Customer Reviews

Parrots As a New Pet

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PARROTS AS A NEW PET is a useful, if not terribly inspiring book. The prose is utilitarian; you read what the writer views as the essential facts, but you don't get any sense of excitement about having a parrot as a pet. You think, a parrot as a pet? Cool! Pirates! Talking birds! That sounds like fun! Yet reading this book makes you think a little more about getting a dog.

So if the book has many of the basic facts that a new or prospective parrot proprietor would want, then what could the author have done to make this book better?

I would have had several suggestions as an editor:

(1) Have some fun with the topic! Tell us what's great about having a parrot as a pet!
(2) Leave the scientific (Latin) names for the index.
(3) Re-order the chapters: tell us about the various kinds of parrots ("Parrots for Beginners") before you tell us about how to buy a bird ("Stock Selection"). Give us the overview of parrot raising ("The Pet Parrot") before going to the specific topic chapters like "Feeding" and "Breeding."
(4) Arrange the illustrations so that they're adjacent to the relevant sections of the narrative.
(5) Finally, be frank. Is my house going to be full of bird feathers and poop?

If you're interested in raising a parrot as a beginner, and you don't need to be inspired to be a parrot owner, this book might serve your needs for general information.