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Best Bird Book of the Year 2005 (1 Viewer)

John Cantelo

Well-known member
Best Bird Book of the Year 2004

For the obvious reason that I'm UK based and know little of what's been published elsewhere, I've limited my selection to British/European books. I'm also conscious of a certain bias towards social/historical books; all these weighty books on bird families are getting a bit boring! I've limited myself to five books and hence one worthy tome has slipped from view. So, in order, my best books would be -

1 - Beguiled by Birds - Ian Wallace
The author's delightful atmospheric drawings instantly put this book in the frame. The unique insight that "DIMW" brings to topic lifts the book still further (despite a sometimes convoluted & baroque writing style). Simply a 'must read' from a superb 'field birder'.
2 - How to be a Bad Birdwatcher - Simon Barnes
One thing that Simon Barnes demonstrates in this book is that he's not only a very good birdwatcher, but also a gifted writer and astute observer. Arguably it's the most important book listed as it addresses not only committed birders', but all those 'dudes' without whom we wouldn't have the clout we need.
3 - A Bird in The Bush: A Social History of Birdwatching - Stephen Moss
The book's easy and pleasant style belies the degree of genuine scholarship that must have gone into it. A great source of understanding of why and how we got to this point.
4 - HBW - Vol. IX
OK this one ought to win every year it's published, but we've got to give the other guys a chance.
5 - Woodpeckers of Europe - Gerald Gorman.
A nice chatty style and an easy read, but still packed full of information. Stunningly attractive plates. Thank goodness it's not written in the current dense, fact heavy style.

Yes, leaving out the 'Gulls of Europe, Asia & North America' by Olsen & Larsson wasn't an oversight. It's a great book, but the woodpeckers book just pips it into 5th place.

Oops I've just noticed that I typed 2005 in the heading whereas I actually meant the past year - 2004! John
 
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Simon Barnes , definitely the best book of last year. And the best DVD of last year for my money was the RSPB White Tailed Sea Eagle film "Eagle Odyssey". And my vote already for this year would be The Red Kite Returns, an excellent DVD about Red Kites in the Chilterns.
 
I was tempted to include DVDs, but opted to keep this thread restricted to books. Two reasons really - 1 - to keep down the number of suggestions down to a reasonable number and 2 - the best DVD is so clearly Paul Doherty's 6 DVD set on European birds that there didn't seem any room for debate! John
 
Best Bird Book

3 - A Bird in The Bush: A Social History of Birdwatching - Stephen Moss
The book's easy and pleasant style belies the degree of genuine scholarship that must have gone into it. A great source of understanding of why and how we got to this point.

I have to agree with Johns comments on the above, I don`t feel we appreciate the amount of research and commitment that goes into putting a book of this nature together.

Imagine commiting yourself (I know it was a team effort) to something on the scale of the Collins Bird Guide. Remarkable and talented people

Maurice
 
Tim Allwood said:
speciation in birds by Ian Newton

brilliant

Yes, quite a good book... published in 2003, though. Mike, if it is readable to a "normal" person? - Yes it is, at least if you a basic knowledge of biology. Only a few minor subjects may prove hard to understand. If actually trained in biology and having kept up-to-date with recent developments you may find that it only scratches the surface on some subjects (e.g. molecular biology), but on the other hand I don't think it ever was intended as a complete guide for scientists at that level (I doubt it would be possible to put all the info of this rather broad topic in a single book). For people with a serious interest in these things or biologists who haven't kept completely updated but want a (re-)introduction in a relatively digestable format the book is highly recommendable.

... and best book of 2004, well, discounting the always brilliant HBW, I'd probably go with "Birds of Africa South of the Sahara" by Ian Sinclair and Peter Ryan (ok, this is 2003 aswell, but it wasn't available till 2004). Africa is somewhat of a dark continent for me, as it is the continent I have spend the least time birding in. So, I am quite amazed with all the info they have been able to pack into a single book. Even more so as it seems all the info is very up-to-date and they apparently haven't made any "fast solutions" even though I am sure it was tempting when writing a book covering more than a fifth (ca. 2100 species) of the Worlds species.
 
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Andrew said:
Read quite a few bird books last year and the best for me was The Bird Man The Extraordinary Story of John Gould by Isabella Tree. I have the book on his American counterpart Audubon for future reading, Audubon's Elephant by Duff Hart-Davis.

A recent thread...http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=14065&highlight=john+gould

The Gould biography is a great book - I was bought it a few weeks ago as a birthday present and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Richard
 
Richard D said:
The Gould biography is a great book - I was bought it a few weeks ago as a birthday present and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Richard
Bit of an unscrupulous rascal isn't he?
 
Andrew said:
Bit of an unscrupulous rascal isn't he?

His wife must have been a saint to put up with him. He was certainly a shrewd and tough business man. His relative respect (considering the times)for the Australian Aborigines was one of his few redeeming personal features. Fascinating book though!

Richard
 
Tim Allwood said:
speciation in birds by Ian Newton

brilliant

Tim

A couple of great books here in America, 'Kingbird Highway' by Kenn Kaufman and 'The Big Year' by Bob Obmascik. Also, my first and favorite birding bible by Ken is Birds of North America. (o)<
 
Tim42 said:
A couple of great books here in America, 'Kingbird Highway' by Kenn Kaufman and 'The Big Year' by Bob Obmascik. Also, my first and favorite birding bible by Ken is Birds of North America. (o)<

Both of the books mentioned above are a great read and should certainly inspire birders into getting out into the field more. Im not sure about the catfood diet though!
 
2004 or 2005?
My favorite: Encyclopedia of North American Birds : An Essential Guide to Common Birds of North America
by Derek Hall , editor(Hardcover - November 9, 2004)

The title is BAD! It is in no way essential or a guide. Some 70 articles on single species, N America and lots of N Atlantic. I have enjoyed it. Read almost all articles.
 
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