A History of Birdwatching in 100 Objects by David Callahan

by David Callahan

Excellent Book

Genres: Birds, Nonfiction, History

Hardcover

First published November 26, 2013

Reviews

[Shyamal · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent idea of looking at the wide range of influences in bird study (rather than birdwatching as the title suggests which does not fit very well with something like a mass spectrometer or a PCR machine!). British-centric but well worth reading or at least browsing through for anyone interested in birds.

[Eva · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not a birdwatcher and this might have affected my opinion of this book. I do know a little bit of birdwatching and since this book was lying around, I had a go at it.
I usually like microhistory and I thought the concept of this book was quite appealing.
It was, however, that same concept that put me off. The interesting parts were rather shallow and way to short. The boring parts were, well, boring.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very British-centric ...

[Lauren Flesher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Focused more on U.K. birding. I would have come up with a very different list of objects. A bit of a dry read that solicits skimming.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

A weird and uninspiring choice of items. Tenuous links with some...
The author comes across as incredibly arrogant and condescending, especially about our predecessors. You can't judge the past by our standards, they weren't living by them! 🤦
Painful, i tried so hard but gave up halfway through.