Friends:



I wonder how many saw the review of Jonathan Rosen's The Life of the Skies (NYTimes Book Review 3/9/08)? Rosen is a novelist who has written a thoughtful and poetic book about the pleasures and values of birding, a book described by the reviewer as "party birding history, part birding travelogue."



Some quotes from Rosen's book to suggest its flavor:



"I can't think of any activity that more fully captures what it means to be human in the modern world than watching birds."



"I do feel that birding, a great and fulfilling pastime, and by the way a lot of fun, is more than merely that. Bird-watching is intimately connected to the journey we all make to find a place for ourselves in a post-Darwinian world. This book is my journey."



"Personally, I believe that there is a divine spark in us that binds us to the rest of creation, not merely as fellow creatures but as caretakers, with an earthly responsibility like the one we imagined for God. I'm not saying you can't be a conservationist without this feeling - it's just harder for me to understand what we owe the ivory-billed woodpecker without it."



Reviewer Robert Sullivan adds that "As for Rosen's own style of bird-watching, he is not a 'lister.' He is a guy who runs home to look at a Robert Frost poem."



Bill

========================
William R. Andersen
Seattle, WA
ander at u.washington.edu