The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology [Hardcover]

`... one of the most entertaining, informative and enthusiastic accounts of the history of ornithology' --Daily Telegraph

'There are plenty of writers who have an understanding of natural science, and there are plenty of scientists who try to write. But there are precious few with the combined abilities of Professor Tim Birkhead. His instinct for the stories within ornithology and his gift for making technical matters accessible and simple are rare talents indeed.' Mark Cocker, naturalist and co-author of 'Birds Britannica' PRAISE FOR 'THE RED CANARY' 'His expert grasp of the science involved is to be expected from a professor of behaviour and evolution. What is more surprising is his capacity to make it not just comprehensible, but fascinating.' New Statesman 'In relating this complex story, Tim Birkhead reveals much of himself as well as his topic, and he is an entertaining communicator.' The Times

Sure-footed and coherent in chronicling his profession or expounding its science for the layman, Tim Birkhead underlines the enchantment at the heart of ornithology ... Some magnificent illustrations include a fine Dutch watercolour of hermaphrodite bullfinches ... The patron saint of ornithologists is, or ought to be, St Francis of Assisi. He would surely have blessed this book.

Tim Birkhead's wonderful book The Wisdom of Birds explores themes such as migration and almost every other facet of avian science. However, rather than simply telling us what we now know about birds, the author prefers to unravel the issue of how we have come to know what we know ... Fortunately, Birkhead is well-equipped to take us on the voyage with him ... He also has a historian's grasp of our intellectual past, a storyteller's gift for fine, clear and deceptively simple prose and an instinctive sense of the tales that are worth recounting ... In a way, the evolving narratives attaching to certain birds, which Birkhead has so elegantly explored, demonstrate how important they have been to our understanding of natural science

Tim Birkhead is well qualified to examine the ways successive generations have tried to answer the fundamental questions about birds ... Birkhead writes with an easy confidence and is not afraid to make judgments about his predecessors ... In other hands this might have been confusing: but Birkhead steers his narrative through this complex structure to tell a compelling story ... He is clearly passionate ... The Wisdom of Birds is lavishly illustrated... These - and the fine production of the book itself - add immensely to the reader's satisfaction ... one of the most entertaining, informative and enthusiastic accounts of the history of ornithology; and of the many different ways in which we have observed, studied and wondered about birds

Just how long a haul it was from superstition to science, and how many hurdles had to be negotiated on the way becomes clear in this admirably clear and readable, handsomely presented history.

This book feels as though it should be full of history - and it is ... Illustrated throughout with mainly colour illustrations from some of the world's most valuable bird books, this work contains many gems of information...this book is a real mixture of the facts that we all know already together with many that are hidden away in scientific papers that are rarely accessed. By bringing them together in one place Tim Birkhead has produced an entertaining and topical book

For thousands of years people have been fascinated by birds, and today that fascination is still growing. In 2007 bird-watching is one of the most popular pastimes, not just in Britain, but throughout the world, and the range of interest runs from the specialist to the beginner. In The Wisdom of Birds, Birkhead takes the reader on a journey that not only tells us about the extraordinary lives of birds - from conception and egg, through territory and song, to migration and fully fledged breeder - but also shows how, over centuries, we have overcome superstition and untested 'truths' to know what we know, and how recent some of that knowledge is. It was only in the nineteenth century that the ancient belief that swallows hibernated under water (!) finally gave way to general acceptance of the facts of migration. In the same century of dazzling experimental science, even Darwin chose not to dwell on the sexual promiscuity of female birds to spare the blushes of his daughter, who was helping to correct the proofs of The Descent of Man. Conceived for a general audience, and illustrated throughout with more than 100 exquisitely beautiful illustrations, many of them rarely, if ever, seen before, The Wisdom of Birds is a book full of stories, knowledge and unexpected revelations.

Tim Birkhead is a professor at the University of Sheffield where he teaches animal behaviour and the history of science. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and his research has taken him all over the world in the quest to understand the lives of birds. He has written for The Independent, New Scientist, BBC Wildlife. Among his other books are Promiscuity, Great Auk Islands, The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Birds which won the McColvin medal and The Red Canary which won the Consul Cremer Prize. He is married with three children and lives in Sheffield.