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Bird School: A Beginner in the Wood
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66/99
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70/99
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About This Book
From the bestselling and award-winning nature writer Adam Nicolson, a glorious new adventure into the British wilderness.By Adam Nicolson's home, there is a forgotten field overrun by bracken and thicketed by brambles. It is passed through by deer, wild boar and many birds – nightingales who sing in the evening, a cuckoo, turtle doves, pheasants, robins, owls. A couple of years ago, he deicide to embark on an attempt to redress his ignorance, to encounter birds, to engage with this marvellous layer of life he had so far looked past. He wanted to look and listen, to return to 'bird school' and see what it might teach him.This gorgeous book is the result, tracing Adam's adventure setting up a small shed on the edge of the field and getting to know the where they nest, how they sing, how they mate and fight, what preys on them, what they are like as living things. It beautifully written and woven through with philosophy, literature, science and emotion. Bird School pulls back the curtain on seemingly ordinary birds, and exposes our relationship as people with the wild.
Reviews
"He only loses focus when, on occasion, he ventures too far afield ..."
"Stands as a strong message to value what we have while we still have it."
"He also draws attention to the ways human activity, like intensive farming, has caused bird populations to plummet in recent decades."
"Like one of the nests Nicolson finds on his property, it's been deftly assembled ..."
"Nicolson's solutions may be more applicable to those who own large swaths of land or work in environmental policy, but the book's wider point can inspire any of its readers: If we learn to pay attention to the world around us, we'll become a part of it again."
"Often a bit over-the-top, especially at first, as Nicolson's literary quirks seep into the prose, bogging down the narrative with literary allusions and purple prose ..."
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