About this title: From the bestselling author of "Winter World" comes the remarkable story of his fathers life, his familys past, and how the forces of history and nature shaped his own life. 16-page b&w photo insert.
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Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780060742164ISBN:006074216X
Description: Fine. New books small to none shelf wear An appparently unread copy in perfect condition. Dust cover is intact pages are clean and not marked by notes or folds of any kind. This is suitable for presenting as a gift. ******PLEASE NOTE****** Orders placed after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery before Christmas unless you select EXPEDITED shipping! Thank you & Happy Holidays! read more
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2008-07-01
ISBN-13:9780060742164ISBN:006074216X
Description: New. New, unread, unused & in perfect condition with no damaged or missing pages. Pre-release book with different cover and stickers. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Description: Good. 006074216X Good condition, minor cover wear, some notations in pencil, EVERY order receives DELIVERY CONFIRMATION----FAST shipping! ! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ecco
Date Published: 2007-05-01
ISBN-13:9780060742157ISBN:0060742151
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Description: Fine. 006074216X Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black ink mark on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Description: New. A Brand New Copy. Never Read. Buy with confidence from an Independent Bookstore where the owners, a husband and wife team, have over 30 years of combined bookselling experience. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780060742164ISBN:006074216X
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Perennial
Date Published: 2008-07-01
ISBN-13:9780060742164ISBN:006074216X
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780060742164. read more
Edition: First Edition, First Printing
Binding: Pictorial Wraps
Publisher: HarperCollins / ECCO, New York
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780060742157ISBN:0060742151
Description: FINE in FINE DJ. 8vo (6-1/2 x 9), 461 pp including Notes and References. Hardbound book is illustrated with photographs and drawings, and is FINE--unread and--other than a remainder mark on top page block--unmarked in a FINE unclipped pictorial DJ. (h) The brilliant, entertaining naturalist writes of his family, and their involvement in natural history, especially posthumous remembrances of his father, an entomologist who specialized in wasps. A delight to read. This copy, like most of this ... read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Ecco,, New York:
Date Published: 2007.
ISBN-13:9780060742157ISBN:0060742151
Description: Octavo, dustwrapper, 461 pp., black and white illustrations. WAS $45. From the author of Winter world: the ingenuity of animal survival and Ravens in winter comes the remarkable story of his fathers life, his family's past, and how the forces of history and nature shaped his own life. Also available in paperback [stock id 27279]. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ecco
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780060742157ISBN:0060742151
Description: Good. Good: A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels. Austin eBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service! We add inventory to our store daily, and guarantee order processing and shipment within 2 business ... read more
"The writing is wonderful. Heinrich is very readable. The subject matter, on the other hand, is some of the most amazing characters, feats, and ideals of which I have heard. Heinrich discovers some of this history of his family himself for the first time,which heightens the emotional pull of the book. The history includes both the tragedy of war and the self-inflicted hardships of years of specimen collecting in distant, disease-plagued areas. The latter were undertaken when communication and transportation were so less developed than now that distant areas were truly remote and dangerous. Having not heard about these expeditions before, I really learned about the era when naturalists went on expeditions to collect for museums. Heinrich's father had fanatical dedication to these expeditions. He was happy only when he was exploring wild foreign land, even though the hardships are far beyond what I could take. I thought women of that time (mid 1900's) were adverse to any kind of outdoor roughing it, but the women that Heinrich's father took with him enjoyed the expeditions as much as he did, which is another story. The war stories from both world wars show Heinrich's father, again, as an extraordinary person. They also show what civilian life was like during that time period, something I have never read much about before. I had not appreciated the difficulties normal people faced in Europe. As a child, Heinrich learned much about nature from his father. Heinrich's father studied ichneumon wasps with astounding passion. However, he was absent for most of Heinrich's childhood, and showed very little interest in his son's well-being. On the other hand,he had almost brutally high expectations and he did write copious detailed letters to his son. He is difficult to understand, and Heinrich does a good job of sharing the fascination he engenders. It is hard to express how exciting this book is. Between Heinrich's and his family's extraordinary lives and the fortuitous twists and turns that bring Heinrich to the discovery of the part of this history that he didn't know, it is hard to put the book down."
"Wonderful writing as always, but subject matter expands to include World Wars I and II and especially focuses on his family and father. Truly interesting reading on all levels."
"Up until December, 2007, I thought that the blogosphere was a place for people to discuss their political interests or their health concerns and since I had neither, I had never ventured in. But, a conversation one night at a dinner party with Amity peaked my interest. The next day, I discovered that I could search for blogs through igoogle using keywords. Well, I had just finished reading The Winter World for the third time and decided to search blogs using the author's name. I typed in Bernd Heinrich and found Jennifer's blog A Passion for Nature and from there links to many other wonderful nature blogs and with a sigh of relief, found the place in cyberspace where I belong.
Bernd Heirnrich is one of my favorite authors for many reasons, chiefly, he is a good story teller and is able to explain scientific processes so that a lawyer with an undergraduate degree in math can understand. His explanations and descriptions of the natural world don't simply satisfy curiosity, they stoke it.
From reading many of his books, I have found places where our lives have kind of been tangent lines and that lends an interesting piece, too. In the early 1980's, I was working my way through the University of Vermont as a secretary in the Microbiology and Biochemistry Department. One of my duties was to make coffee at 10:00 every morning because many of the professors and researchers in life sciences would get together for a forum and discussion over coffee in our conference room. Whether my memory has invented it after reading so many of his books or whether he really was occasionally part of that coffee group, I'm not really sure. But, I think he was and how I wish that I had paid more attention to the conversations in that group and less attention to whether or not it was an infringement of my rights to be expected to make coffee.
The cabin in Weld, Maine, that Bernd often writes about is up the road from me and, in fact, when he was training for the ultra marathon that he wrote about in Why We Run, he used to run right by our house and turn around at the corner of Route 2 and Weld Street. That was long before I lived here but he told me about it in an e-mail correspondence.
As a teenager, Bernd spent many years living at Good Will Hinkley, a place where I spend a fair amount of time because of the young people that I work with who are in foster care and placed there.
But, aside from those superficial tangential connections, I cannot claim any similarity to Bernd Henrich. He is a rare genius with a gift for sharing his genius with the common man and his most recent book does just that by combining natural history, European history, scientific discovery, family dynamics, the will to survive and the desire to excel into a fascinating read.
A few months ago, Charlie bought me The Snoring Bird: My Family's Journey Through a Century of Biology and, honestly, I feel that any description that I can give of this book is such a vast oversimplification that it might be better to not even try. But, I will.
The book starts out with the history of the Henrich family on their estate in Germany/Poland. Bernd's father Gerd has the heart and mind of a naturalist and a passion for collecting ichneumon wasps but his genteel life as a collector is interrupted by first one world war and then another. In between the wars, he travels the world collecting birds and mammals for museum collections. As World War II draws to a close, the family must flee the encroaching Russian Army and four year old Bernd along with an assortment of family members take refuge for five years in the Hohenwald Forest. It is here that Bernd discovers his own passion for the natural world. Eventually the family makes their way to the United States and to Maine.
The ichneumon wasps are as much a character of this book as any of the people and the creation, burial and resurrection of the collection is as dramatic as any rescue that Hollywood could cook up. The coincidences and serendiptous discoveries that allow Bernd Henrich to discover so much of his family's history are almost incredulous but are actually the result of a dilligent and disciplined researcher.
The book is written honestly, no one, including the author, is spared from a realistic portrayal. The book is full of real people with passions, energy, curiousity and flaws.
If I was a reviewer with a rating system, I would give it 5 stars and tell some smart producer to buy the movie rights. It is truly a story with an appeal that goes beyond the community of nature bloggers and right to the essence of the 20th century."
"this is kind of long and arduous but Bernd's family's excape from the Russian army is gripping! As is the forays into the jungle for to discover a bird."
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