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Product Details
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press; F First Edition edition (January 29, 2013)
The most fascinating book on birds has just been added to my library.
Katrina van Grouw takes away the feathers and displays the muscular system. Then she peels back the muscles to reveal the skeletal structures. She takes a closer look at bird skulls and feet. The artwork evokes the feeling of walking through a dinosaur museum marveling at each splendid exhibit or of finding an ancient DaVinci sketch and wondering if you need white gloves on to be turning pages. The illustrations are very interesting and morbidly cool. Many of the featherless illustrations have the birds posed in natural positions, sometimes in quirky poses, and sometimes in a form that I can only describe as roadkill position. I found the experience of perusing the pages to be humorous and yet moving.
van Grouw's text describing what she's showing in the artwork is equally wonderful and enlightening. The Unfeathered Bird reveals things about birds that you may never have imagined, like the coiled wind-pipe of the Trumpet Manucode. Amazing!
Interestingly, John Muir Laws recommends in his guide to drawing birds that successful bird artists must have an understanding of what is under the feathers. The same applies to birders. While this book is unlike any other bird book I've ever seen, it's a masterpiece of art and knowledge. It will take you on a journey of discovery that will help you understand the history of evolution of birds as well as deepening your understanding and appreciation of modern day bird behavior.
- Robert Mortensen [...]
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
I'm a creature artist by nature and I've managed to amass a decent collection of good reference books over time. I've had this one two days and it is already in my 'top 5'. Each drawing is very well rendered and the information that accompanies them is very informative. I've learned more about birds reading this book then I've learned from any documentary, bio professor or bird guide (the bio professor I work with actually tried to steal it). The book itself is well put together and the pages are of good quality. Whether your a bird lover or another artist like me looking for some excellent bird reference, this book is well worth it.
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Sometimes a book leaves you breathless. Simply breathless.
In The Unfeathered Bird, Katrina van Grouw exquisitely combines creative and intellectual curiosity and produces a wonderful book. The Unfeathered Bird simply is a delight. Each page I turned over was like reliving the awe and discovery of childhood. Broad strokes of creativity confined and structured within the natural anatomy of birds. Raw curiosity and intrigue drawn patiently one pencil stroke at a time illustrating our unfeathered friends.
With over 380 accurate illustrations of birds' skeletons coupled with pithy and easily digestible ornithological tidbits devoid of OTJ (ornithological techno jargon), The Unfeathered Bird simply will be the bird book to which all others masters' work will be compared to.
This is the bird book that is for equally readily available to the ornithologist, to the artist, to the inquisitive mind, and to that person who needs a special coffee table book to showcase at home. Framed by the rich history of historical illustrated natural history books on the one hand and by the clear descriptive storytelling embedded in the Sibley Guide to Birds and Roger Tory Peterson's seminal birdbooks, The Unfeathered Bird will capture, hold, enhance and enlarge your imagination.
Many of these species have never been previously illustrated. By focusing on the skeletons of various species, what may appear to be mundane is brought to life. Things we would not usually consider are demonstrated--such as the shortness of the femur in many birds. Detailed anatomical drawings provide keys to avian behavior.Read more ›
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I'm an student studying scientific illustration. I bought this book both because I admire the artwork, which is stunning, and because I'm building a collection of good anatomy resources. The wide variety of poses that the artist chose for her subjects are lively and engaging, and have clarified questions left by the standard lateral static pose in other bird anatomy books.
The artwork is detailed, clear, and beautifully printed. It includes everything from small details of anatomy to full skeletons. The text is informative without being dauntingly scientific. Together they describe the fascinating variety to be found in birds around the world.
I would be delighted with this book even if I weren't looking for resources as an artist. It's a beautifully crafted look into avian form and function.
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Katrina van Grouw's The Unfeathered Bird is extraordinary. Her knowledge and understanding of bird life are informative at the deepest levels - how their bodies work and why - and she has produced her book for the fascinated lay reader, though it has much to offer the biologist, as well. The drawings are miracles of precision and feeling. Studying them, I experienced, again and again, just a little flash of what it is like to be a bird before the shackles of my own, quite different, senses and capabilities closed me in again. This is surely one of the reasons some of us continue to explore other species' lives and senses whenever we get the chance. This book offers some new nugget whenever I return to it.
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