I rushed into the Lolo post office to receive a parcel from Princeton University Press. It was my review copy of The Atlas of Birds: Diversity, Behavior, and Conservation. I raced home and tore open the box, and fished the text from a sea of packing peanuts.
The first thing that leapt out at me was the wonderfully entertaining layout of the book. The graphics and images grab your attention to the vignettes of topical information. I have learned a whole new batch of bird trivia for some folks (sorry in advance). The abundance of maps rather nicely summarize global trends and/or facts relating bird behavior. The format is very similar to the recent Guinness Book of World Records…a bunch of facts given in digestible bite-seize pieces of knowledge.
Did you know that kiwis have nostrils positions at the tips of their bills? The reason is so that they can smell their invertebrate prey as they probe the soil.
The Atlas of Birds is a perfect coffee-table type book that will peak anyone’s interest. I love picking it up for the quick read…maybe just read a section or two. This is the beauty of the book, its accessibility and simplicity.