"The authors' use of birds as a binding motif gives their book appeal and coherence, and the selection of art is eclectic and apt."-Timothy Goldsmith, Yale University (Timothy Goldsmith 20090101)
"The authors lead us through a wonderland where science and art intersect."-Thomas E. Lovejoy, co-author of Climate Change and Biodiversity (Thomas E. Lovejoy 20090308)
"A half-century ago, George M. Sutton's essay 'Is Bird-art Art?' began the rehabilitation of avian art in fine art circles. Humans, Nature, and Birds, in an elegant survey of the grand interplay of bird art and ornithology, makes the definitive case."-H. Douglas Pratt, Research Curator of Birds, North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences (H. Douglas Pratt 20081201)
"Just as a glass of a fine wine is meant to be enjoyed sip by sip, this book will be enjoyed page by page. Its . . . thought-provoking images depict our age-old fascination with birds, ranging from the owl traced 30,000 years ago in Chauvet Cave, to the goshawk attacking grouse in a dramatic modern painting."-Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography at UCLA and author of the Pulitzer-prize-winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond 20090401)
"Masterfully demonstrates how art connects people to nature, advances science, and helps protect our environment. I'll never look at nature art the same way again."-John Flicker, President, National Audubon Society (John Flicker 20090401)
"Reading this book is like having a friend with a key to the natural history art museum. The authors take us on an excursion, conveying palpable delight in works of art from across the spectrum of time and around the world. "-Julie Zickefoose, artist and author of Letters from Eden (Julie Zickefoose 20081006)
"Tells a powerful and well-documented story of the interconnectedness of creative expression and birds, building a sound case for recognizing Science Art as a genre."-Kathy Kelsey Foley, Director, Woodson Art Museum (Kathy Kelsey Foley )
"Birds were there-on cave walls and rock shelters thirty millennia ago, on Egyptian tombs, in Joseph Wright's painting from the dawn of the Industrial Age, in Roger Tory Peterson's first biodiversity guide, and today, where art is the only record of many species now gone forever. Wheye and Kennedy assemble the ultimate exhibition of bird art, with detailed notes that say so much about our world and our view of it."-Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology, Duke University (Stuart Pimm )
"Beautifully examines where science and art overlap through the common territory of observation-and the human urge to both make sense of and embrace the great unknown."-James Prosek, painter and author (James Prosek )
"The authors take us in a new direction-an edgy new direction-and force us to consider broadly the relation between art and science"-Alan Brush, University of Connecticut (Alan Brush )
"Informative and stimulating, a must-read book for any who have derided bird art in the past. It will change your thinking."-Dave Gagon, Deseret News (Dave Gagon
Deseret News )
"[A] novel and fascinating volume. . . . It is an enthusiastic and enlightening account of the diverse ways our understanding of bird biology has been enhanced by art. . . . . The scientific monitoring of bird populations, motivated largely by a love of birds, provides a sensitive and accurate barometer of the quality of life. This book is a celebration of that fact."-Tim Birkhead, IBIS (Tim Birkhead
IBIS )
"The images and captions in Humans, Nature, and Birds are all well-chosen, and the captions have the feel of an entertaining and informative gallery talk. Together they form a compelling exploration of one of the areas of life which is a source of great satisfaction for me and for so many fellow birders. This is one of my favorite books of 2008."-Wayne Mones, Audubon Magazine (Wayne Mones
Audubon Magazine )
"Humans, Nature, and Birds [contains] 69 pieces of bird art-from 30,000 year-old cave art to works by Audubon, Charley Harper, Robert Bateman, Vadim Gorbatov, and other artists-and what each says about our evolving understanding of nature.-Birder's World (
Birder's World )
"This is a most unique, unusual, and thought provoking book."-Wildlife Activist (
Wildlife Activist )
"Humans, Nature, and Birds is a book from which scientists can learn about art, and artists can learn about science. It is challenging to integrate diverse fields, but this book does so effectively, mostly with non-technical language that makes it accessible to a wide readership."-Northwest Science (
Northwest Science )
"Wheye and Kennedy take a close look at humanity's relationship with birds. . . . They arrange this art . . . in a kind of virtual 'gallery' that tells, room by room, of birds as symbols, a natural resource, exemplars of important biological principles or as species useful in encouraging conservation. And they describe art that reveals bird behavior-individual, intraspecies and interspecies, including relations between birds and people."-Cornelia Dean, New York Times (Cornelia Dean
New York Times )
