Too Many Bird Books

<p>This is a chronicle of encounters with a lot of bird books in fact a lifetime of such encounters.</p><p>The world of bird books is vast and varied defying coherent description. The author's qualification</p><p>for making this attempt to describe it is that he owns several hundred of them gathered over more</p><p>than 70 years. To help make sense of this obsession the describing of the books is linked to a life in</p><p>which traditional birdwatching (and book hunting) went on in different places and in between</p><p>other things. </p><p>Some non-bird experiences are recounted to show this is the story of a real person.</p><p>If further qualification for authorship is needed it is surely the distinction of having been bitten quite</p><p>seriously while birdwatching by a fox. Who else among today's legion of bird-book creators can</p><p>claim that badge? Apart from that event and no less damaging an experience the author has tried</p><p>to chair a committee that recommends names for Australian birds.</p><p>More than 100 images are assembled to tell their own story: birds people places book inscriptions</p><p>scenes. </p><p>There are chapters about New Guinea cassowaries the fabled Ibis of ancient Egypt birds</p><p>and national boundaries field guides the bird art of Ellis Rowan (the Australian flower painter)</p><p>quests and challenges the uses of bird photography and some things that are no longer as certain</p><p>as they once were.</p>