The Wonderful Mr Willughby: The First True Ornithologist

by Tim Birkhead

From the author of Bird Sense, a biography of Francis Willughby, the man who pulled the study of birds out of the dark ages and formed the foundations of modern ornithology.

Francis Willughby lived and thrived in the midst of the rapidly accelerating scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. Traveling with his Cambridge tutor John Ray, they decided to overhaul the whole of natural history by imposing order on its messiness and complexity. It was exhilarating, exacting, and exhausting work. Yet before their first book, Ornithology, could be completed, Willughby died in 1672. Since then, Ray's reputation has grown, obscuring that of his collaborator. Now, for the first time, Willughby's story and genius are given the attention they deserve.

In his too-short life, Francis Willughby helped found the Royal Society, differentiated birds through identification of their distinguishing features, and asked questions that were, in some cases, centuries ahead of their time. His discoveries and his approach to his work continue to be relevant--and revelatory--oday. Tim Birkhead describes and celebrates how Willughby's endeavors set a standard for the way birds--and indeed the whole of natural history--should be studied. Rich with glorious detail, The Wonderful Mr Willughby is at once a fascinating insight into a thrilling period of scientific history and an authoritative, lively biography of one of its legendary pioneers.

Genres: Birds, Nature, Science, Nonfiction, Biography, Natural History, History

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Tim Birkhead is an award-winning author and one of the world’s leading bird biologists. He is the coauthor of Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin (Princeton) and the author of The Wonderful Mr. Willughby: The First True Ornithologist, The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg, and Bird Sense: What It’s Like to Be a Bird, among other books. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Sheffield.

Reviews

[Maaike van Stratum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. De flaptekst maakte er wat meer van dan het boek kon waarmaken. Mild interessante biografie van een jonggestorven zeventiende eeuwse naturalist over wie eigenlijk te weinig bekend is om een heel boek vol te krijgen. Niet vervelend, maar ook weer niet super interessant. Vooral aardig vanwege de achtergrond: Engeland in de 17e eeuw, toen de wetenschap net weer wat grote stappen voorwaarts maakte (het was de tijd van o.a. Newton, de oprichting van de royal society), gegoede jeugd en Grand Tour door Europa maakte, dat soort dingen.

[Andrew H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gilbert White's famous A Natural History is peppered with references to the works of Ray; again and again he defers to Ray's knowledge of birds. The co-author of Ray's work, Willughby, remains in the shadows. In this quest for the mysterious Willughby, Tim Birkhead, uncovers the synergistic connection between Ray and Willughby who were early members and shapers of The Royal Society.

In essence, this book is a survey of science after the Restoration, a period which saw a decline in scientific sponsorship: changes in religion, as ever, saw minds rise and fall out of favour. Willughby was the younger half of the partnership, but the genius behind the joint enterprise to identify and catalogue the birds of the United Kingdom (and some from Europe). The two scientists thought in different ways. Ray was a traditionalist who tended towards wordy descriptions, yet Willughby saw the importance of coloured illustrations and these he collected avidly from wherever possible.

The Wonderful Mr Willughby considers birds, fishes, insects and plants, for Willughby's interest in nature was far reaching. The major part of the book, however, is concerned with the invention of ornithology-- the observation of birds, their habitats, and their adaptations. Of course, it would take Darwin to expound evolution, but Willughby was an expert at close investigation-- was a prime example of The Royal Society's motto, "See for yourself"-- and he began to link bird features with habitats and behaviour.

Tim Birkhead writes wisely: he is careful not to read modern science back into the seventeenth century. He is also able to appreciate how Willughby re-directed medieval science towards objective methods free of hearsay and supposition. This is a deft piece of investigative and analytical writing that brings Francis Willughby back into the light.

[Jim Folger · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Wonderful" is a stretch in describing Francis Willughby.
This was a man who was so wealthy he never had to work a day in his life. Thus spared the rigors of working for a living, he was able to indulge his innate curiosity about the natural world, specially birds, insects and fishes.
He traveled Europe and recorded his observations, dissecting birds to discover more about them, and we also offered insights on what birds were best to eat (the smaller songbirds).
The author provides several references to obscure persons from the 16th century, along with his own commentary on what was right and wrong in Willoughby's investigations.
Willughby died at the age of 36, and much of his work was published by a friend John Ray, so we do not have many personal insights from Willughby.
All in all, a book that could have been substantially reduced in pages, while still communicating the history of the man's ornithological work.

[Redmar Huisman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een goed boek dat een uitgebreide weergave geeft van het leven van een relatief onbekende, maar belangrijke ornitholoog.

[Danielle Clode · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not so much a biography of one man, as a grand tour of Europe at the dawn of modern science. The naturalist, Francis Willughby (1635-1672), lived his short but splendid life at a time when robins were thought to turn into redstarts, turnip seeds might grow into cabbages and caterpillars might hatch as either moths or flies. Fish and birds were known by a multitude of names, agreed upon, and carefully described, by few – while insects cycled through their busy lives almost entirely unstudied.

Francis Willughby and his colleagues left the natural world a more orderly, organised and comprehensible place, where scientific theories could grow and develop. He also left Tim Birkhead a wealth of archives, including a fabulous cabinet of curiosities with secret drawers from which to construct this engaging and readable history of the heady early days of biological science. (The Advertiser, 5 books in 5 minutes, 21 July 2018)

[Debbie Vignovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you haven't figured it out by now--I will pretty much read anything. This is the biography of Francis Willughby, the man who pulled the study of birds out of the dark ages and formed the foundation of modern ornithology. He lived in 17th century England--a thrilling period of scientific history. This was a dense information packed read and it took me a while to get to the end. Even so this was still my favorite Mr. out of the group--I was totally surprised to come to this conclusion but over the years I have truly come to love reading history. I especially enjoyed the style and tone in which the author told the tale, he took what could have easily been dry dusty history and turned it into a very readable look at a fascinating corner of history.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a perfect 'before-bed" book. It was mildly interesting to me so I stayed awake for about 15 minutes, then fell into a blissful slumber. The main problem was that it was very unclear why Francis Willughby was wonderful. But I liked the references to the Royal Society, Robert Hooke, Samuel Pepys, the political landscape, and the early days of "modern science". We take for granted that we know the number of species of plants and animals, but someone had to painstakingly figure it out what they were seeing and how to classify it. Willughby and his colleague John Ray are both notable because they established the first classification of British birds and also fish and insects. I gave the book a low rating because, well, it is kind of a boring read, of interest to a very specialized audience. There was a lot in there that did not seem relevant. The author was a good writer, but this seems more like a compilation of his research notes than a compelling narrative that illuminates themes.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book bills itself as a biography of Francis Willughby as an ornithologist, it's more about his scientific partnership with fellow naturalist John Ray, their travels, and their efforts toward scientifically describing and categorizing the natural world around them, notably birds, fish and insects.

As an ornithologist himself, the author has a tendency to get a bit sidetracked with the minutiae of descriptions of various species. It's understandable, but not the most interesting for this reader. I was more intrigued with Willughby's personal life and travels.

The later chapter about Willughby and Ray's legacy is really quite well written and made me thoughtful of the way people's legacies are interpreted and change over time. Overall, the book was a bit of a slog, but I did learn quite a bit about a scientist I had known nothing about, and that's what counts. Also, I learned that modern bird watching is much less gruesome than 17th century specimen collection.

[I liked the fleurons that marked sections within chapters -- three soaring birds -- likely European Honey Buzzards, which Willughby first described scientifically]

[Ginny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book covers are like wine bottle labels. Both provide no indication of how good the thing inside is. I picked up this book from my Library. My eye caught the name “Willughby” which made me wonder if this was a novel inspired by Mr. Willoughby of Sense and Sensibility. Then I saw if was on Ornithology and decided it might be worth it.

It wasn’t. There are too many truly interesting books I am dying to read to get sidetracked by eye candy! This book was okay. It was really more a tale of life in the 1600’s for this rich Englishman who got to do a Grand Tour and catalogue birds and do wilderness treks. It was just too much to read. The author also isn’t a very good writer. He kept interjecting himself into this biography - literally interjecting himself!!! Very very maddening.

At the end of the day, I just don’t get the point of reading a middling story about an obscure historical figure that was neither really “wonderful” nor meaningful 400 years later. Or maybe he was and his sad fate was that a mediocre author is the one who decided to take up his pen and tell this man’s tale. We might never know. And it wasn’t an easy read either. 300 pages can drag in the wrong author’s hands. This one did. There are far better birding books then this one.

[Imogen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me realise that whilst I love birds, I care far more about the birds than I do about the people who categorised them. It was very well written and well researched, and I especially liked the eccentricities of the people who did this sort of stuff (and the things they missed, that we look back and think of as obvious!), and overall I enjoyed it. I have read other books by Tim Birkhead and found them a lot more interesting, so whilst this is a good book, it is not quite for me. I am going to re-read it properly in a month or so, however. I'll let it settle.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biography of a 17th Century natural historian, Sir Francis Willughby. Born to a wealthy family, he was educated and encouraged to follow his passion of collecting and cataloguing birds, fish and insects. He died at 36 and left his legacy in the hands of his friend and scientific companion, John Ray, who published Willughby's work posthumously. Interesting, but sometimes gets lost in the detail.

[Jente Ottenburghs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoy the writing and ornithological facts of Tim Birkhead, but I am not a big fan of biographies (I prefer to learn about ideas instead of people). The book contains a lot of detailed information on the life and travels of Francis Willughby, complemented with interesting natural history knowledge. The smooth writing of Birkhead helped me to finish the book rather quickly. All in all, an enjoyable read, but I will avoid biographies for a while.

[Konrad Vanderheyden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beste boek over een ornitholoog die ik ooit gelezen heb. Dit is wel pas mijn eerste, dus mijn mening is niet echt representatief.

Over het algemeen een goed boek, die een goede achtergrond geeft over de wetenschappelijke revolutie van de zeventiende eeuw. Soms wordt er te veel rond gestrooid met lijstjes van vogels en beschrijvingen van vogels, maar er wordt altijd op tijd het verhaal van Willughby verder verteld om het verhaal geïnteresseerd te lezen.

[5greenway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Infuriatingly interesting. Lots of interesting facts and a time and life that both intrigue but never really seem to come to life. Mildly infuriating style with at times an intrusive author's voice and square bracket mania (especially [sic]s) in source quotations.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful biography of a 'past person' we can learn from. Fun read into a time we will never experience again.

[Roger Shepherd · Rating 1 out of 5]

British academic slog that never answers the primary question of what Willoughby and Ray brought to the evolution of classification of birds, fish and insects.

[Lee Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Willughby is a personal discovery. My interests in ornithology kept me digging more deeply into the book with asides on Google to find out more. Delightful.

[Annika · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little bit too many details that I did not find interesting. On the other hand, the details show the immens amount of work Birkhead put into this book, a lot of respect for him.