num_pages: 352
description: Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: aerodynamic insulating beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history as feathers have been used to fly protect attract and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists ornithologists biologists engineers and even art historians Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us? Engineers call feathers the most efficient insulating material ever discovered and they are at the root of biology's most enduring debate. They silence the flight of owls and keep penguins dry below the ice. They have decorated queens jesters and priests. And they have inked documents from the Constitution to the novels of Jane Austen. Feathers is a captivating and beautiful exploration of this most enchanting object.
language: English
title: Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle
publisher: Basic Books