- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday; First Printing edition (1 Mar 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385605323
- ISBN-13: 978-0385605328
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.2 x 2.8 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 569,299 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In the USA, some 50 million people lay claim to being bird-watchers or 'birders', spending over $60 billion on birding-related travel each year and over $560 million on birding-related membership fees. And for a select - and utterly obsessed few - they compete in one of the world's quirkiest contests: the race to spot the most species in North America in a single year. And 1998 wasn't just a big year, it was the BIGGEST...THE BIG YEAR is Pulitzer Prize-winner Mark Obmascik's account of what was to become the greatest 'birding' year of all time (freak weather conditions ensured all previous records were broken) as experienced by three of the biggest, most obsessive hitters in the birding world. Greg Miller, the recently divorced software engineer for a nuclear plant; Al Levantin, retired vice President of a billion-dollar chemical conglomerate; and Sandy Komito, a New Jersey roofing contractor and holder of the Big Year bird-spotting record for 1987. Oh, and there's the Californian who, too infirm to go out into the field, participates in Big Sits - birdwatching on TV - his greatest fear is those competitors with satellite dishes...What becomes very clear through the pages of this classic portrait of obsession is that while our feathered friends may be the objective of the Big Year competition, it's the curious activities and behavioural patterns of the pursuing 'homo sapiens' that are the real cause for concern. It's a contest that reveals much of the human character in extremis - a tendency towards passion and deceit, fear and courage combined with that fundamental craving to see, conquer and categorize, no matter how low the stakes. And as the author brilliantly brings to life, gets under the skin of, this extraordinary, eccentric triumvirate of obsessive 'birders' he empathises with and eventually succumbs to the all-consuming nature of their obsession. The result is a wonderfully entertaining, acutely observed lark of a read that is destined to rank alongside the best of Bill Bryson.
About the Author
Mark Obmascik has been a journalist for two decades, most recently at the 'Denver Post', where his stories won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 and the National Press Club Award for environmental news in 2003. His freelance stories have been published in 'Outside' and other magazines, and he has aired numerous political stories on public affairs and television news programmes. An obsessed birder himself, he lives in Denver with his wife and three children.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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5 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Proud Obsession
10 July 2011
Format:Paperback
Obsession and birding combined with a beat reporter's style. Experienced with all three, I had to like it. Better to read about it, though than to travel across the continent to frozen islands, pelagic seasickness, and clouds of hungry bugs. Will give us lesser birders the thrill of a year long chase and about a lifer per page.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
A Witty Tale
7 April 2010
Format:Paperback
Wonderful, well-written, wry and whimsical tale of dedicated birders and their adventures while trying to nail the record for most species identified in a year. You don't need to be a birder to enjoy this book, although you may appreciate it more if you do know a birder or two!
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
This is not a review, it is info from the back cover:
3 Jan 2005
Format:Paperback
"Red-breasted nuthatches! Himalayan snowcocks! Spotted woodpeckers! Nutting's flycatchers! The Big Year is the Gumball Rally of birding - a rollicking, nonstop, transcontinental adventure. Mark Obmascik brings the doggedness of an investigative reporter, the grace of an accomplished storyteller, and thh compassion of a fellow-traveling obsessive to this alluring quest for avian supremacy." (Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players.)
"Mark Obmascik understands birders, and in this book he has ventured bravely into the fringes of the hobby to report on a sort of extreme birding; the big year. It's the best and the worst of birding in one grueling yearlong contest, and you have to admire the rare passion and dedication that a big year attempt requires. The rest of us must be content with daydreaming about it, and this book will undoubtedly be the source of many daydreams." (David Allen Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds.)
"Mark Obmascik understands birders, and in this book he has ventured bravely into the fringes of the hobby to report on a sort of extreme birding; the big year. It's the best and the worst of birding in one grueling yearlong contest, and you have to admire the rare passion and dedication that a big year attempt requires. The rest of us must be content with daydreaming about it, and this book will undoubtedly be the source of many daydreams." (David Allen Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds.)
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