BIRDS AND BOOKS READING GROUP
Archives of all the Books we've read by year
In case you want to find a book to read about Birds, Nature, Evolution, Adventure....
Archives of all the Books we've read by year
In case you want to find a book to read about Birds, Nature, Evolution, Adventure....
2017 BIRDS AND BOOKS
January 17, 2017
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING, by Naomi Klein
The most important book yet from the author of the international bestseller The Shock Doctrine, a brilliant explanation of why the climate crisis challenges us to abandon the core “free market” ideology of our time, restructure the global economy, and remake our political systems. Klein meticulously builds the case for how massively reducing our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce gaping inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies, and rebuild our gutted local economies. She exposes the ideological desperation of the climate-change deniers, the messianic delusions of the would-be geo-engineers, and the tragic defeatism of too many mainstream green initiatives. And she demonstrates precisely why the market has not— and cannot—fix the climate crisis but will instead make things worse, with ever more extreme and ecologically damaging extraction methods, accompanied by rampant disaster capitalism. The changes to our relationship with nature and one another that are required to respond to the climate crisis humanely should be viewed as a kind of gift—a catalyst to transform broken economic and cultural priorities and to heal long-festering historical wounds.
February 21, 2017
DOLPHIN DIARIES, by Denise L. Herzing
Dr. Denise Herzing began her research with a pod of spotted dolphins in the 1980s. Now, almost three decades later, she has forged strong ties with many of these individuals, has witnessed and recorded them feeding, playing, fighting, mating, giving birth and communicating. Dolphin Diaries is an account of Herzing's research and her surprising findings on wild dolphin behavior, interaction, and communication. Readers will be drawn into the highs and lows―the births and deaths, the discovery of unique and personalized behaviors, the threats dolphins face from environmental changes, and the many funny and wonderful encounters Denise painstakingly documented over many years. This is the perfect book for anyone who loves these incredibly versatile and intelligent creatures and wants to find out more than the dolphin show at the zoo can offer. Herzing is a true pioneer in her field and deserves a place in the pantheon of naturalists and scientists next to Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall.
March 21, 2017
THE INVENTION OF NATURE, by Andrea Wulf
Go all around the globe with Alexander von Humbold, explore deep into rain forests, climb the world’s highest volcanoes, influence princes, presidents, scientists and poets alike. His thinking was so far ahead of his time that it is only coming into its own now. He wanted to know and understand everything, and in doing so he invented the way we now look at nature. He inspired Charles Darwin and fueled Simon Bolivar’s revolution. Wulf will illustrate just why his life, ideas and philosophy remain so important today.
April 18, 2017
THE FEATHERY TRIBE: ROBERT RIDGWAY AND THE MODERN STUDY OF BIRDS, by Daniel Lewis
This book gives long due tribute to the shy, impassioned man, the Smithsonian's first curator of birds, who was so instrumental to the emergence of professional ornithology. It does so as it masterfully explores the history of that science. It also helps us better understand how science is practiced today, including tensions between indoor and outdoor work. Lewis helps us to appreciate what it took for bird-lovers to cross the bridge from old school natural history, suffused with belief in the immutability of species, to Darwinian evolutionary theory. He makes us appreciate the massive amount of exhausting, meticulous work that went into classification and clarifying names of species at this crossroads.
May 16, 2017
THE GENIUS OF BIRDS, by Jennifer Ackerman
Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. In The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman explores the newly discovered brilliance of birds and how it came about. As she travels around the world to the most cutting-edge frontiers of research
the distant laboratories of Barbados and New Caledonia, the great tit communities of the United Kingdom and the bowerbird habitats of Australia, the ravaged mid-Atlantic coast after Hurricane Sandy and the warming mountains of central Virginia and the western states
Ackerman not only tells the story of the recently uncovered genius of birds but also delves deeply into the latest findings about the bird brain itself that are revolutionizing our view of what it means to be intelligent. But beyond highlighting how birds use their unique genius in technical ways, Ackerman points out the impressive social smarts of birds. They deceive and manipulate. They eavesdrop. They display a strong sense of fairness. They give gifts. They play keep-away and tug-of-war. They tease. They share. They cultivate social networks. They vie for status. They kiss to console one another. They teach their young. They blackmail their parents. They alert one another to danger. They summon witnesses to the death of a peer. They may even grieve. This elegant scientific investigation and travelogue weaves personal anecdotes with fascinating science. Ackerman delivers an extraordinary story that will both give readers a new appreciation for the exceptional talents of birds and let them discover what birds can reveal about our changing world.
August 15, 2017
ARE WE SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW HOW SMART ANIMALS ARE? by Frans de Waal
In this New York Times bestseller, de Waal asks this question: what separates your mind from an animals? Elephants, crows, bats, whales, wasps and octopuses all amaze with their feats of memory and cognition. This book reviews the rise and fall of the mechanistic view of animals and opens our minds to the idea that animal minds are far more intricate and complex than we have assumed. De Waal’s landmark work will convince you to rethink everything you thought you knew about animal―and human―intelligence.
32 illlustrations
September 19, 2017
THE HIDDEN LIVES OF OWLS, by Leigh Calvez.
A naturalist probes the forest, mainly at night, to comprehend the secret lives of owls in this book that will appeal to readers of "Crow Planet "and "H is for Hawk." These birds are a bit mysterious, and that’s part of what makes them so fascinating. Calvez makes the science entertaining and accessible while exploring the questions about the human-animal connection, owl obsession, habitat, owl calls, social behavior, and mythology.
eBook, 224 pages
Published August 16th 2016 by Sasquatch Books
October 17, 2017
SEA FEVER, by Anne Cleeves
Amateur sleuth George Palmer-Jones and his fellow bird-watchers abroad the Jessie Ellen catch sight of a rare sea bird. But when one of the party goes missing and is found, floating in the sea, his head bludgeoned, Palmer-Jones must found out who murdered the man, and why.
Mass Market Paperback, 192 pages
