Customer Reviews

Birdscapes: Birds in Our Imagination and Experience

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This is a difficult book to sum up, but I think the Editorial Reviews presented on Amazon's page, when taken together, do a good job. But I still prefer the author's own simple summation:
[This book] is about our experience of birds: the reasons why we are attracted to them, the ways we encounter and describe them, and the significance they have in our lives.

The author has applied this to just about all aspects of birding, from identification to listing to conservation, etc. He does this largely by asking and attempting to answer questions about birds and our responses to them.

Mynott's exploration of these topics is insightful and fascinating, using examples from such disparate sources as literature, TV (even Monty Python!), music, and personal experience. He brings up many things that I have never considered, and puts into words ideas and feelings that I have not been able to express (or at least not nearly as well as he expresses them).

The writing is great, and not at all a labor to read. But it is not a light, quick read. You will want to take time to contemplate the questions being posed.

And the questions are great ones. They will make you think, perhaps for the first time about some topics. The book is worth reading for the thought exercise alone. But practically, by making you contemplate birds and your experience of them, it may also help you to enjoy birding even more.

I highly recommend using Amazon's Look Inside feature to read this book's first chapter. It gives a good feel for what the author tries to do in this book. If the sample intrigues you, then you should definitely enjoy this book.