The Bird

September 1, 2009
A serious exploration of bird life from biologist Tudge (Feeding People Is Easy, 2007, etc.).

The author writes with clarity and cheerful wit about the physics and mechanics of flight, evolution and the archaeological record, while at the same time suffering no fuzziness about the strict nomenclature and precise methods of biology:"The twenty-eight species of Old World orioles—absolutely not to be confused with the New World orioles—form the family Oriolidae." Tudge appreciates that much remains a great mystery in nature—"The distribution of penises among birds seems somewhat arbitrary and hard to explain"—but he celebrates invention, supposition and anthropomorphism when based on the findings of good science ("The birds twitter for a reason—and it won't be a frivolous reason"). He warns against judging the effectiveness of conservation efforts by economic standards and condemns the scourge of materialism and boundless ignorance of humans, which has led to the extinction of countless species of birds."The point of this book," he writes,"is to nudge people who feel in a general way that birds in particular, and nature in general, are kind of interesting to the point where they start to feel the meaning of it all." An artful recorder, Tudge delightfully chronicles the everyday life of birds and how they interact with each other and with other animals. He covers the avian landscape like a tarp, from amusing anecdotes about bird behavior, to a critique of behavioralism, to the abuse of Darwin's theories, to the complex structure of avian taxonomy ("All the Birds in the World: An Annotated Cast List").

Entertaining, charming and knowledgeable.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from October 15, 2009
Tudge's ("The Tree") purpose"to nudge people who feel]that birds in particular and nature in general are]interesting to the point where they start to feel the meaning of it all"seems to be a call to the "birders" among us to look deeper than the bright surfaces so much of avian life exhibits. The key is to understand birds' evolutionary history, all 150 million years of it. With wit and aplomb, Tudge introduces the work of major contributors in the fields of ornithology and paleontology as he traces the controversy surrounding birds' paleontological paternity and the origins of flight. He follows with a survey of the 31 orders and 10,500 species in the class Aves; entries in his "annotated cast list" are necessarily brief, but many are memorable. Next come the feeding, mating, and general social behaviors of birds, and Tudge closes with a somewhat dolorous account of the human-bird relationship. VERDICT Birders and educated readers interested in nature will find this fascinating book enormously appealing. Ideally, it should be read with an illustrated guide to world species like Christopher Perrin's "New Encyclopedia of Birds", which the author recommends.Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2009
As Tudge remarks in the preface to this excellent exploration of birds, he became obsessed with nature as a child but discovered that he didnt want to be a scientisthe just liked being around creatures and wanted to write books about them. Following on the heels of his book about one of his great indulgences (The Tree, 2006) comes this fond look at a superior class of creatures. Dividing his book into four parts, Tudge first examines the physical aspects of birds adaptations for flight and their evolution from dinosaurs. The second part explains scientific classification and provides a list of all the bird families of the world. Part three is the meat of the book, focusing on how birds conduct their lives: how they eat, migrate, court and raise their chicks, behave socially, and whether or not birds can be considered intelligent. Finally, the fourth part looks at birds and humans: specifically, at how we live with birds and impact their lives and their environment. Illustrated throughout with lovely line drawings, this book is another fine example of Tudges ability to make even the most esoteric science approachable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)