That is exactly what the reader discovers in Thor Hanson's latest book, "Feathers - The Evolution of a Natural Miracle." Mr. Hanson is a Conservation Biologist, and a birder who, like the rest of us, sometimes forgets the name of a familiar bird! (TAA - Temporary Avian Amnesia)
His writing style is so relaxed and engaging that one forgets that it is an accurate scientific study. With the exception of the section, Evolution, which get a little heavy with names of dinosaurs, the rest of the volume is really story-telling, sometimes suspenseful, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, but always loaded with fascinating, well documented, readily understood information.
After Evolution which compares and evaluates various theories of avian development and adaptation, and includes some of the latest news concerning fossil discoveries, the work is divided into four main chapters:
Fluff - Keeping warm, staying cool. How do feathers prevent a bird from freezing in the arctic and from succumbing to heat stroke in the tropics?
Flight - Ground-up or Tree-down? How did flight begin? The amazing airfoil that aeronautical engineers are continually studying.
Fancy - Display - the dynamics of color in plumage.
Function - Waterproofing, lack of plumage, flightless birds. Quill pens.
Among interesting tidbits, we find Mr. Hanson has gone sky-diving with a Peregrine Falcon, has studied goose feather-dying with the creator of the Vegas show-girl costumes, has picked up a lost Common Murre on a county road and returned it to the sea, and has interviewed a ornithologist who discovered that the Club-winged Manakin plays a violin!
The book includes an illustrated guide to types of feathers - flight, contour, semiplume and down, and an illustrated description of how feathers grow and molt.
This is an extraordinary book about the extraordinary place of feathers in animal and human history.
This morning when I picked up a molted dove feather in my backyard, I looked at it with renewed wonder and admiration. It is some kind of miracle.
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| Price | $12.39 | $13.44 | $13.49 | $30.00 |
| Explore the Works of Thor Hanson | As seen on PBS’s American Spring LIVE, the award-winning author of The Triumph of Seeds and Feathers presents a natural and cultural history of bees: the buzzing wee beasties that make the world go round. | A story of hope, resilience, and risk, Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid is natural history for readers of Bernd Heinrich, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and David Haskell. | Award-winning author of Buzz and Feathers presents a natural and human history of seeds, the marvels of the plant kingdom. | A hands-on natural history for any local patch of Earth. It shows that we each can contribute to science and improve the health of our planet. |
About the author
It wil change the way you look at birds.
There are 400 billion birds in the world, some 10,000 different species. There is much to learn from them.Thor Hanson descrbes the remarkable structure and formation of feathers and the many ways birds use them—not only for flight but also for display, insulation, waterproofing, buoyancy, ballast, and even making music.Much of the book describes the long controversy about whether birds descended from dinosaurs or from a common ancestor.The rest of the book describes the many uses of feathers down through history, as pens for writing, plumes for show girls, decorations for ladies’ hats, and insulation for clothes.Hanson, however, ignores the modern and moral issue of killing birds for their meat and feathers.Don’t birds now have a right to their life and to their feathers?
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2011
- Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2013
- Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2016
- Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2013
- Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2014
- Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2012
Top reviews from other countries
- Donald L.Reviewed in Canada on June 4, 2020
A Great insight into nature and our world.
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- C. J. CottonReviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2012
Feathers- A Miracle of Evolution
- Mr. David EdwardsReviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2012
Flight of fancy.
