It's been quite some time since I reviewed a book on this blog but since finishing reading this book today I was prompted to put virtual pen to paper.
Funnily enough I had no particular intention of buying books when I browsed the Wildsounds (I think it was) stand at BirdFair and came across it; I remembered having read Mrs Moreau's Warbler by the same author and thought it was worth a go despite admittedly not being particularly inspitred by the title (how wrong can you be !).
As I browsed the chapter headings the choice of species seemed rather unusual - there is however a very good reason for choosing each species and that is because there is a very interesting story behind each one.
I started reading chapter one which features Raven. Having just finished doing some field research for Adam Nicolson for his section on Wordsworth's Ravens in his forthcoming book I rather arrogantly thought that I would learn nothing new - it turned out that I not only learned a quite a few new things but really enjoyed the new perspective that Stephen brought to the species.
Several other chapters, for instance the Snowy Egret one that deals with the Victorian feather trade, were ones I knew quite a lot about but again found them refreshing and grabbed my attention.
And then there were chapters that brought something completely new to me. Chairman Mao's bid to eliminate the Tree Sparrow from China in 1958 was a complete surprise and tells a tale of totally inept ecological management that had a devastating effect and one contrary to the intended result.
The book is beautifully written and crafted with intriguing introductions to each chapter that draw the reader in with a sense of curiosity. During the course of reading it I ordered two more books because I became fascinated by the subject concerned and wanted to dig deeper: one on Darwin's Finches and the other on where bird species originated from.
So I wholeheartedly reccomend this book, and if you think it won't contain stuff that's new to you then I'm pretty sure you'd be wrong.
When I was paying for the book the guy on the till said 'you could get it signed, Stephen's sitting right there' So I went over and had a lovely chat with him...
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