Ian Paulsen asked if anyone has come across any good new books. I'm sure this isn't what he had in mind, but I'll tell you about a good new book that will be out in, I hope, about a year.



Many of you know that Tom Schooley and I have given a Birding 101 course for Black Hills Audubon. Tom has taken the lead on field trips and I've taken the lead on evening sessions indoors, preparing folks for going out and seeing the birds. From that experience, as well as helping beginners elsewhere, I've developed some methods to answer the question I hear constantly, "How do I get started in birding?" I'm now pleased to tell you that I'm turning them into a book, Birding 101, and I'm about to sign a contract with Houghton Mifflin for publication. I've always considered the Peterson Field Guides (Eastern and Western Birds), which HM publishes, far superior to others for beginners, and in some ways my methods are an extended commentary on the Peterson system. So Birding 101 will be a part of the Peterson brand, with the hawk-silhouette logo and colors, but in the form of a workbook in which people can work out problems and write their answers. Of course, I'm very pleased and excited by this new project.

I'm telling Tweeters about this because no one writes a book alone, especially a book like this. I will need help in the form of . . . um, guinea pigs . . . uh, editors . . . uh, critics . . . well, you get the general idea. People who consider themselves relative novices could be very useful by trying some of the material, especially the exercises, to see if they are helpful and, of course, to offer suggestions for their improvement. People who are more advanced-at any level, intermediate and up-could be most helpful by reading material, looking for errors, and suggesting revisions or additions along the lines of the stuff I have already produced.

To that end, let me explain what the book is all about. First, it follows my general philosophy of education:

* One, that the verb "to learn" is an active, realistic verb but the verb "to teach" is not. That is, I don't believe a teacher can put information into a student's head but, rather, that people only learn through their own efforts, guided and assisted by a teacher.
* Two, that people only learn what they actually do, or least that they learn best by actually doing. Thus, much of my teaching at Evergreen has been done with the workshop method developed by my late colleague Don Finkel, a method in which students solve problems, answer questions, and discuss ideas, rather than just listening to lectures. So Birding 101 will be largely (about a third) a workbook in which the students/readers will actually have to do things themselves to learn.

My analysis of birding is that novices need to work along a threefold path.

* One, to start learning how to see-quite literally, how to see the world, and birds in particular, as an experienced birder sees.
* Two, to start learning categories of birds-not the formal classifications of Sibley and Monroe or of Clements or the AOU, but a less formal version.
* Three, to start learning the easy, common birds first.

Although I have much of the book written, I'm not quite ready to send chapters out for review and criticism. Since my recent experiences in North America have been mostly here in the West, I may have to arrange some field trips to the Midwest, where I grew up, and the East, to check out some things I haven't experienced for a long time. (Oh, the unbearable pain of having to actually go out and WATCH BIRDS instead of sitting comfortably at my computer!) I hope when the time comes to ask for some help, a few of you will be willing. And I'll be asking some of you who have contributed to Tweeters discussions to give me permission to use some of your words, perhaps with your names changed or hidden.



Cheers to all,

Burt



Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S. E., Olympia, 98503