Ten Birds That Changed the World

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This is a journey into an extraordinary world—an outwardly familiar world, but one that has been shaped and contoured by birds in ways we can only begin to imagine. Through the stories of those birds, Moss shows us how our lives owe so much to them, and why we should care for their kind a little more.” This was an informative and decent book about birds until the author bizarrely decided to insert political commentary during the chapter about bald eagles. I have always had a special place in my heart for birds in general. From birdwatching, identification, nature walks, bird calls, and just being surrounded by nature. We learn less about the birds and their behavior than the way that humans have treated them. The stories detailing despicable human actions toward snowy egrets and tree sparrows were emotionally difficult to read, but they illuminated how selfishly and callously humans can behave toward other species.

Ten Birds that changed the World - Eventbrite Ten Birds that changed the World - Eventbrite

For the whole of human history, we have lived alongside birds. We have hunted and domesticated them for food; venerated them in our mythologies, religion and rituals; exploited them for their natural resources; and been inspired by them for our music, art and poetry.In Ten Birds that Changed the World, naturalist and author Stephen Moss tells the gripping story of this long and eventful relationship through ten key species from all seven of the world’s continents. From Odin’s faithful raven companions to Darwin’s finches, and from the wild turkey of the Americas to the emperor penguin as potent symbol of the climate crisis, this is a fascinating, eye-opening and endlessly engaging work of natural history. Ten Birds That Changed the World by Stephen Moss – eBook Details Ik lijk wat verloren in mijn zoektocht naar boeken ( met passie geschreven) over andere organismen wat maar snel of traag beweegt, als het maar eens niet over sapiens gaat , planten , insecten, atomen , zoog en andere dieren , spoken is ook goed , AI systemen, buitenaards leven enz voorlopig lijk ik deze boeken niet direct te vinden The author also makes several dubious claims about climate change. For instance, the author claims that the 2021 Australian Wildfires were purely the result of climate change, which is both far too simplistic and easily disproven. Why is a raven like a writing-desk?’’ asks the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” during the surreal tea party attended by Alice, the March Hare and the Dormouse. No one is able to guess the answer—perhaps because, as Alice complains, there isn’t one. Nonetheless, generations of readers have proposed their own solutions. The novelist Aldous Huxley, for example, joked that he knew precisely what a raven and a writing desk had in common: “There is a ‘b’ in both and an ‘n’ in neither.” I prefer the less nonsensical but equally funny answer: Because Poe wrote on both.”For the whole of human history, we have shared our world with birds. We have hunted and domesticated them for food; worshipped them in our religions; placed them at the heart of our myths and legends; poisoned and persecuted them; and celebrated them in our literature, art and music. Even today, despite a very worrying disconnection between ourselves and the rest of nature, birds continue to play a role in our lives.

Ten Birds That Changed the World - Faber Ten Birds That Changed the World - Faber

The raven – the world’s largest species of crow – is at the heart of creation myths all around the northern hemisphere, from the First Nations of North America through Norse culture to the nomadic peoples of Siberia. It is also the first bird mentioned in the Bible, when Noah sent one out from the ark to discover if the flood was finally over; true to this bird’s independent character, it failed to return. The raven still resonates with us today: when Game of Thrones author George RR Martin wanted a species of bird able to see into the future, he chose the raven. Pigeon A] penetrating history…The blend of history and science highlights the deep connections between humans and the natural world, and the cultural insights enlighten….This flies high.” A certain native glamour helped ravens coast into human mythologies as helpful companions. Photograph: All Canada Photos/Alamy Ten Birds That Changed the World by Stephen Moss is a wonderful book that takes a closer look about our past, the world’s existence, and our relationships amongst nature, the planet, and one another throughout time through the stories highlighting ten different birds. We often assume modern agriculture began after the second world war, when chemical fertilisers massively increased crop yields. Yet a century earlier, droppings harvested from vast colonies of the guanay cormorant, off the coast of South America, provided the phosphate needed to launch a boom in intensive farming. This altered the landscape of North America and Europe for ever, and hastened the decline of farmland wildlife. Snowy egretHe makes the point early on not to anthropomorphize birds--they always only act in their own self-interest. I agree with this but when does "birds as symbols" (say, the bald eagle, either as a Nazi symbol or a symbol of American democracy/power, the two of which he discusses at length) cross over into anthropomorphizing? Taking a numerical approach to the natural world – as in Simon Barnes’s History of the World in 100 Plants, for example – is a handy way to carve off a manageable slice from a potential plethora of examples. There are, for instance, nearly 10,000 bird species worldwide. In his new book, naturalist Stephen Moss wisely chooses just 10, but in doing so tells the story of the long relationship between birds and humanity – and it has mostly been a disastrous one. On Saturday 13 December 1958, the People’s Republic of China declared war on a bird. Mobilisation was total: 600 million enlisted for the fight. Their target was a tiny songbird, between five and six inches long: the Eurasian tree sparrow. It might seem like overkill, writes Stephen Moss in his history of human-avian relations, but in the eyes of China’s leaders the sparrows more than deserved it. An estimated 1.5m tonnes of grain disappeared down the gullets of said feathered gourmets each year. China was short on food – and short on patience. Peace was never an option. In other chapters, the book illustrated how species including the bald eagle, the pigeon, and the turkey changed human habits and cultures.

Ten Birds That Changed the World by Stephen Moss | Goodreads

But the arrogance that inspired it endures. Humans think they understand the natural world, Moss argues, and so they imagine they can control it. That fantasy of control starts with little things, such as mythological ravens or feathered hats; it ends in mass extinction and climate catastrophe. Moss isn’t optimistic about our future, but he asks readers not to despair. The next chapter in our history with birds has yet to be written; we still have time to change our ways. We may not understand birds but we can try to live with them. As this delicate, stylish book explains, we need each other more than we can know.

In Ten Birds That Changed the World, naturalist and author Stephen Moss tells the gripping story of this long and intimate relationship through key species from all seven of the world’s continents. From Odin’s faithful raven companions to Darwin’s finches, and from the wild turkey of the Americas to the emperor penguin as potent symbol of the climate crisis, this is a fascinating, eye-opening, and endlessly engaging work of natural history.