The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology [Hardcover]

Tim Birkhead (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 14, 2008

What the birds have taught us: a gorgeously rendered and comprehensive history of ornithology, from folklore to facts—the perfect gift for bird enthusiasts everywhere.

Leading ornithologist Tim Birkhead takes readers on a journey through the wonderful world of birds: conception and egg, territory and song, breeding and migration. In the process, he reveals how birders have overcome centuries-old superstitions and untested truths to achieve a firmer understanding of birds. He also details when and how this knowledge was first acquired, detailing the various myths and misconceptions that were believed to be true throughout the ages and when they were finally corrected. 

Conceived for a general audience, and illustrated throughout with more than one hundred exquisitely beautiful illustrations, many of them rarely if ever seen before, The Wisdom of Birds is a book full of stories, knowledge, and unexpected revelations. Engaging and accessible, it is an illustrated history of birds—and all they have taught us.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'There are plenty of writers who have an understanding of natural science, and there are plenty of scientists who try to write. But there are precious few with the combined abilities of Professor Tim Birkhead. His instinct for the stories within ornithology and his gift for making technical matters accessible and simple are rare talents indeed.' Mark Cocker, naturalist and co-author of 'Birds Britannica' PRAISE FOR 'THE RED CANARY' 'His expert grasp of the science involved is to be expected from a professor of behaviour and evolution. What is more surprising is his capacity to make it not just comprehensible, but fascinating.' New Statesman 'In relating this complex story, Tim Birkhead reveals much of himself as well as his topic, and he is an entertaining communicator.' The Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Tim Birkhead is a professor at the University of Sheffield, where he teaches animal behavior and the history of science. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of London and his research has taken him all over the world in the quest to understand the lives of birds. He has written for the Independent, New Scientist, and BBC Wildlife. He is the author of Promiscuity, Great Auk Islands, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Birds, which won the McColvin medal, and The Red Canary, which won the Consul Cremer Prize.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1st American Edition edition (October 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596915412
• ISBN-13: 978-1596915411
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #175,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Ornithology
  • #92 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Birds & Birdwatching > Field Guides

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The History of Ornithology Illustrates the Triumph of Science January 19, 2009

By R. Hardy HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Everyone watches birds. Not everyone has binoculars, or takes hikes to see particular specimens to include on a life list. No one, however, can help but enjoy the sight of a wedge of geese in the sky, or two mockingbirds jumping up and down at each other, or hummingbirds shimmering in the face of garden flowers. So it isn't surprising that there should be a long history of bird observation, at first deeply imbued with folklore, then with religious interpretation, and finally with scientific rigor. In _The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology_ (Bloomsbury), ornithologist Tim Birkhead has looked at aspects of bird behavior as we have come to understand it, from Aristotle to the present. Each of his chapters covers one topic, like migration, birdsong, or territory; and he goes back to the earliest understandings of each and brings us up to date. This is an exemplary way to look at one of humans' most admirable traits, the desire better to understand nature, and to see how much better we have gotten at it (and how much more we still have to learn). Birkhead is a witty teacher who can tell a good story to illustrate a point, in clear, prose without jargon. To emphasize the historic aspect of his book, his gorgeous illustrations of birds (even when referring to twentieth century experiments) are all from past centuries, showing how much attention different bird guides had given toward getting details right.

Birkhead introduces us to John Ray, who he considers the greatest of ornithologists. Ray (1622 - 1705) championed the remarkable innovation of getting out to hunt evidence down not in ancient books but in the field with his own eyes and ears. Ray got answers to many questions about bird behavior, but Birkhead points out that, more importantly, he asked the right questions about birds, questions to which we now have at least partial answers. One of the questions Ray asked about birds was just how it was that eggs could be fertilized and turn into chicks. William Harvey (who is more famous for establishing how blood circulates) fastened onto this question. He couldn't find semen anywhere in hens after copulation, and so fell back (with dissatisfaction) on the older explanation that the ovum played the primary role in reproduction while the semen acted "in an ethereal manner" and added nothing materially to the developing embryo. Ray understood that the sperm in semen and the ovum probably united to make the new embryo, but he didn't like the idea much. He could not accept that God would be profligate with sperm, saying that the millions of sperm manufactured and lost "seems not agreeable to the wisdom and providence of Nature." In the chapter on infidelity among birds, Birkhead writes that ministers might instruct their flocks to emulate the sober, unpretentiously dressed, and strictly monogamous birds of the field. They were wrong about the monogamy, but so was Darwin. The pattern for male birds when faced with such promiscuity is to produce lots of sperm and perform lots of coitus. Ray asked, in the unsparing prose of the seventeenth century, "Why should there be implanted in each sex such a vehement and inexpugnable appetite of copulation?" He, and Darwin, and Victorian churchmen might be shocked by the answer, for the answer is female promiscuity.

In each chapter Birkhead traces our understanding of particular behavior in birds and thus repeatedly shows the triumph of scientific explanations. He describes wonderfully clever experiments, like the ones to show how male canaries with the more complicated songs stimulated the females to build their nests faster. He shows how the observations of field ornithologists eventually brought forth the concept of male birds guarding a territory, and that such birds competed for territory directly, and only indirectly did they compete for females. To introduce the investigations of how bird embryos become male or female, he tells us about the cock who was accused of laying eggs in 1474 in Switzerland. The cock was found guilty and burned at the stake. Birkhead examines how bird catchers of old would keep their captives in the dark and then unveil them into a false spring, artificially maximizing the months during which the birds would sing; these were lessons that researchers determining how light affects the bird breeding cycle had to relearn. This is the story not of what we know about birds, although much of what we know is on display here. It is the more important narrative of how we came to know what we know, an inspiring examination of human enquiry.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful history of science July 22, 2009

By E. N. Anderson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

History of science can be fun--this is a thoroughly enjoyable book. Tim Birkhead is a fine storyteller. He also makes the point, very well indeed, that biologists should know the history of their discipline. This not only lets them avoid reinventing the wheel; it also teaches how science develops and can develop.
As one who was lured from studying bird behavior to studying human behavior (anthropology) half a century ago, I loved reading about the controversies that were so exciting in those days--now ancient history. I briefly re-lived the excitement of seeing Lack triumph over Wynne-Edwards; back then in the 1950s, I was initially convinced by Wynne-Edwards but overwhelming evidence convinced me otherwise. If those names don't register, read this book! The controversy is still important.
Birkhead is very good on the history of bird song research. Birds learn their songs, with innate patterns guiding the process. When I was a student, this was new information--disproving the idea that birds are mindless automatons that act only through "instinct." Today, we realize that not only do birds learn a great deal; we know humans have many innate patterns shaping our learning. The old Cartesian nonsense about humans being purely creatures of reason, while "animals" are purely machines, was still around when I was a student. Thanks to real science, we know better, and the gap between people and birds has narrowed rather notably.
One thing though: Birkhead is a relentless individual-selection advocate. The book is strikingly silent on W. D. Hamilton's kin-selection research and its revolutionary effects on ornithology in the last 20 years. Birds are highly social, and calculate a great deal about how their behavior affects others in their kingroup. I was just reminded of this, watching crows mob an owl near my house; a pathetic pile of black feathers under the owl's tree reminded me why crows mob owls, and how much risk they take in doing it. They risk dying to save their relatives by driving off the owl.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bird keepers and birders rejoice! November 8, 2010

By Afan of Sitagyl Manor

Format:Hardcover

I am a bird keeper, bird photographer, and a world birder, and was enthralled by this fascinating and aesthetic book. The beautiful illustrations are just wonderful and very well chosen. A delicious read. I loved learning about the European bird catchers and training of singing birds, and about the strange old time beliefs about wild birds (barnacle geese, swallows hibernating underwater, etc). A great read if you are as obsessed with birds as I am. I hated to finish this book, I wanted more!