News From Nowhere Radical & Community Bookshop

• home
• browse books
• book details:

The Magic and Mystery of Birds: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human

by Noah Strycker - £12.00  Souvenir Press Ltd (2015)
paperback    ISBN 13: 9780285643239 | ISBN 10: 0285643231

Why do birds do what they do, and how do they offer a glimpse into the nature of humanity?
 
From the life-long relationships of the albatross, the remarkable memory of the nutcracker and other avian mysteries Noah Strycker illuminates the startlingly intimate coexistence of birds and humans.
 
“In almost any realm of bird behaviour – reproduction, populations, movements, daily rhythms, communication, navigation, intelligence, and so on – there are deep and meaningful parallels with our own.”
 
Noah Strycker has spent the last decade studying bird behaviour in some of the world’s remotest places – from a penguin colony in Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, the Australian outback, the Galápagos Islands – and has observed almost 2,500 species of birds. Noah has come to understand that birds are lively, unpredictable individuals loaded with personality and, if you look closely enough, birds have human counterparts.
 
From the homing instinct of pigeons (and the mystery of the pigeon equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle in eastern England) and testing the turkey vulture’s sense of smell with a deer carcass, to the reason behind a penguin’s fear of water and lack of fear of humans, even the courtship rituals of Australia’s winged Casanova, the bowerbird, by studying birds, we ultimately learn about ourselves. As we learn about birds, we gain insights into memory, relationships, game theory and the nature of intelligence itself.
 
Drawing on cutting-edge scientific research, along with his personal experience, and colourful anecdotes The Magic and Mystery of Birds is a thoughtful and engaging look at how the life of birds connects with humanity.
 
Noah Strycker is a photographer, writer and associate editor of Birding magazine. He has been an on-board ornithologist on a cruise ship in Antarctica, and has also written for a wide variety of bird magazines. He is also the author of Among Penguins: A Bird Man in Antarctica.
 
This year, Noah is travelling through 35 countries on all seven continents, hoping to see at least 5000 species of birds and set a new world record. You can follow his adventures via his blog, www.audubon.org/noah or on Twitter via @NoahStrycker. To visit Noah’s website, go to noahstrycker.com.

(Price & availability last checked: September 2015)

Order by email

×

The Magic and Mystery of Birds: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human - by Noah Strycker

Please fill in the order form, & we will reply as soon as we can to confirm your order & tell you how long it will take. Choose between collection from our bookshop or mail-order, for which we charge postage at cost, at current Royal Mail rates

Select type of order: Collect & pay in the shop - I live in or can visit Liverpool Mail-order - send me a card payment link Mail-order - I will pay another way & give details in the notes section

Your name:

Please fill out this field.

Your email address

Please check carefully that you have entered your email correctly

Please fill out this field.

Your phone number (required for order as back-up contact method):

Please check carefully that you have entered your phone number correctly.

Please fill out this field.

Notes (optional - for additional message or information about your order):

Close

Enquire about this book

×

The Magic and Mystery of Birds: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human

by Noah Strycker

Your name:

Please fill out this field.

Your email address

Please check carefully that you have entered your email correctly

Please fill out this field.

Your phone number (optional):

Your message:

Please fill out this field.

(optional) If you are interested in ordering this book, would your order be for collection or mail-order? Select type of order : Collect from the shop - I live in or can visit Liverpool Mail-order - send by post

Close

Featured book: Recommended books for Yuletide 2015!,
In booklists: Birds and Birdwatching,
In categories: Environment & Animal Rights,