Product Description

Alex Horne is not a birdwatcher. But his dad is, so with the prospect of fatherhood looming on his own horizon, Alex decided there was no better time to really get to know both his father and his father's favourite hobby. So he challenged his dad to a Big Year: from 1 January to 31 December they would each try to spot as many birds as possible; the one who spied the most species would be the victor. Along the way Alex would find out what makes his dad tick, pick up a bit of fatherly wisdom and perhaps even 'get into' birdwatching himself. Join Alex as he journeys from Barnes to Bahrain in this charming tale of obsession, manliness, fathers and sons, and the highly amusing twists and turns of a year-long bird race.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35151 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
Remarkably touching, honest and dryly witty --Time Out

Review
Enjoyable and entertaining

About the Author
Alex Horne is a stand-up comedian. He won the Chortle Award for 'Best Breakthrough Act' in 2004 and in 2003 he was nominated for the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His show 'Birdwatching' appeared at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe and his follow-up 'Wordwatching' appeared at the festival in 2008. He has written and performed with Craig Charles on ITV and Steve Coogan's Baby Cow Productions for BBC3.

Customer Reviews

Birdwatchingreviewing
Saw this in B*rde*s and thought must get it but cheaper so Amazon as usual came up trumps! Just read it on the 'plane to and from the US (after reading 'The Reader' so a bit more cheerful) and must say that it is a great book.

Let me get the negatives out of the way first - there are some dodgy bits in it from a factual point of view but I am not sure whether they were genuine mistakes due to Alex's lack of knowledge or perhaps poetical licence? Also there is a fascinating typo on page 364 which is either an Enigma code or unbelievably poor proof reading (it's 5 and 6 lines up).

Right enough of that. If you were not a birdwatcher you would still like this book because it is more than about birdwatching. Alex is trying to find out whether he might be a suitable father in the future and does this by challenging his father to a competition, to try to work out what makes his father, and the relationship he has with him, tick (that's quite witty that, a tick is a new bird seen to us birdwatchers).

What I liked was the relationship that he has with his father (the excellently named Duncton, won't spoil it for you as to where the name comes from) and the love between the two of them and his siblings. I think that came across very strongly. Alex too seems to be a bloke to go down the pub with, self deprecating and considering he is a stand up comedian, shy and not up his own arse - modest and happy to learn from others.

A great book, I would've given it 5 stars but for the factual mistakes and that typo, and well worth reading particularly if you are a birdwatcher.

I'll leave you to decide whether he will make a good father or not.....

Get an editor
Another book about a bloke who doesn't understand his father's enjoyment in watching birds and sets out, via a year long competition, to find out just what makes this innocent hobby so attractive. Quite frankly, I find it hard to comprehend people who don't even *notice* birds - it would be like not noticing clouds or trees on a daily basis, but I suppose there are those out there who are so wrapped up in much more important matters that these everyday wonders pass them by.

As for the book ... foot notes and parenthesis abound making it less of a read and more of a scramble from the top of the page to bottom and back again via a side-topic. Mildly entertaining but caught in the no-man's land between serious birding, a book of lists and some humour.

If you want a humourous book on bird-watching, there are plenty out there and generally they are well written (and much better edited). If you want to stumble through someone's issues with their parent.. well, they are also plentiful, but why there are so many by men who have issues with their bird-watching fathers I will never understand; are there books out there by sons of train-spotters or stamp colectors?

Highly recommended, laugh out loud in places, beautifully written
I have read a lot of books written by comedians about the various adventures and challenges they have undertaken and this is one of the funniest, most touching, beautifully written and inspiring. I've never been too interested in birds or birdwatching but since turning the final page I've found myself wanting to emulate some of Alex's experience as detailed in this book and see for myself how accurate his descriptions are.

Birdwatching isn't an obvious topic for comedy yet this book had me chuckling to myself on the tube at some of the images Alex managed to conjure up in my mind.

I was genuinely disappointed to reach the end of the book. For me, it wasn't about who won the competition between Alex and his dad, or even the birds spotted along the way, it was the journey they took to get there.