All about Birds: A Short Illustrated History of Ornithology

by Valérie Chansigaud

Colorful, musical, graceful, easily observed--birds have always fascinated amateur and professional naturalists alike. This richly illustrated book tells the fascinating story of ornithology from ancient times to the present. Filled throughout with paintings, drawings, photographs, and diagrams, many of them in brilliant color, All about Birds is a fast-paced chronological account of the personalities and milestones that have shaped this most popular of sciences--from Aristotle, Audubon, and Darwin to Peterson and Sibley. These key figures and events are also documented in a unique twenty-page illustrated color timeline at the end of the book. Brief individual chapters cover antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. With its beautiful design and illustrations, and its concise and informative text, this lively book will delight anyone who loves birds.


A clear and concise chronological account, from antiquity to the present
Richly illustrated throughout with some 250 images, many of them in color
Unique 20-page illustrated color timeline documents key figures and events

Genres: Birds

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2010

Reviews

[Darnoc Leadburger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A went to this library booksale in May of 2022 and I had a distinct buying trend... I bought lots of books that felt good to read. I bought a couple books because they were cool mass market paperbacks... that kinda thing. This book, an ex-library where the cover is printed onto the hardcover (No dust jacket? Awesome!), called my name, especially as I'd been going through an animal revival and my best friend is a big fan of birds even though I've always been more into mammals.

Well... I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it's very well researched and everything in it seems to be well categorized and laid out and written and I really can't fault much about the book because I've a novice in this field. What I can attest to? I hoped to find a book that focused more on the birds. I wanted to read about what really differentiates them from bats, or how researchers classified birds based on their physical attributes. What I got instead was a history - a list - or ornithologists throughout history. It was interesting, but it got to be a bit old after a while, and I ended up skimming a couple of the later sections.

So... it's not Valerie Chansiguad's fault I didn't click with this book. She did everything she could! Well... I'm sure I could find some complaints if I wanted to. But I'm just going to chalk this up to a mismatch of expectations. But on the bright side... this book is beautiful. I read mainly fiction, especially science fiction, so I don't get many pictures in books. But this book... from the reprints to the original paintings to that beautiful cover, this book has tons of eye candy. It's worth it for that (on the cheap) if you like bird pictures and that kind of thing. Someday I'll probably pull it from the shelf and leaf through its pages, but for now, it'll sit next to my animal books and await a shelf buddy more dedicated to the biology of birds.

[Derrick Woodard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tristan
Woodard

[Lorraine · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting book, though I didn't read the whole thing. Instead I flipped through, read a few paragraphs here and there and looked at the beautiful illustrations and historical bird pictures. In terms of the title of this book I might change it to "history of illustrating ornithology"