num_pages: 384
description: What draws us to the beauty of a peacock the flight of an eagle or the song of a nightingale? Why are birds so significant in our lives and our sense of the world? And what do our ways of thinking about and experiencing birds tell us about ourselves? Birdscapes is a unique meditation on the variety of human responses to birds from antiquity to today and from casual observers to the globe-trotting twitchers who sometimes risk life limb and marriages simply to add new species to their life lists.Drawing extensively on literature history philosophy and science Jeremy Mynott puts his own experiences as a birdwatcher in a rich cultural context. His sources range from the familiar--Thoreau Keats Darwin and Audubon--to the unexpected--Benjamin Franklin Giacomo Puccini Oscar Wilde and Monty Python. Just as unusual are the extensive illustrations which explore our perceptions and representations of birds through images such as national emblems women's hats professional sports logos and a Christmas biscuit tin as well as classics of bird art. Each chapter takes up a new theme--from rarity beauty and sound to conservation naming and symbolism--and is set in a new place as Mynott travels from his home patch in Suffolk England to his away patch in New York City's Central Park as well as to Russia Australia and Greece.Conversational playful and witty Birdscapes gently leads us to reflect on large questions about our relation to birds and the natural world. It encourages birders to see their pursuits in a broader human context--and it shows nonbirders what they may be missing.
language: English
title: Birdscapes: Birds in Our Imagination and Experience
publisher: Princeton University Press