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; None edition (November 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618758623
• ISBN-13: 978-0618758623
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #669,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world's greatest naturalists, received every major award for ornithology, natural science, and conservation as well as numerous honorary degrees, medals, and citations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Peterson Identification System has been called the greatest invention since binoculars.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fitting Tribute, December 27, 2006

By 

Daniel L Pratt (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All Things Reconsidered: My Birding Adventures (Hardcover)

The author, who died ten years ago, is the well-known originator of the Peterson's Field Guides. This book makes available to a wider audience a selection of columns he wrote for a bird magazine. In them, he takes us all over the world and familiarizes us with a wide variety of birds, other wildlife, and people. His prose style is a beauty in itself. The editor has updated the articles in small but important ways.

The book uses quality paper to enhance the photographs, and quality type. It must be one of the finest books produced so far this century, and at the Amazon price it is truly a steal. All in all, a fitting tribute to the author, who obviously was loved by many. A joy to own, to read, and to recommend.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A set of vivid vignettes perfect for that avid birder., March 4, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Things Reconsidered: My Birding Adventures (Hardcover)

All Things Reconsidered: My Birding Adventures is an excellent pick for any who have long known of and used Roger Tory Peterson's birding guides, which have become leading industry references in the fine art of bird identification. A decade after his death comes a personal collection which blends color photos and line drawings with a passionate survey of the bird world, selected by the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest which ran his column 'All Things Reconsidered' during the last twelve years of his life. His adventures traveling the world are captured in a set of vivid vignettes perfect for that avid birder.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Book, January 25, 2007

By 

Gail S. Preston (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: All Things Reconsidered: My Birding Adventures (Hardcover)

This was purchased as a gift, but before I wrapped it I read four of the essays. Enjoyed them very much and learnd some things. It has some excellent illustrations, too. I'm going to buy a copy for myself. Sorry I haven't read more for this review.