LAS Birds & Books Reading Group
Birds & Books is a flock of readers interested in books about nature, especially birds and birding. You are encouraged to attend a meeting to see if this group is for you.
Meets - 3rd Tuesday of the month-7:00-8:30 pm
Sundance Bookstore
1155 W. 4th Street
# 106-Keystone Square Shopping Center
For more information, please contact coordinator Kenn Rohrs at karohrs@charter.net or 775-849-9530.
Book Reviews - by Kenn Rohrs
2009 Schedule
- January 20 - Crows: Encounters With the Wise Guys by Candace Savage
- February 17 - Artic Wings: Birds of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge by Stephen Brown
- March 17 - Bird Song: A Natural History by Don Stap
- April 21 - Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird by Andrew D. Blechman
- May 19 - Soaring with Fidel: An Osprey Odyssey from Cape Code to Cuba and Beyond by David Gessner
- No LAS Birds & Books Reading Group meetings in June, July, and August
- September 15 - The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird by Bruce Barcott
- October 20 - The Life of the Skies by Jonathan Rosen.
- We will select the books for January – May 2010 at this meeting.
- November 17 - The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
- December 15 - How to Be a (Bad) Birdwatcher by Simon Barnes
January 20, 2009
Crows: Encounters With the Wise Guys by Candace Savage
In this charming introduction to the genus Corvus, Savage consolidates scientific research with myths and legends, to attest to the cleverness of crows, ravens, rooks and jackdaws. Savage begins with reports of tool-use by crows in New Guinea; they not only use bits of twig to dig insects out of narrow holes, but they also shape the twigs to form hooks that grab insects and prevent them from escaping. As legends show, humans have been fascinated by crows for thousands of years, and the raven plays a prominent role in many aboriginal creation myths. Synthesizing science and storytelling, Savage shows that the ancient image of crow-as-trickster bears out among contemporary researchers, who have observed such crow behavior as misrepresentation and misdirection.
February 17, 2009
Artic Wings: Birds of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge by Stephen Brown
A celebration in word and image of the birds who return each year to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to nest—and how they link every point on the globe. 200 color photos from award-winning nature photographers Subhankar Banerjee, Steven Kazlowski, and Arthur Morris. Essays/text contributions by noted writers, biologists, and conservationists including David Allen Sibley, Debbie Miller, Kenn Kaufmann, and President Jimmy Carter, CD Audio by birdsong recordist Martyn Stewart. Life histories of individual bird species from every major group including shorebirds, songbirds, and raptors plus dramatic stories of migration and strategies for survival A Buff-breasted sandpiper running along a barrier beach in the Carolinas is only mid-way in an annual journey of incredible magnitude—one that takes it from its nesting ground in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to its winter quarters on the pampas of South America. The Yellow wagtail begins life in a willow thicket in the Arctic but winters in Indonesia, where its return each year signals rice farmers to begin their spring planting. The ecosystems of the world are linked by birds, and nowhere is that more apparent than the Arctic Refuge, where more than 180 species converge from six continents and all fifty states to nest and rear their young. The unique habitats of the Arctic Refuge and the intense Arctic summer produce a rich diet that makes the incredible migrations worthwhile.
March 17, 2009
Bird Song: A Natural Historyby Don Stap
Many of us have experienced the interruption, pleasant or otherwise, of a bird singing from high in the trees or a lone chirper perched outside a bedroom window and wondered what the song was about. Following a world expert on birdsong from the woods of Martha's Vineyard to the tropical forests of Central America, Don Staop brings to life the quest to unravel this ancient mystery: Why do birds sing and what do their songs really mean? In this creative mixture of reportage, storytelling, and research, Stap distills the complexities of the study of birdsong and unveils a remarkable discovery that sheds light on the mystery of mysteries: why young birds in the suborder oscines--the "true" songbirds--must learn their songs while closely related birds are born with their songs genetically encoded. As the story unfolds, Stap contemplates our enduring fascination with birdsong, from ancient pictographs and early Greek soothsayers to the story of Mozart's pet starling. He identifies birds by their specific sounds and calls, and explains the true function of a bird's song, from mating calls to claims of territory. In a modern, noisy world, it is increasingly difficult to hear the sounds of nature around us. Exploring birdsong takes us to that rare place--in danger of disappearing forever--where one hears only the planet's oldest music.
April 21, 2009
Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird by Andrew D. Blechman
Many people consider the ubiquitous rock dove, better known as the pigeon, a "rat with wings." But as Blechman demonstrates in his enjoyable and informative book, this much maligned bird has served humans well for thousands of years, carrying messages informing the ancient Egyptians about flood levels along the Nile, bearing news of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and saving thousands of soldiers' lives during the two world wars. Today pigeons are found everywhere, from the queen of England's luxurious racing pigeon lofts to the garbage-strewn streets of every large city. Pigeons—gregarious, easily domesticated and capable of flying for hours at speeds of more than 100 mph—are interesting in their own right, but Blechman writes not so much about the birds themselves as about the people who either love or hate them. These include members of a Newe York City homing pigeon club who dedicate themselves to raising and racing pigeons; Queen Elizabeth's royal pigeon handler; breeders who spend years perfecting champion birds for show; gun enthusiasts who participate in brutal live pigeon shoots. Many of these people are eccentric, and while Blechman's book won't convert pigeon haters to pigeon lovers, it does make for entertaining reading.
May 19, 2009
Soaring with Fidel: An Osprey Odyssey from Cape Code to Cuba and Beyond by David Gessner
An irreverent, absorbing, and insightful tale of one man's adventures following the great 7,000-mile osprey migration across two continents
One September, after writing about ospreys on Cape Cod for years, David Gessner impulsively decided to follow the birds on their annual migration. Each fall these graceful raptors, with wingspans of up to six feet, cruise over the eastern United States, then soar over Cuba and winter in South America, returning north with the spring. In 2004, Gessner went along for the ride, traveling illegally into the mountains of Cuba and deep into Venezuela as he competed with the crew of a BBC documentary to be the first to follow the full migration, trailing the birds by car, boat, foot, and plane. He called his favorite osprey Fidel.
September 15, 2009
The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw:One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird by Bruce Barcott
Contributing editor to Outside magazine and author Bruce Barcott (The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier [1997]) has constructed a gripping and suspenseful account of one woman’s crusade against corrupt foreign governments and multinational corporations to save the habitat of an endangered bird. Barcott’s simple and eloquent prose, vivid descriptions, and ability to render the most complicated business deals and legal concepts in clear layman’s terms allow him to tame this unwieldy tale, which has unexpected twists and turns. The biggest point of divergence? Most critics found Barcott’s many narrative tangents informative, interesting, and even integral to the plot, while others called them tedious and distracting. Though the Chalillo Dam was completed in 2005, Matola’s story proves that one person can make a difference.
October 20, 2009
The Life of the Skies by Jonathan Rosen
We will select the books for January – May 2010 at this meeting
Starred Review. In this eloquent book, Rosen—a novelist and editorial director of Nextbook, which promotes Jewish culture and literature—meditates on the fact that technology enables us to preserve wildlife and at the same time contributes to its demise. He laments that no sooner had he discovered bird-watching than he realized that nature has become a diminished thing, as Robert Frost put it in his poem The Oven Bird. Everywhere he looks—from a Louisiana swamp to the Israeli desert—he finds a paradox: we are attempting to preserve nature at the same time that we are destroying it. Cars, trains and planes, Rosen writes, have enabled us to find the birds of America for ourselves, even as these inventions have contributed to the fragmentation that endangers them.Birds sing back to us an aspect of ourselves, Rosen says, harking back to Audubon, and he confesses that this is why he came to bird-watching, making it even more poignant that so many birds are close to disappearing forever. Rosen's wide-ranging intellect (he is also the author of The Talmud and the Internet) flits gracefully from nature to history to poetry, and gentle meditations can be spiked with barbs ( 'Collecting' is the ornithological euphemism for killing). This beautifully written book is an elegy to the human condition at a time when wilderness is becoming a thing of the past.
November 17, 2009
The Sea Around Usby Rachel Carson
In this newly revised and illustrated edition of her world-famous, award-winning classic, Rachel Carson reveals the science and poetry of the sea from its primeval beginnings to the latest scientific probing of its tantalizing mysteries. Oceanography made great strides during the exciting decade of the fifties; new discoveries were made and Miss Carson describes the most important findings in the Appendix in a series of notes keyed to the original text.
December 15, 2009
How to Be a (Bad) Birdwatcher by Simon Barnes
Anyone can be a bad birdwatcher. As Barnes, chief sportswriter for the Times (London) and columnist for birds magazine, explains, the only requirement is developing the habit of looking. All it takes is the willingness to look. Barnes has written a witty and loving exploration of why people like to watch birds. Even the most jaded city dweller knows more birds than he thinks he does, and can achieve pleasure by looking at them. The more you learn, the more you will say, "Wow!" This is the heart of Barnes' book--the learning and the wow. In the midst of our looking, we are seeing birds as part of the natural world, observing biodiversity, ecology, behavioral biology, and evolution in action, without even knowing it. The love for these ubiquitous creatures that can fly shines throughout this work, making it a book that will be popular among fans of both birds and nature writing--and it is a bargain at the price.