This story is for the birds—but even non-avians will applaud this winning narrative of romantic raptors and other feathered habituÇs of Manhattan's Central Park. Surprisingly, Central Park is one of the top birdwatching spots in America: The bird census in 1996 came to 275 separate species, counted by a dedicated cadre of birdwatchers and naturalists of which Winn (Unplogging the Plug-In Drug, 1987) is an early-rising member. While the eponymous hawks are the stars of this show, the dramatis personae include seed-stealing squirrels, chickadees, woodpeckers, the ubiquitous pigeon, the birdwatchers themselves, and two human celebs: Mary Tyler Moore, on whose Fifth Avenue building the red-tails construct their nest, and Woody Allen, whose penthouse is within easy binocular range one block north. Over the course of four breeding seasons, Winn and company anxiously observe Pale Male and two or perhaps three different females as they struggle to raise a family while beset by assorted man-made and natural perils. The birdwatchers protect the nest from workmen on scaffolds; they rescue Pale Male and his first mate when they are injured; they fret over the effects of the Pocahontas premiere on the park's Great Lawn (the hawks do not seem to mind). When chicks finally hatch, these enraptured raptor watchers keep vigil, readily sharing telescopes and binoculars with passers-by. Winn writes with great knowledge of the habits of the park's wildlife, but she is equally observant, slyly so, of the tendencies of the human species, particularly those inhabiting the Upper East Side; the best story here, perhaps, is that of the devoted core of amateur birdwatchers—Winn included—who forfeit sleep and frequently money to preserve a little wildness in the city. Written with warmth and modesty, a great book for birders and nature readers, as well as an interesting portrait of New Yorkers. Winn thoughtfully includes an informative ``Wildlife Almanac'' in the appendix.
Pub Date: March 30, 1998
ISBN: 0-679-43997-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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