What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future
by Jim Robbins
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2017
352 pages
Genre: Science, Health and the Environment
Publication Information
A fascinating investigation into the miraculous world of birds and the powerful - and surprising - ways they enrich our lives and sustain the planet
Our relationship to birds is different from our relationship to any other wild creatures. They are found virtually everywhere and we love to watch them, listen to them, keep them as pets, wear their feathers, even converse with them. Birds, Jim Robbins posits, are our most vital connection to nature. They compel us to look to the skies, both literally and metaphorically; draw us out into nature to seek their beauty; and let us experience vicariously what it is like to be weightless. Birds have helped us in so many of our human endeavors: learning to fly, providing clothing and food, and helping us better understand the human brain and body. And they even have much to teach us about being human in the natural world.
This book illuminates qualities unique to birds that demonstrate just how invaluable they are to humankind—both ecologically and spiritually. The wings of turkey buzzards influenced the Wright brothers' flight design; the chickadee's song is considered by scientists to be the most sophisticated language in the animal world and a "window into the evolution of our own language and our society"; and the quietly powerful presence of eagles in the disadvantaged neighborhood of Anacostia, in Washington, D.C., proved to be an effective method for rehabilitating the troubled young people placed in charge of their care.
Exploring both cutting-edge scientific research and our oldest cultural beliefs, Robbins moves these astonishing creatures from the background of our lives to the foreground, from the quotidian to the miraculous, showing us that we must fight to save imperiled bird populations and the places they live, for the sake of both the planet and humankind.
"Starred Review. In this deeply felt and well-supported argument for avians' value to humankind, science writer Robbins hits the full trifecta for engrossing and satisfying nature writing." - Publishers Weekly
"Of wide-ranging significance, this offering will appeal to naturalists, anthropologists, linguists, and even philosophers as well as to lay readers." - Library Journal
"Using enchanting stories and rich historical references, Jim Robbins explores the role of birds on the evolution of human self-awareness." - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
"It's one for the birds - what a wonderful book! It will give you wings." - Rita Mae Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle
"The Wonder of Birds provides a great and well-timed gift: a portrait of the quiet miracles around us on each day of our ordinary lives." - Michael Punke, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Revenant
"Jim Robbins writes masterfully, with lucid prose and deep insight into the human psyche and natural world. In The Wonder of Birds he illuminates the realm of this extraordinary creature that is both a miracle of physiology and a poetic manifestation of our own transcendence." - Peter Stark, author of Astoria
"A peregrine falcon and a loggerhead shrike, my flying friends, came into the garden the day The Wonder of Birds arrived. I'm surprised they didn't fly away with it - this exciting book of nature." - Diana Beresford-Kroeger, author of The Global Forest
"Jim Robbins's insight has brought even more perspective into a world I have been discovering most of my life and career with birds." - Steve Malowski, aviculturist, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden<
This information about The Wonder of Birds was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jim Robbins has written for The New York Times for more than thirty-five years. He has also written for numerous magazines, including Audubon, Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian, Scientific American, Vanity Fair, The Sunday Times, and Conservation. He has covered environmental and science stories across the United States and around the globe. Robbins is the author of The Man Who Planted Trees: A Story of Lost Groves, the Science of Trees, and a Plan to Save the Planet; Last Refuge: The Environmental Showdown in the American West; and A Symphony in the Brain: The Evolution of the New Brain Wave Biofeedback. He is also the co-author of The Open-Focus Brain and Dissolving Pain. He lives in Helena, Montana.
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