“Everyone is a birdwatcher, but there are two kinds of birdwatchers: those who know what they are and those who haven’t realized it yet.” So begins The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature, Jonathan Rosen’s investigation into not only the history of bird watching but into its very underlying spirit. While others have previously produced histories of the activity, anthologies of its artistic creations both written and pictorial, and veritable libraries full of instructional guides, Mr. Rosen, an accomplished novelist and presently the editorial director at Nextbook, has in this present work given the bird watching community a portrait of itself that discloses many of its deeper psychological aspects that have been too often missed by previous authors. Read the rest of this entry »

PowellsBooks.Blog blogger Jill Owens has recently published her extensive and insightful interview with David Sibley. In their discussion, Mr. Sibley discusses at length his latest book, The Sibley Guide to Trees, as well as his thoughts about some other notable recent publications, including one of my own favorites, Jonathan Rosen’s The Life of the Skies.