About this title: A beautiful and surprising exploration of a phenomenon that's at once familiar and baffling: the mystery of why birds sing The astonishing variety and richness of bird song is both an aesthetic and scientific mystery. Evolutionists have never been able to understand why bird song displays are often so inventive and why so many species devote so many hours to singing - or why other species don't. The standard explanations, which generally have to do with territoriality and sexual display, don't begin to account for the astonishing variety and energy that the commonest birds exhibit. ...
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Basic Books
Date Published: 05/2005
ISBN-13:9780465071357ISBN:046507135X
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 272 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Basic Books
Date Published: 05/2005
ISBN-13:9780465071357ISBN:046507135X
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 272 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Edition: export ed
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Basic Books
Date Published: 2005-04-13
ISBN-13:9780465071357ISBN:046507135X
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: Basic Books
Date Published: 2006-04-03
ISBN-13:9780465071364ISBN:0465071368
Description: Very good. Very minimal damage to the cover (no holes or tears, only minimal scuff marks), in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, minimal to no highlighting/under. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Basic Books
Date Published: 2006-04-03
ISBN-13:9780465071364ISBN:0465071368
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
Edition: export ed
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Basic Books
Date Published: 2005-04-13
ISBN-13:9780465071357ISBN:046507135X
Description: Very good. Very minimal damage to the cover (no holes or tears, only minimal scuff marks), in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, minimal to no highlighting/under. read more
Description: Good. 046507135X Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Basic Books
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780465071357ISBN:046507135X
Description: New in new dust jacket. Absolutely new and very fine! Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 272 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
"I just happened to be walking past this book in the library and decided to add it to my growing pile. It has been a delightful book to peruse; since I'm not really a birder, nor a musician, nor a scientist, there was much information that simply flew over my head, but I loved his thesis and mode of inquiry and willingness to ask question after question without feeling the need for a definitive conclusion.
More than anything it gave me a new appreciation for the sounds coming from the finches sitting on my fountain--and the coos of the pigeon on the wire. I wonder, "are they just singing to sing, today? Are they young birds trying to learn the notes of their species?" And I wonder if they are simply singing because the sky is blue--because it is so very blue...
Anyway, very fun. I'd certainly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in birds and their habits."
"This book is almost great. I like the concept: pairing scientific studies of bird song with the poetic and aesthetic appreciation of it. But it ends up just saying the same thing over and over in different ways: maybe birds sing just because they want to and enjoy it. Maybe birds have the same need for artistic expression as humans.
I stopped on page 53 because I got distracted with other books, but I doubted that the "debate" would develop much between there and the last sentence on page 229: "The music made the questions begin, but no answer will erase the gift of the song, one simple offering from human to animal and back." (He says "human to animal" because he plays instruments along with birds in a kind of cross-species duet.)
There's an accompanying website that has audio clips of bird song and the author's duets. I never checked it out, but I like that he makes bird song available. There's nothing more frustrating than reading about music you can't hear."
"A third of the way into this, and I'm not sure what I think. It's part popular science, with a good dose of poetry, as well as what I guess I would call musicology- it may be little too wide-ranging for my tastes. I'm interested in all these things, but so far he hasn't delved deeply enough into any of them. I did, however, feel particularly attentive to the mockingbird I found singing from the top of a telephone pole during my run this morning...so I will read on."
"Let me just say that I almost NEVER quit books part way through. This one started off ok...interesting look at bird songs because the author is a musician and I think that if he stuck to that angle it would have been good. A new look at something that I've read a bunch on. But then he tries to do science, which he does poorly at best. I don't mind theory, in fact I enjoy the theoretical sciences bunches, but this guy was clearly pulling information out of his ass. Horrible. Got to chapter 3 and could not continue. The best thing that I learned from this book was that there is a national aviary in Pittsbourgh, PA. I want to go there but will not revisit this book again."
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