Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89664 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Synopsis
Look out of the window. See a bird. Enjoy it. Congratulations. You are now a bad birdwatcher. Anyone who has ever gazed up at the sky or stared out of the window knows something about birds. In this funny, inspiring, eye-opening book, Simon Barnes paints a riveting picture of how bird-watching has framed his life and can help us all to a better understanding of our place on this planet. How to be a bad birdwatcher shows why birdwatching is not the preserve of twitchers, but one of the simplest, cheapest and most rewarding pastimes around.

Customer Reviews

Buy at least 2 copies of this book ...
If you don't know what book to buy as a Christmas present for a friend, parent, daughter, son, grandparent, or even your boss, I suggest you get this one. While you're at it, get two copies, because you will certainly want to keep one for yourself. A thoughtful friend gave it to me, out of the blue, and I LOVE it. It is thoughtful, funny, clever, instructive and full of surprising facts. Did you know that humans share 98.6 % of their genes with chimps, more than a willow warbler shares with a chiffchaff, which is why birds are so "ludicrously numerous", i.e. have so many different species.

Yes, this book is about birdwatching, but not about the rarefied art of birdwatching that is the realm of twitchers (a form of trainspotter that can be quite snobbish), but about being a bad birdwatcher. Which is neither a hobby nor a profession or a scientific pursuit, but a way of life, and a life-enhancing experience at that. A way of making an everyday occurrence into a rare and uplifting moment. It makes you feel less like Woody Allen who described himself as "at two with nature" and more understanding of our feathered friends. Barnes describes it as one of the most liberating feelings on earth. In fact he describes the purpose of the book as providing the reader with the chance to acquire a new sense - bird-awareness, to no longer be blind and deaf to nature but to actually change your relationship with it and to life.

Simon Barnes, who is an acclaimed and award-winning sportswriter, has written a beautiful book that is not only relaxing and great fun to read, but full of philosophical insight and humanity. He touches on man's fascination with flight, on Freud and dreams, and on why sacred beings in certain religions are equipped with wings. But his main focus is on our affinity with birds, and on evolution, and of course on the necessity of owning a field guide to help you to tell one bird from another and to enter this world of bewildering variety called "biodiversity".

One definition of birdwatching he offers is "not the chasing of the rare but the untroubled contemplation of the special". And of himself he says: "I don't go birdwatching. I am birdwatching." He also pays tribute to his friends and to his father with whom he shared the pleasure of birdwatching and who helped him to become a better birdwatcher, not so much by increasing his knowledge but by helping him to enjoy this most natural experience in the world.

It is also a wake-up call to us all (and to politicians) to become more aware of our environment and of the need for conservation, which is the only way to make sure that our grandchildren still have an environment that has diversity and that's worth living in.

So stop wasting your time with things you don't really want to be doing and start birdwatching - or rather start by buying this book.

A great read for all ages
I loved this book and so did the rest of my family. Simon Barnes injects just the right amount of humour and enthusiasm into his subject. This is one of those books you could give to anyone. It's beautifully produced with quirky illustrations inside. I never thought I would ever enjoy a book about birds so much.

Insightful book for good or bad birdwatchers
Like many birdwatchers I'm quite a bad birdwatcher. I enjoy watching birds and consciously try to improve my birding skills but can't be bothered with scanning through a flock of 500 gulls to find the elusive white-winged bird or 500 terns to find the one that may possibly be of the rarer roseate variety. Whether you are a good or bad birdwatcher or maybe not even a birder at all, there is plenty to enjoy and discover in this book.

How To Be A Bad Birdwatcher is an amusing book on how to watch birds by journalist Simon Barnes. It serves as a witty introduction to beginners and acknowledges facts to more experienced birders which they had realised inside but never fully expressed or thought through. In the book, the Award-Winning writer cleverly uses simple language and well-reasoned arguments to make fundamental, quite complex points on why we like watching and identifying birds, how to get more involved in birdwatching and much more.

How To Be A Bad Birdwatcher is a delightful, easy-to-read book. It is recommended for anyone who has a vague interest in birds as well as providing telling anecdotes to those of us who are already birdwatchers - good or bad ones.