2024 the best minds jonathan rosen review

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Aerial delights: A history of America as seen through the eyes of a bird-watcher

John James Audubon arrived in America in 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was president, and lived long enough to see his friend Samuel Morse send a telegraphic message from his house in New York City in the 1840s. As a boy, Teddy Roosevelt learned taxidermy from a man who had sailed up the Missouri River with Audubon, and yet as president presided over America’s entry into the twentieth century, in which our ability to destroy ourselves and the natural world was no longer metaphorical. Roosevelt, an avid birder, was born a hunter and died a conservationist.

Today, forty-six million Americans are bird-watchers. The Life of the Skies is a genre-bending journey into the meaning of a pursuit born out of the tangled history of industrialization and nature longing. Jonathan Rosen set out on a quest not merely to see birds but to fathom their centrality—historical and literary, spiritual and scientific—to a culture torn between the desire both to conquer and to conserve.

Rosen argues that bird-watching is nothing less than the real national pastime—indeed it is more than that, because the field of play is the earth itself. We are the players and the spectators, and the outcome—since bird and watcher are intimately connected—is literally a matter of life and death.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition (February 19, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374186308
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374186302
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.14 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 1.26 x 8.08 inches
Reviewer: Julie Neal
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Where the Wild Things Are
Review: This book spoke to me. I've been a birder for over 20 years now, and after reading "The Life of the Skies" I understand at last why I enjoy it so much.Author Rosen's central view is that humans need to affiliate with the natural world to be happy and fulfilled: "More and more I realize that to be bored with birds is to be bored with life. I say birds rather than some generic `nature,' because birds are what remain to us." He makes the point that birds are the only truly wild creatures most of us see.Many of the pages include interesting history. The chapter about the ivory-billed woodpecker describes how after Alexander Wilson, the father of American ornithology, captured one in the 18th century, he noted that its cries sounded exactly like "the violent crying of a young child."A must for anyone who loves birds, "The Life of the Skies" will make its reader want to go outside and look up.

Reviewer: Vicki C Littell
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A real surprise
Review: This book was a surprise. Full of all sorts of quotes, philosophies. Our book group loved it 10/1.

Reviewer: David B Richman
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Wonderful Book on Birding, Philosophy and Personal Experience
Review: Some authors are very good at connecting seemingly disparate elements into fascinating narrative. Jonathan Rosen is one such author and in his "The Life of the Birds: Birding at the End of Nature" he has captured the paradox and ambiguity of human involvement in the natural world. Yes we are among the problems (probably the greatest problem) being faced by the environment right now, but we are also part of that environment and sometimes its protector (although never often enough). Paradoxically only modern society allows us to take the time to appreciate "nature."Rosen is no avid bird lister who tries to reach new heights in chalking up new birds. He is instead a rare bird- the bird watcher who thinks in terms of art, philosophy, religion and history, as well as science. One can, of course, go too far down that road and in the process loose the science, but, from my point of view, Rosen never does this. He instead has produced discussions of birds and bird watching in relation to Audubon, Whitman, Thoreau, Frost, Theodore Roosevelt, E. O. Wilson and many others, weaving the mix into a intricate tapestry that both enriches the birding experience and places it into a human context. His on and off search for the ivory-billed woodpecker is both hopeful and painful and emphasizes the paradox of man (both destroyer and protector) and nature (not always kind itself). In short, it was very easy to read this book, but very hard to put it down. At the end, as in all good books, I was left wanting more!This is a book to take on a trip on an airplane, bus or train, or to read in bed. Unless you have no interest in the subject at all, you will not be bored.

Reviewer: M. F. McDuie
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An Australian view
Review: I purchased this book not realising that it was based on Northern American birds. There are some references to birds from around the globe but these are the exception rather than the rule. There is much information to gain from the book in relation to the plight of birds in the Northern American continent, and some excellent illustrations from various sources are included within the text with references listed at the back of the book.I found the author's (Jonathan Rosen) constant inclusion of religion throughout the text as basically annoying. I also found that at times it was incredibly depressing with the constant referral to hunting and killing of birds throughout history. Rosen does make it clear that he is very much in support of preserving our existing avian diversity, but seems somehow to excuse the hunting and slaughtering of birds as part of man's nature, something that is innate to us all... I find this assumption offensive, and rather patriachal. I am only one person indeed with one view, but I have never had the desire to kill any mammal, reptile, bird or most of the invertebrates with the exception of mosquitos and flies. I am very happy to simply observe their behaviour and marvel at the complexity of our nature world and its ecosystems and inhabitants.To have such a heavy religous tone throughtout the book without it being hinted at on the sleeve, jacket or abstract overview of the book is, I think misleading.Despite this criticism, I did find many worthwhile segments which provided me with points important enough to write down in my book of collected information on the world and it's inhabitants.

Reviewer: Edna Earl
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Treasure of a book about the gifts we have in nature
Review: This is no ordinary nature or bird book. It is thoughtful and mostly hopeful in it's vision. The author sees the world as a treasure to behold and safe-guard. And if the reader loves nature and the earth and what gifts we have been given, she will want to keep this book near and share it's message with anyone who will listen. A good friend loaned me the book and I casually began to read it but knew I had to have my own copy. It isn't easy to find and I fear it is going out of print.

Reviewer: Steve Mac
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Enlightening! And, a Delightful Read
Review: Rosen writes about J.J. Audubon, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Teddy Roosevelt and Charles Darwin. The common threads, which Rosen pulls through "Life of the Skies," are birds and mankind's understanding of himself. Rosen ties the past to the present. He will alter your understanding of history. Rosen will convince you of bird's importance to man and to man's understanding of his world.This book is enlightening! "Life of the Skies" will advance your knowledge and make your thinking modern.

Reviewer: HeidiR
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Not the usual birding book
Review: Connecting with birds can lead one in unexpected directions and this author delves into all of it - history, environmental science, religion, geography, literature, poetry, philosophy, conservation... Learning about influential naturalists got me reading Burroughs, Thoreau, Peterson. Always good when an author motivates me to branch out and explore. Like the author, I came late to birding, and found his journey an interesting one.

Reviewer: Susan S. Rosenthal
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Life well lived
Review: This is a fantastic book and includes all kinds of information on birds, birding, related naturalists, the environment, poetry, and life well lived.