Not the most practical bird guide, but an important one.
Celebrating birds we might lose.
Following their collaborations The Lost Words (2017) and The Lost Spells (2020), British nature writer Macfarlane and illustrator Morris turn their gaze to threatened British birds. Though the book declares itself to be a field guide, readers will not find a handy and weatherproof tome in these pages. The book instead turns the idea of a field guide on its head: “Instead of photographs—paint. Alongside data—metaphor, story, poetry. In place of definition—relation. As well as classification—something like love.” Compiled over six years and structured according to the authors’ “seven wonders” of the bird (Nest, Egg, Beak, Song, Feather, Flight and Migration), each of the 49 species included is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species and receives a few pages of poetic text alongside soft and precise watercolor renderings, including one that spans two pages for each bird. Macfarlane’s text is most akin to prose poetry, ranging from childlike rhyme (“Rook, Rook, everyday crook, hawker of goods, cooker of books”) to detailed, sumptuous description: “Fragile Avocet seen at sunset in silhouette seems blown from glass—as if a breath of wind would leave her in shards amid the sea reeds, the fescue, the eelgrass.” This poetry, coupled with each species’ “slow slide towards the absolute dark of extinction” hanging over these pages, lends the book the effect of an evocation or a prayer over the memory of birds that risk being forgotten. But there is a glimmer of hope to the project: “Knowledge may lead to wonder, wonder to care, care to action, action to change. But this is a fragile chain, easily broken—its links must be reforged and rejoined, over and over again.”
Not the most practical bird guide, but an important one.Pub Date: June 9, 2026
ISBN: 9781324006848
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
This is our life, these are our lighted seasons, and then we die. . . . In the meantime, in between time, we can see. . . we can work at making sense of (what) we see. . . to discover where we so incontrovertibly are. It's common sense; when you-move in, you try to learn the neighborhood." Dillard's "neighborhood" is hilly Virginia country where she lived alone, but essentially it is all those "shreds of creation" with which every human is surrounded, which she is trying to learn, to know — from finite variations to infinite possibilities of being and meaning. A tall order and Dillard doesn't quite fill it. She is too impatient to get about the soul's adventures to stay long with an egg-laying grasshopper, or other bits of flora and fauna, and her snatches from physics and biological/metaphysical studies are this side of frivolous. However, Ms. Dillard has a great deal going for her — in spite of some repetition of words and concepts, her prose is bright, fresh and occasionally emulates (not imitates) the Walden Master in a contemporary context: "Trees. . . extend impressively in both directions, . . . shearing rock and fanning air, doing their real business just out of reach." She has set herself no less a task than understanding emotionally, spiritually and intellectually the force of the creative extravagance of the universe in all its beauty and horhor ("There is a terrible innocence in the benumbed world of the lower animals, reducing life to a universal chomp.") Experience can be focused, and awareness sharpened, by a kind of meditative high. Thus this becomes somewhat exhausting reading, if taken in toto, but even if Dillard's reach exceeds her grasp, her sights are leagues higher than that of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea, regretfully (re her sex), the inevitable comparison.
Pub Date: March 13, 1974
ISBN: 0061233323
Page Count: -
Publisher: Harper's Magazine Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1974
IN THE NEWS
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.
The third volume in the Elephant Whisperer series.
In this follow-up to An Elephant in My Kitchen, Malby-Anthony continues her loving portrait of the Thula Thula wildlife reserve, which she co-founded in 1998 with her late husband, South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, who published the first book in the series, The Elephant Whisperer, in 2009. Following his death in 2012, Malby-Anthony sought to honor his legacy by continuing his vision “to create a massive conservancy in Zululand, incorporating our land and other small farms and community land into one great big game park.” At the same time, the elephants gave her “a sense of purpose and direction.” In the Zulu language, thula means quiet, and though the author consistently seeks to provide that calm to her charges, peace and tranquility are not always easy to come by at Thula Thula. In this installment, Malby-Anthony discusses many of the challenges faced by her and her staff, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. These included an aggressive, 2-ton rhino named Thabo; the profound loss felt by all upon the death of their elephant matriarch, Frankie; difficulty obtaining permits and the related risk of having to relocate or cull some of their animals; the fear of looting and fire due to civil unrest in the region; and the ongoing and potentially deadly struggles with poachers. Throughout, the author also shares many warm, lighthearted moments, demonstrating the deep bond felt among the humans and animals at the reserve and the powerful effects of the kindness of strangers. “We are all working in unity for the greater good, for the betterment of Thula Thula and all our wildlife….We are humbled by the generosity and love, both from our guests and friends, and from strangers all around the world,” writes the author. “People’s open-hearted support kept us alive in the darkest times.”
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.Pub Date: April 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781250284259
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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