How to be a Bad Birdwatcher

Simon Barnes, 2004
Short Books, London. Hardcover, 140mm x 205mm, 198 pages
ISBN 1-904095-95-X £9.99/ US$20
available from http://www.nhbs.com/

This great read has two unusual subtitles: "To the greater glory of life" and "Let birds into your life, discover a new world." Barnes is a sportswriter by profession, but his passion is nature and more specifically bird watching: Hence the two rather lofty subtitles.

In an attempt to convince the reader of the validity of his claims, Barnes has crafted what is at once an amusing, insightful, personal and enjoyable tale: From his humble beginnings as a birder, a frustrated period of apprenticeship, rites of passage, comfortable community, pupil turned teacher, disciple turned evangelist and finally a realisation that he has achieved a better understanding of the planet and a veritable biophilia. This is directed both at birders and non-birders and through it Barnes aims to convey what about the hobby gives him a kick and why it is compulsive ("I don't go birdwatching. I am birdwatching."), as well as the fact that the environment really does deserve higher billing on the everyday political agenda.

"How to be a bad birdwatcher" has been described as "a wonderful ode to the wild world outside the kitchen window." It never lectures, is very well written, contains numerous pithy pearls of wisdom and should be on the Christmas list of a good proportion of the readers of this site.

-Chris Roche-

Posted: Birds by CC Africa, Date: 23 November 2006