Andrew
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Just finished reading this book and found it absolutely fascinating as well as engrossing. It is about the 'British Audubon' or should I say that John James Audubon is the 'American Gould'. Whilst Audubon is known for the producing the Birds of America, Gould surpassed that feat by producing monographs and complete guides to various bird families, countries and Europe. It is a story of a man rising from nothing in the Victorian Zoology boom from a taxidermist to ornithologist of the highest repute. He was not a wholly respectable character as he was very cold and shrewd in business. Many enemies were made and people's feelings hurt by this fella. He is far removed from modern ornithology (as everyone was in the Victorian times) as basically he was of the motto 'What's hit is history, what's missed is mystery'. He amassed a vast collection of skins with glee from all corners of the globe but ornithology owes a lot to him. Not the same can be said for many birds as well as exinct species as he probably fueled the desire for rare bird feathers (Hummers) to create hats and jewelry. He provided a big nudge to Darwin towards the thinking of 'The Origin of the Species' with his comments on his Galapagos Finches as well as other birds.
I assure you that you will like this book greatly and will read it as quickly as you can without putting it down.
It is written by Isabella Tree and the ISBN is 071262158-X
I assure you that you will like this book greatly and will read it as quickly as you can without putting it down.
It is written by Isabella Tree and the ISBN is 071262158-X
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