Year on the Wing and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.94 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
A Year on the Wing: Four Seasons in a Life with Birds
 
 
Start reading Year on the Wing on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

A Year on the Wing: Four Seasons in a Life with Birds [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Tim Dee (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover, Bargain Price $9.60  
Hardcover, Deckle Edge, October 20, 2009 --  
Paperback, Bargain Price $5.70  
This Book Is Bound with "Deckle Edge" Paper
You may have noticed that some of our books are identified as "deckle edge" in the title. Deckle edge books are bound with pages that are made to resemble handmade paper by applying a frayed texture to the edges. Deckle edge is an ornamental feature designed to set certain titles apart from books with machine-cut pages. See a larger image.

Book Description

October 20, 2009
Birds—those “upgiven ghosts” who shape our skies—and their many styles of flying have inspired us for centuries. Enthralled with birds since he was a young boy, Tim Dee describes their allure in compelling, poetic prose as he follows these magnificent creatures on land, at sea, and in the air over the course of a year. A memoir of the author’s life as well as a stirring account of bird migrations and the enticements of flight, the book explores the ideas and feelings that birds awaken by their flying.

A Year on the Wing is also a significant chronicle of Dee’s rich reading of a gorgeous literary and naturalist tradition about birds, and achieves a marvelous commingling of nature and language, finding meaning and a fascinating beauty in the quiver of a redstart’s tail, in the thrilling skydiving stoop of the once-endangered now resurgent peregrine falcon, and the nocturnal restlessness of migrant woodcocks. Watching birds instills a renewed sense of wonder in us all, and this beautifully written memoir celebrates birds and the inspiration they give as it expands our horizons.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Distilled from one year of introspective observation, 40 years of attentive bird watching and a pantheon of literary references, this fiercely poetic memoir expresses a magical love of nature's migratory feathered marvels. Dee, a BBC radio producer and editor (The Poetry of Birds), began his romance with birds at age three, enthralled by the sight of a swallow's nest. By age seven, he was following birds on the wing with his first pair of binoculars, and in later years bemused his tolerant children with bizarre holiday excursions to spot previously unseen species. Far more than a recitation of rare birds sighted, however, Dee's gripping meditation offers a cornucopia of resonant sonic and lyrical images: a Zambian sprosser emits a beautiful mud gurgle; a flycatcher's silver notes are thrown like meltwater; thousands of starlings are the condensing breath of the earth. In one particularly poignant passage, Dee takes to the skies in a glider to soar with buzzards in a shared chimney of air. Page after lyrical page, this account articulates the author's fascination with the world's birds with airy, artful grace. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Dee is a captivating writer—almost every sentence contains surprises and flourishes. A rich book by a skillful, contemplative wordsmith." --Library Journal --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Free Press (October 20, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416559337
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416559337
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,021,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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

 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars the writing sings, February 20, 2011
This is one of the most beautifully written books I've read in years. I hesitate to call it nature writing since the author is clearly uncomfortable with that label but it celebrates the wonders of nature, in the forms of the birds he's been observing since his childhood. The chapters are organized by months and each month has a theme, for instance, migration or death. Dee moves back and forth in time, sharing experiences across a lifetime of watching birds, and includes references to literature about birds, from the well-known Romantic poets to eccentric, obsessive birders (is that simply redundant?). Dee is obviously an obsessive, one with an eye for accurate observation and a soaring gift with words.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Unreadable, January 4, 2011
By 
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
I thought the book would be a diary of bird sightings -- and maybe it was. But the prose is simply unreadable. Pick up any paragraph and the eyes glaze after a few lines: "Migration cannot but seem a mystery. There have been decades of studies from Fair Isle and elsewhere: ringing and radar, tracking and tagging; robins kept in cages flooded with artificial sunshine; pigeons fitted with magnetic skullcaps and opaque contact lenses; Manx shearwaters transported from their nesting burrows in west Wales and tossed back into the air outside St. Mark's in Venice to see if they can make it home." Typical of writing.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:


Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Create a Listmania! list

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject