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.

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The story of China’s Chairman Mao is a salutary one: he took on nature and lost. Mao’s war against the humble tree sparrow for eating grain seed resulted not just in the bird being wiped out, but the deaths of millions of his own people, too, in a terrible famine: the worst human-made disaster in human history. Crops were left vulnerable as the sparrows had controlled the insect population, particularly locusts. Emperor penguin 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.”Stephen Moss’s Ten Birds That Changed the World is a model of contemporary nature writing. Its blend of science, history, and the cultural significance we human animals attach to the other life around us had me riveted. When I closed this book, the emperor penguins I watch online, the eagles that soar my local river, the wild raven who’s befriended me—all these and more had taken on a depth of meaning and relevance I never quite grasped before.”

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

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.Save Sketching birds in the field with Martin Gibbons to your collection. Share Sketching birds in the field with Martin Gibbons with your friends. 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 egret

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 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. If it’s anything like the Plant book that you reviewed then at least one of the birds will be a bat. Eagles have always been associated with the strength of nations and empires, through their symbolic use in ancient Greece, Rome and other early civilisations. They also appear on more flags around the world than any other bird. But the Nazis changed both the direction of the eagle – making it face right – and its meaning: turning it into a symbol of totalitarianism. Tree sparrow

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Become a Faber Member for free and receive curated book recommendations, special competitions and exclusive discounts. 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. In other chapters, the book illustrated how species including the bald eagle, the pigeon, and the turkey changed human habits and cultures. Moss] is an ideal guide to this in-depth look at 10 consequential species and the threats to their continued survival… The author’s thorough and well-argued book brings urgent attention to all the species that now face oblivion due to the global climate crisis… Take a fascinating flight into human history on the wings of 10 important bird species.” What about training a bird to do what humans can't/won't, as in the case of pigeons who took messages into enemy territory? The pigeon chapter was especially enjoyable.