Items related to The Bedside Book of Birds: An Avian Miscellany
In this stunning assemblage of words and images, novelist and avid birdwatcher Graeme Gibson has crafted an extraordinary tribute to the venerable relationship between humanity and birds.
Birds have ever been the symbols of humanity’s highest aspirations. As divine messengers, symbols of our yearning for the heavens, or avatars of glorious song and colour, birds have stirred our imaginations from the moment we first looked up into the sky.
Whether as the Christian dove, or the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, or in Plato’s representation of the human soul growing wings and feathers, religion and philosophy have looked to birds as representatives of our best selves — that part of us not bound to the earth.
With the devotion of a birder and hoarder of words, Gibson has spent twenty years collecting the literary and artistic forms our affinity for birds has taken over the centuries. Birds appear again and again in mythology and folk tales and in literature by writers as diverse as Aesop, Shakespeare, Poe, Coleridge, Borges, and Eliot. They’ve been omens, allegories, disguises and guides; they’ve been worshipped, eaten, feared, and loved. Nor does Gibson forget the fascination birds hold for science, as the Galapagos finches did for Darwin. Birds appear charmingly and tellingly in the work of such naturalists as W.H. Hudson, Peter Matthiessen, Farley Mowat, and Barry Lopez.
So intensely and universally are we drawn to birds, it’s small wonder that birdwatching is one of the most popular activities in the English-speaking world.
Gorgeously illustrated and woven from centuries of human response to the delights of the feathered tribes, The Bedside Book of Birds is for everyone who is passionate about birds and all they mean to humanity.
“With the zeal of a convert and the instigated imagination of an ex-novelist, I started taking note of, then collecting, and finally obsessively searching out texts that illustrated something — almost anything — about our human response to birds. This book is the result. It isn’t so much about birds themselves as it is about the richly varied relationships we have established with them during the hundreds of thousands of years that we and they have shared life on earth.”
—Graeme Gibson
From the Hardcover edition.
Birds have ever been the symbols of humanity’s highest aspirations. As divine messengers, symbols of our yearning for the heavens, or avatars of glorious song and colour, birds have stirred our imaginations from the moment we first looked up into the sky.
Whether as the Christian dove, or the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, or in Plato’s representation of the human soul growing wings and feathers, religion and philosophy have looked to birds as representatives of our best selves — that part of us not bound to the earth.
With the devotion of a birder and hoarder of words, Gibson has spent twenty years collecting the literary and artistic forms our affinity for birds has taken over the centuries. Birds appear again and again in mythology and folk tales and in literature by writers as diverse as Aesop, Shakespeare, Poe, Coleridge, Borges, and Eliot. They’ve been omens, allegories, disguises and guides; they’ve been worshipped, eaten, feared, and loved. Nor does Gibson forget the fascination birds hold for science, as the Galapagos finches did for Darwin. Birds appear charmingly and tellingly in the work of such naturalists as W.H. Hudson, Peter Matthiessen, Farley Mowat, and Barry Lopez.
So intensely and universally are we drawn to birds, it’s small wonder that birdwatching is one of the most popular activities in the English-speaking world.
Gorgeously illustrated and woven from centuries of human response to the delights of the feathered tribes, The Bedside Book of Birds is for everyone who is passionate about birds and all they mean to humanity.
“With the zeal of a convert and the instigated imagination of an ex-novelist, I started taking note of, then collecting, and finally obsessively searching out texts that illustrated something — almost anything — about our human response to birds. This book is the result. It isn’t so much about birds themselves as it is about the richly varied relationships we have established with them during the hundreds of thousands of years that we and they have shared life on earth.”
—Graeme Gibson
From the Hardcover edition.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Inside Flap:
Birds have always created a sense of wonder and reverence in their earth-bound human observers. They are featured in creation myths of many different civilizations and appear with great frequency in fairy tales and fables the world over. Associated with creativity and freedom, with the spirit as opposed to the body, birds have been powerful symbols in religious traditions through the ages, from Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec plumed serpent, to the Christian dove. In all times and in every culture, they have inspired great works of literature and great works of art. Science, too, has looked toward the avian world for keys to understanding the nature of life on earth.
THE BEDSIDE BOOK OF BIRDS, an unprecedented and enchanting treasure trove of paintings, drawings, poems, essays, and scientific observations, beautifully captures the interest and emotions birds evoke. The illustrations range from early cave paintings to Audubon's famous portraits to abstract works created in the twentieth century. There are writings by Shakespeare, Coleridge, Poe, Ted Hughes, and Jorge Luis Borges, among many others. Excerpts from famous scientific works, including Darwin's observations on the tameness of the Galapagos Islands' birds, are here, too, along with charming and valuable pieces by such popular nature writers as W. H. Hudson, Peter Matthiessen, Farley Mowat, and Barry Lopez. It is a book to ponder, to savor, and to learn from, for the winged soul in all of us.
About the Author:
THE BEDSIDE BOOK OF BIRDS, an unprecedented and enchanting treasure trove of paintings, drawings, poems, essays, and scientific observations, beautifully captures the interest and emotions birds evoke. The illustrations range from early cave paintings to Audubon's famous portraits to abstract works created in the twentieth century. There are writings by Shakespeare, Coleridge, Poe, Ted Hughes, and Jorge Luis Borges, among many others. Excerpts from famous scientific works, including Darwin's observations on the tameness of the Galapagos Islands' birds, are here, too, along with charming and valuable pieces by such popular nature writers as W. H. Hudson, Peter Matthiessen, Farley Mowat, and Barry Lopez. It is a book to ponder, to savor, and to learn from, for the winged soul in all of us.
Graeme Gibson is the acclaimed author of Communion, Perpetual Motion, and Gentleman Death. He is a past president of PEN Canada and the recipient of both the Harbourfront Festival Prize and the Toronto Arts Award, and is a member of the Order of Canada. He lives in Toronto with writer Margaret Atwood.
From the Hardcover edition.
From the Hardcover edition.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherDoubleday Canada
- Publication date2007
- ISBN 10 038566494X
- ISBN 13 9780385664943
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages384
- Rating
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