Boring

This is a beautifully designed and produced book filled with images of birds - mostly historical artwork featuring birds. There are no photos of live birds or field guide type illustrations. The text of the book is billed as "An Avian Miscellany" of writings about birds. That the only writers actually named on the book cover are all white men (Ovid, Thoreau, T.S. Eliot, Gilbert White, Peter Matthiessen, Darwin) gives you an accurate idea of how wide ranging this "Miscellany" actually is. Even traditional stories from non-Western cultures are almost all presented as "retold" by dominant culture writers. This book was originally published in 2005 and the new edition in 2021, so I must conclude that the lack of diversity in world view is by intent. 

I was also disturbed by the sheer number of excerpts that feature mindless violence against birds. The compiler, Graeme Gibson, was active in bird conservation, so perhaps this was by some kind of weird intent. But Gibson himself continually suggests that our fascination with birds is essentially self-reflective and metaphoric. The Indigenous and Animist view that birds are fellow beings with whom we must be in right relationship is given little exposure and less credibility. One of the most disturbing pieces in the book is Gibson's account of his insensitivity, one could argue casual cruelty towards his own parrot companion, related as though it were just another day at the office.

Fortunately, my local library had a copy and I can now remove it from my purchase wishlist.