The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature

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.

Jonathan Rosen's book The Life of the Skies has been given little publicity and is not easy to find simply because it does not fit into the usual categories. It is not a nature book per se. It is not a biography. Rather it is about nature, about philosophy, about reflections on life in general. It is one of those large books that makes one think and reflect on life. Rosen writes well and draws from a wide range of sources, linking birdwatching in Central Park in New York City of all places to a huge number of other topics. It is a book that I came upon totally by chance. I heard a review of it somewhere and decided to go and find it and was amazed that no bookstore had it in stock. I have now passed it on to a number of friends, all of whom say that they have never heard of it. I would highly recommend it to almost anyone, regardless of whether they are a birder or not. Maybe it will convince them, like Rosen himself, to begin to watch birds and in turn to look at the earth that we live on in a new and different way.

I often get a book from our local library and then decide after reading it or reading part of it whether or not to purchase the book. This is definitely a book to purchase. It has a vast amount of information written in a poetic and beautiful manner. One reviewer wrote about a few grammatical errors. That person certainly lost the point of the book which was to make you appreciate nature and life in general. This is a fascinating book but also hard to describe. Rosen writes about so many things besides birding. (Birding is serious birdwatching). He brings in some Jewish content in his book and a few chapters are about birding in Israel. Rosen also spends quite a bit of time writing about birding in Central Park in NY City and looking for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker in Arkansas. There are many quotes in the book from various poets and writers and early American birders such as Audubon and many others. Here is a little quote from the end of the book just to give you a little flavor of the writing of Rosen. " Looking for the Ivory-billed woodpecker, I inevitably found myself jotting in my notebook "I.B. Woodpecker," linking the bird to I. B. Singer, like Sutzkever a great Yiddish writer steeped in loss, obsessed with diminishment and survival. As if the bird I sought kept a culture alive in its song, though it doesn't even sing; it drums and makes a thin tinny ank, a language that remains haunting and obscure. But birdwatching is a world of small gestures that reflect larger worlds. My favorite place to watch birds in Central Park is Tanner's Spring, a humble little area not even located in the park's wooded interior but just off Central Park West, a hundred yards north of the Diana Ross playground..." Anyway, I loved the book, being a birdwatcher and a Jew myself.

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.

"A Life of the Skies" is a beautifully written account of birding, but it's actually about so much more. It's really about being human, and the way we relate to the natural world, how we effect the natural world even as we observe it. I am not a birder myself, but I was captivated by this book from the first page. Jonathan Rosen is a very compelling writer, and this is a perfect book for someone who wants to understand the relationship between modern life and the natural world.