Customer Reviews

Down and Dirty Birding: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous, Here's All the Outrageous but True Stuff You've Ever Wanted to Know About North American Birds

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book made me laugh so hard. Its amazing how something filled with so many interesting facts can be so funny too! This book can actually function as a reference on birding. I plan on reading it more than once! One more thing - this book is rated PG13 just in case you are sensitive to a little colorful language here and there :)

I laughed out loud numerous times and shared choice sections (and laughs) with my (also bird-loving) wife. It was refreshing to read a serious (and obviously knowledgable) birder making light of some of the more ridiculous aspects of birding. The content was exceptional. I learned quite a few new bird facts and realized how often I fall into the trap of assigning a species name to a whizzing blur of feathers. At least I'm not alone! From now on, I think I will always describe bird details in terms of getting a "hit". As in, "I got a hit of Grashopper Sparrow".

As an American, I didn't even mind the occasional tweek delivered by this witty Canadian author. Indeed, some were well deserved. All in all the author made me proud to have seen a real live Grasshopper Sparrow

With a highly irreverent attitude and a finely-honed sense of humor, Joey Slinger does for birdwatching what "Click & Clack, the Tappett Brothers" do to auto maintainance. In between the laughs is solid information on many subjects of interest to birders, such as choosing and using binoculars, bird physiology, identifying birds by flight patterns, bird behavior, and much more.

Early in the book, Slinger does a funny riff on why nowadays the preferred term for those who watch birds is "birder", as opposed to "bird-watcher", which he says "...brings to some minds the image of spinster ladies in tweed underwear bounding through the woods calling 'Halloo! Halloo!' They lacked machismo. When bird-watching -- one hesitates to say, 'When birdwatching comes out of the closet,' but there are so many metaphors around and some have to do double duty -- and moved to the forefront of human activity, it wanted to be known as something that sounded less like 'flower arranger' and more like 'biker.' " You can see this is not your Aunt Matlida's bird book.

It is this perspective, however, that leads to what I consider a drawback to the book's over-all appeal. The occasional use of the lesser profanities seems to be Slinger's way of nudging the reader in the ribs and telling us he is not one of the stuffy tweed-underwear wearing Aunt Matildas. Thankfully, these instances are few.

It seems to be fashionable for humor writers today (Dave Barry, who the author is compared to on a front-cover blurb, is an example) to attempt to multi-layer jokes by use of footnotes. A good number of Slinger's footnoted asides hit the mark comedically and informational-wise, but some do no more than break the reader's reading rythym, lying on the bottom of the page like -- well, like the proverbial dead duck.

These complaints aside, "Down & Dirty Birding" is well worth reading. Mr. Slinger not only knows a lot about birds, but he enjoys them with a passion. He delightfully shares both with the reader.

Slinger is knowledgeable, irreverent, interesting, clear, funny, and very well worth reading. There are times when his breezy off-hand style seems a little forced, and his review of bird identification is basically a waste of space; but the book is a highly original approach to birding, and has much valuable information written in such an engaging light-hearted manner that I think every serious -- and not-so-serious -- birder would enjoy it.

I've never been able to enjoy technical manuals, and that is what most bird books are. This is a back-stage pass into birding. It reminds me of another all-time great manuals, Kayak, by the late William Nealy. I will never give another field guide without a companion copy of this wonderful, funny, engaging book.

A well-written book about birds; their behavior, their beauty, their evolution, and their ability to make humans do stupid things just to see them. This book is funny and informative...it's not a field guide, but a "Birds-for-Dummies".
My only negative comment is that the footnotes, as mentioned by another reviewer, become distracting after a time. As I got towards the end of the book, I would complete reading a page and only then check out the footnotes. If they offered additional information I'd refer back to the text, if not, I didn't have to break my concentration to refer to a often silly remark.
This is one book that I will keep right next to my collection of Sibley's, Peterson's, and Audubon Field Guides. A perfect gift for your birding friend, relative, co-worker (c'mon we all have one) that seems to have everthing.

Mr. Slinger correctly documented several conversations I've had with fellow birders: "What is it?" "Look it up." "I've dropped the field guide!" Several of my birding buddies are getting this book for Christmas. It was refreshing to find someone else who enjoys, is baffled, gets disappointed, frustrated but just can't stop birding. I now feel vindicated calling lbj's "who-who thingies."

How -- and why -- to pish.
The four courtship patterns of birds.
How to pronounce pyrrhuloxia.
How birds have solved the diaper problem.
Why to visit Niagara Falls in November.
On being a dork.

And other essential information for birders.

I'm glad I bought it.

Anyone who's ever seen a bird, or heard one, MUST read this book. It blows the soft-sided hiking boots off the birding cult. This Slinger guy is the first to recognize why park rangers wear brown shirts. I recommend this book for every freedom loving American.

There were very few pages in this book that did not bring a smile to my face at the very least, and quite a number of the pages brought me to full laughter. There were very few pages in this book that did not teach me something!

What we have here is an author, who is a very, very knowledgeable birder; one who has done his research and we have an author with an outrageous sense of humor who is able to articulate the ridiculous. We also have a writer who while obviously takes his birding quite serious, has not fallen into the trap f taking himself too serious. This is a wonderful combination. If you enjoy the work of Dave Barry; his style and sense of humor, then you certainly will enjoy Slinger. To be quite frank, I did not know that Canadians could be so funny.

Take great care here though and do realize that, as others here have pointed out, that this work is not the birding book that your normal button down type will have on his or her shelf...no, no, no! Some of the humor, again being quite honest, is more often noted in the locker rooms of the local high school or college gym, and not in your ordinary Bostonian Tea Room. This is okay though, as the author does it well; actually he quite often uses it in the form of drop lines that catch you off guard...making his comment all the more amusing. His use of the one-two-three punch line via the use of footnotes take a bit of getting use to at first, but once the reader gets use to it, the lost rhythm of the read is well worth it.

Slinger does take some pretty good shots at birders in general. I am embarrassed to tell you that more often than not, I was amused and horrified to see myself over and over again.

"Some hawk-watchers call other birds "dickey birds," and the birders who watch them "dickey-bird watchers." That gives you a pretty good idea of their point of view. Some hawk-watchers get out in even the foulest weather. These are known as "dumb-assed hawk-watchers."

In reference to the mating habits of prairie chickens or Shape-tailed Grouse, the author writes:

"Maybe 10 percent of the males do 75 percent of the shagging. Some guys just don't have what it takes."

Amongst the humor though is a tremendous amount of knowledge being offered. This information though is not doled out in crisp, dry text book fashion though, it woven in and out of a very readable narrative. It is a perfect example of learning a bunch of somewhat mundane information and enjoying and chuckling through every minute of it. Right away I was impressed with the no nonsense discussion of optics the author served up. I have been birding for well over 50 years now, read literally hundreds of books on the subject and have traveled far seeking elusive feathered creatures. Each birding outing makes me acutely aware of just how fence post ignorant I am on the subject of birds and the bits and pieces I picked up from this read just went further to prove the point of my acknowledged ignorance...I learned much!

As a birder, if you are able to laugh at yourself and all your little foibles and quirks, then you are going to enjoy this work greatly. If you are under the impression that you have "learned it all," then your system is in for a big shock. If you take yourself oh so very serious, then prepare to have your ego elbowed just a bit.

I will be giving this work a second and third read shortly.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks