One of the true joys of both reading and bird study is the practice of simply doing it for unapologetic personal pleasure. In the world of books, the trend toward “utilitarian books,” those intended to impart to the reader some great secret that will improve their business, romantic life, or cholesterol levels has largely displaced many older genres that really made reading an enjoyable part of life. Of these, the miscellany has perhaps suffered most. Lacking a Puritanically measurable purpose, these wonderful collections of facts, literary snippets, personal reflections, and assorted other discoveries, despite being a bane to classification and stocking for the modern bookseller, are a genuine joy to read. Fortunately, the authors and publisher of Winged Wonders: A Celebration of Birds in Human History have defied this trend and given us all a gift for which we should be most grateful. Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to true love’s kiss, praise of one’s native land, and longing for one’s absent beloved, birds have long been the one of the most popular subjects for poetry. From Catullus’ sparrow through Poe’s raven, birds have been admired, envied, questioned, debated, tasked, consulted, and meditated upon in verse for centuries. The reasons for this are not hard to comprehend – most birds can do the one thing humans cannot but dearly wish they could: fly. From this mankind has traditionally inferred them to possess absolute freedom and endowed them with all the powers such a miraculous state of being is assumed to bestow. However in the modern world, just as the style of verse has changed dramatically, so have the uses of its traditional metaphors and imagery. Romanticism has been replaced by an unvarnished realism. In Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems about Birds, verse reflecting both the old and the new poetic understanding and inclusion of birds has been collected and is presented in conjunction with contemporary illustrations of the avian world to both entertain as well as inspire the reader to deeper consideration of just what role these marvelous creatures now play in our collective literary imagination. Read the rest of this entry »