Dear John / everyone,
I was thinking of posting a review of this book too, but I was going to say I
think it is an excellent book which I strongly recommend!
I’ve previously read The Wisdom of Birds by the lead author, Tim Birkhead.
This book takes a similar approach; it is a historical study of how our
understanding of various areas of ornithological knowledge has developed over
time. It covers a variety of areas ranging from taxonomy and the relationship
between birds and dinosaurs, through to migration and group ecology. In the
introduction they say they started planning the book by asking a number of
scientists who they regarded the most influential ornithologists of the
twentieth century. The top ten are all featured to various degrees in the
book, particularly the top names such as David Lack, Ernst Mayr and Niko
Tinbergen. But it was interesting to see how many of the results and theories
of those top ten are now seen as wrong or at least grossly oversimplified.
I found the mixture of big picture overview and personal anecdotes from key
players made an effective and engaging story. I can understand your criticism
and yes there were a couple of areas where I’d have liked more detail to be
provided. But I didn’t find that distracted my overall positive impression.
Anyway, people can have a look at their website, www.myriadbirds.com and read
the samples. They are planning on posting the audio recordings of their
interviews with various ornithologists on the website in the next few months,
which I am looking forward to.
Murray Lord
_______________________________________________
Birding-Aus mailing list
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
|
