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Animal Series
Sparrow
Innocent. Invader. Lover. Thief. Sparrows are everywhere and wear many guises. Able to live in the Arctic and the desert, from Beijing to San Francisco, the house sparrow is the most ubiquitous wild bird in the world. They are the subject of elegies by Catullus and John Skelton and listed as “pretty things” in Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book —but they’re also urban vermin with shocking manners that were so reviled that Mao placed them on the list of Four Pests and ordered the Chinese people to kill them on sight.
In Sparrow , award-winning science and natural history writer Kim Todd explores the bird's complex history, biology, and literary tradition. Todd describes the difference between Old World sparrows, like the house sparrow, which can nest in a garage or in an airport, and New World sparrows, which often stake their claim to remote islands or meadows in the high Sierra. In addition, she looks at the nineteenth-century Sparrow War in the United States—a battle over the sparrow’s introduction—which set the stage for decades of discussions of invasive species. She examines the ways in which sparrows have taught us about evolution and the shocking recent decline of house sparrows in cities globally—this disappearance of a bird that seemed hardwired for success remains an ornithological mystery.
With lush illustrations, ranging from early woodcuts and illuminated manuscripts to contemporary wildlife photography, this is the first book-length exploration of the natural and cultural history of this beloved, reviled, and ubiquitous bird.
In Sparrow , award-winning science and natural history writer Kim Todd explores the bird's complex history, biology, and literary tradition. Todd describes the difference between Old World sparrows, like the house sparrow, which can nest in a garage or in an airport, and New World sparrows, which often stake their claim to remote islands or meadows in the high Sierra. In addition, she looks at the nineteenth-century Sparrow War in the United States—a battle over the sparrow’s introduction—which set the stage for decades of discussions of invasive species. She examines the ways in which sparrows have taught us about evolution and the shocking recent decline of house sparrows in cities globally—this disappearance of a bird that seemed hardwired for success remains an ornithological mystery.
With lush illustrations, ranging from early woodcuts and illuminated manuscripts to contemporary wildlife photography, this is the first book-length exploration of the natural and cultural history of this beloved, reviled, and ubiquitous bird.
192 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2012
2 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 2, 2014
Wherever you live, you share your habitat with sparrows. This book will open your eyes to a bird you've seen all your life, but have never really known. Sparrow is an informative and delightfully readable book of natural and cultural history. I am a big fan of Kim Todd's books. Her writing is evocative and she is a great storyteller. There are many beautiful illustrations in the book, I only wish some of them were larger.
July 5, 2025
First book I have read from this series and I can't say that I'm impressed. It feels like those people who are trying to find a conversation starter and therefore throwing random fun facts at you without a deeper knowledge about the subject. Unfortunately I know the subject and I find it fascinating. One of the issues for me is the use of the word - sparrow. It's a complicated one, no doubt, as there are new world sparrows and old world sparrows and birds which have been called sparrows at some point in the history, but not anymore. Author tries to make some sense in it but quite quickly gives up and serves a sparrow soup where everything is mixed up and becomes a bit annoying for an ornithologist to read. The same soupy feeling comes when different subjects are being written up and served one after another. Fun sparrow related facts from literature, science, society; quite cherry picked and sometimes ending abruptly or diving unnecessarily deep.
I can see that idea of this book was to untangle the different meanings and feelings we have about sparrows and their behaviours. As an idea it sounds great, but the result is not. There could have been a bit more investment in the quality of text and less unnecessary, repetitive illustrations.
I can see that idea of this book was to untangle the different meanings and feelings we have about sparrows and their behaviours. As an idea it sounds great, but the result is not. There could have been a bit more investment in the quality of text and less unnecessary, repetitive illustrations.
March 14, 2025
I found 'Sparrow' to be very well done. I often find difficulty enjoying non-fiction books due to the dryness and pacing.
Kim Todd's writing had gems of information mixed with some philosophy. While, that likely isn't everyone's cup of tea, it was still well written and not overbearing. 'Sparrow' covers the timeline of House Sparrows across the globe but also several other sparrow species (old world and new). Illustrations are spread throughout as well as tales and poetry relating to the birds. My only dislike within the text was the bouncing of time. I would have liked the book to have gradually moved chronologically rather than the back and forth.
House Sparrows are near and dear to my heart despite the invasiveness. They are charming birds that are remarkably resilient. They are just as welcome at my bird feeders as Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Juncos. My eyes are on the sparrows - and they look back at me. <3
Kim Todd's writing had gems of information mixed with some philosophy. While, that likely isn't everyone's cup of tea, it was still well written and not overbearing. 'Sparrow' covers the timeline of House Sparrows across the globe but also several other sparrow species (old world and new). Illustrations are spread throughout as well as tales and poetry relating to the birds. My only dislike within the text was the bouncing of time. I would have liked the book to have gradually moved chronologically rather than the back and forth.
House Sparrows are near and dear to my heart despite the invasiveness. They are charming birds that are remarkably resilient. They are just as welcome at my bird feeders as Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Juncos. My eyes are on the sparrows - and they look back at me. <3
January 21, 2026
I first ran across Kim Todd when I read a remarkable essay on the Odyssey which she had written for the Paris Review. I was very impressed by how she structured the piece, and the power and emotions it evoked. It made me want to see what else she had written, and thus Sparrow found its way onto my reading list.
A pretty solid example of creative non-fiction, but there really wasn't much here to wrap your head around. As far as birds go, sparrows are pretty ordinary, and her exploration of their treatment in both and art and history doesn't have a lot of emotional heft.
A pretty solid example of creative non-fiction, but there really wasn't much here to wrap your head around. As far as birds go, sparrows are pretty ordinary, and her exploration of their treatment in both and art and history doesn't have a lot of emotional heft.
April 28, 2022
Throughly enjoyed this little book one of a great series on animals. It explores sparrows in literature and in realtionships with humand and also some reference to habits and biology. It makes mne see the sparrows in my garden a little differently. Love this book!
July 24, 2016
Regardless of where you go, there they are. In bushes, in parking lots, on sidewalks, underfoot. They’re chirping, eating, hopping, quarrelling, fornicating. “Little brown jobs,” bird watchers murmur dismissively. Sparrows. They’re seemingly everywhere.
In the opening sentence in her new book, Sparrow [Reaktion Books; 2012], environment writer Kim Todd immediately captures her readers’ attention by stating; “The sparrow is a slight bird, small and dun-coloured, easily crushed.”
Easily crushed?
Despite this seeming fragility, Europe’s house sparrow, Passer domesticus, is surprisingly tough, forming boisterous crowds that spilled out of the world’s largest cities to colonise six continents. Their exuberant yet tuneless chirps can be heard nearly everywhere that people are found, from the Arctic Circle near the top of the world to the bottom of mine shafts. So omnipresent is this species that they are true human commensals, voluntarily forsaking their original wild home to depend upon our table scraps for food, our structures for housing and our presence for safety. This familiarity has aroused admiration and even a benign fondness, as celebrated in art, literature and poetry, as well as controversy and sometimes overt hostility, from the informal sparrow wars that took place in New England newspapers and pubs during the 1800s, to Mao Zedong’s formally declared “Sparrow War” in the late 1950s, a campaign that triggered a famine that claimed more than 30 million Chinese lives.
For better or for worse, sparrows have always been with us, it seems. The many lavish colour illustrations that adorn nearly every page of this book — paintings, drawings, photographs, newspaper clippings, diagrams — and the quotations from poetry and literature expose the profound impact that sparrows have had upon human cultures and upon the collective human consciousness. It has always been like this: even our early ancestors lived alongside these small birds, as revealed by charred sparrow bones retrieved from 3,000-year-old Swedish cooking pits.
Although the book focuses on the house sparrow and its close relationship with people, this narrative also looks at the New World sparrows (family: Emberizidae), more commonly known as the American sparrows. Geographically limited to the New World and sharing the overused moniker “sparrows”, the emberizids are unrelated to the Old World Passeridae, which becomes obvious when any of these American “little brown jobs” sings.
There is some science in this book, too. Several scientists’ work is described, particularly Martin Morton’s and Luis Baptista’s elegant investigations into the origin and function of regional song dialects sung by white-crowned sparrows, and the research into avian stress by a grad school labmate of mine, Creagh Breuner, and her team. Also highlighted are investigations of different house sparrow populations located throughout the world that surprised us by showing how rapidly speciation can progress — a dynamic process that has intrigued and inspired me throughout my lifetime.
Sparrow research has provided us with many insights into human and avian evolution, physiology, behaviour and ecology, but many mysteries still await us. Perhaps most perplexing is the still-unsolved mystery of diminishing house sparrow populations. Already in the early 1900s, the messy, rambunctious flocks of house sparrows that plagued and pooped on our cities were decreasing. The smaller sparrow populations that resulted were attributed to decreasing numbers of horses — and “their lightly processed oats” that sustained these birds. But in the 1970s, house sparrow populations suddenly plummeted — so much so that the species has disappeared altogether from some of its former urban haunts around the world. Disturbingly, other Passer sparrows are also in decline. Research suggests this decline may be tied to the general lack of insects in cities, which the adults feed to their newly hatched nestlings. Other research indicates that sparrowhawks are moving in to large cities to rear their own hungry chicks on the many fat, fearless sparrows residing there. But no one really knows the reason for this latest population decline.
Even though this book is well-written and carefully researched, some inaccuracies inevitably do pop up. For example, a photograph of a golden-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia atricapilla, is mistakenly given the scientific name for its smaller sister species, the white-crowned sparrow, and a chipping sparrow, Spizella passerina (a clear-breasted species), is misidentified as a song sparrow (a species whose breast has bold stripes with a distinctive dark smudge over its heart).
Overall, this is an interesting little book. As Ms Todd unravels the story of house sparrows in this engaging narrative, we gain new insights into these cheeky little brown jobs — and ourselves.
NOTE: Originally published at The Guardian on 16 July 2012.
In the opening sentence in her new book, Sparrow [Reaktion Books; 2012], environment writer Kim Todd immediately captures her readers’ attention by stating; “The sparrow is a slight bird, small and dun-coloured, easily crushed.”
Easily crushed?
Despite this seeming fragility, Europe’s house sparrow, Passer domesticus, is surprisingly tough, forming boisterous crowds that spilled out of the world’s largest cities to colonise six continents. Their exuberant yet tuneless chirps can be heard nearly everywhere that people are found, from the Arctic Circle near the top of the world to the bottom of mine shafts. So omnipresent is this species that they are true human commensals, voluntarily forsaking their original wild home to depend upon our table scraps for food, our structures for housing and our presence for safety. This familiarity has aroused admiration and even a benign fondness, as celebrated in art, literature and poetry, as well as controversy and sometimes overt hostility, from the informal sparrow wars that took place in New England newspapers and pubs during the 1800s, to Mao Zedong’s formally declared “Sparrow War” in the late 1950s, a campaign that triggered a famine that claimed more than 30 million Chinese lives.
For better or for worse, sparrows have always been with us, it seems. The many lavish colour illustrations that adorn nearly every page of this book — paintings, drawings, photographs, newspaper clippings, diagrams — and the quotations from poetry and literature expose the profound impact that sparrows have had upon human cultures and upon the collective human consciousness. It has always been like this: even our early ancestors lived alongside these small birds, as revealed by charred sparrow bones retrieved from 3,000-year-old Swedish cooking pits.
Although the book focuses on the house sparrow and its close relationship with people, this narrative also looks at the New World sparrows (family: Emberizidae), more commonly known as the American sparrows. Geographically limited to the New World and sharing the overused moniker “sparrows”, the emberizids are unrelated to the Old World Passeridae, which becomes obvious when any of these American “little brown jobs” sings.
There is some science in this book, too. Several scientists’ work is described, particularly Martin Morton’s and Luis Baptista’s elegant investigations into the origin and function of regional song dialects sung by white-crowned sparrows, and the research into avian stress by a grad school labmate of mine, Creagh Breuner, and her team. Also highlighted are investigations of different house sparrow populations located throughout the world that surprised us by showing how rapidly speciation can progress — a dynamic process that has intrigued and inspired me throughout my lifetime.
Sparrow research has provided us with many insights into human and avian evolution, physiology, behaviour and ecology, but many mysteries still await us. Perhaps most perplexing is the still-unsolved mystery of diminishing house sparrow populations. Already in the early 1900s, the messy, rambunctious flocks of house sparrows that plagued and pooped on our cities were decreasing. The smaller sparrow populations that resulted were attributed to decreasing numbers of horses — and “their lightly processed oats” that sustained these birds. But in the 1970s, house sparrow populations suddenly plummeted — so much so that the species has disappeared altogether from some of its former urban haunts around the world. Disturbingly, other Passer sparrows are also in decline. Research suggests this decline may be tied to the general lack of insects in cities, which the adults feed to their newly hatched nestlings. Other research indicates that sparrowhawks are moving in to large cities to rear their own hungry chicks on the many fat, fearless sparrows residing there. But no one really knows the reason for this latest population decline.
Even though this book is well-written and carefully researched, some inaccuracies inevitably do pop up. For example, a photograph of a golden-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia atricapilla, is mistakenly given the scientific name for its smaller sister species, the white-crowned sparrow, and a chipping sparrow, Spizella passerina (a clear-breasted species), is misidentified as a song sparrow (a species whose breast has bold stripes with a distinctive dark smudge over its heart).
Overall, this is an interesting little book. As Ms Todd unravels the story of house sparrows in this engaging narrative, we gain new insights into these cheeky little brown jobs — and ourselves.
NOTE: Originally published at The Guardian on 16 July 2012.
February 6, 2018
I discovered this gem of a series via citation analysis and will definitely read more of them. Each one covers the history and cultural impact of a specific species very well. I've never really been able to tell the difference between sparrows and wrens (an issue Todd does not address) but now I know why sparrows are so important for judging ecological change. I also learned the Cock Robin story and the Biblical references to sparrows, so it was definitely worth reading.
January 23, 2017
“How do we treat the insignificant, the overlooked, outside our windows and within ourselves?”
*
Kim Todd’s Sparrow is a slim book with everything you ever wanted to know about the little bird: the different types, the history — in real life as well as in literature and art — and the environmental issues it faces today. The quote, which is from the introduction to the book, piqued my interest. The book doesn’t quite answer this philosophical question, but I did enjoy seeing how a simple bird could be seen as a microcosm for examining broader sociopolitical and artistic concerns. I picked up this book because Kim and I were residents at The Anderson Center together last summer, and I’ve since wanted to read her work!
*
Kim Todd’s Sparrow is a slim book with everything you ever wanted to know about the little bird: the different types, the history — in real life as well as in literature and art — and the environmental issues it faces today. The quote, which is from the introduction to the book, piqued my interest. The book doesn’t quite answer this philosophical question, but I did enjoy seeing how a simple bird could be seen as a microcosm for examining broader sociopolitical and artistic concerns. I picked up this book because Kim and I were residents at The Anderson Center together last summer, and I’ve since wanted to read her work!
April 28, 2012
Like most of the Reaktion series, this book is lavishly illustrated and covers the biology, history, and literature references to this humble bird. Trough its throughtful prose, it sheds new light on Passer domesticus, the old world house sparrow.
May 7, 2012
Ahhh the simple Sparrow. The book shows how when humans get into
the picture how unbalanced nature can get. Plan on reading other books in this series.
the picture how unbalanced nature can get. Plan on reading other books in this series.
August 22, 2012
I liked it, but hadn't realised that the book is American. The focus, therefore, is very much on sparrows in the US, which is not what I wanted to read about.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews