On Saturday 13 December 1958, the People’s Republic of China declared war on a bird. Mobilisation was total: 600 million enlisted for the fight. Their target was a tiny songbird, between five and six inches long: the Eurasian tree sparrow. It might seem like overkill, writes Stephen Moss in his history of human-avian relations, but in the eyes of China’s leaders the sparrows more than deserved it. An estimated 1.5m tonnes of grain disappeared down the gullets of said feathered gourmets each year. China was short on food – and short on patience. Peace was never an option.

Ten Birds That Changed the World - Faber Ten Birds That Changed the World - Faber

Ik lijk wat verloren in mijn zoektocht naar boeken ( met passie geschreven) over andere organismen wat maar snel of traag beweegt, als het maar eens niet over sapiens gaat , planten , insecten, atomen , zoog en andere dieren , spoken is ook goed , AI systemen, buitenaards leven enz voorlopig lijk ik deze boeken niet direct te vinden Save Introduction to the birds of Cley (12 November) to your collection. Share Introduction to the birds of Cley (12 November) with your friends. If it’s anything like the Plant book that you reviewed then at least one of the birds will be a bat. For the whole of human history, we have lived alongside birds. We have hunted and domesticated them for food; venerated them in our mythologies, religion and rituals; exploited them for their natural resources; and been inspired by them for our music, art and poetry.About the Author Stephen Moss is one of Britain’s leading nature writers, broadcasters, and environmentalists. Author of over forty books and guides, he is an award-winning wildlife television producer for the BBC Natural History Unit. He lives in Somerset, England. The 10 species are chosen to be vehicles for good stories, told typically well by the author, but also, and importantly, to highlight important aspects of our lives, as the rather portentous title suggests. Moss digs deep and answers many questions within chapters that are rich with both natural and historical facts... Ten Birds That Changed the World is an engrossing tribute to our feathered neighbours."

Ten Birds That Changed the World by Stephen Moss | Hachette Ten Birds That Changed the World by Stephen Moss | Hachette

This look at ten species is the writers' choice, and not all species are still in existence. The dodo is not; while it was eaten, he explains that the rats and pigs introduced by seafarers did away with most of the nests. Surprisingly he does not say that a tree native to Mauritius was dying out in recent years, its seeds refusing to germinate, until a botanist had the bright idea of feeding its seeds to domestic poultry to replace the dodo. The seeds passed through and germinated. Other birds endemic to the island were, fortunately, preserved and revived in numbers. Stephen Moss mentions both Poe and the Mad Hatter in “Raven,” the first chapter of “Ten Birds That Changed the World,” but mercifully doesn’t attempt to solve the riddle. A BBC broadcaster and prolific author, Mr. Moss has made a career out of explaining British birds to a wider readership. In this book he traverses a much larger terrain, starting out close to home, with the ravens in the United Kingdom, but ending as far away as he can get, with a visit to the emperor penguins of Antarctica.Faber & Faber was founded nearly a century ago, in 1929. Read about our long publishing history in a decade-by-decade account.

Ten Birds That Changed the World - D H H LITERARY AGENCY Ten Birds That Changed the World - D H H LITERARY AGENCY

Become a Faber Member for free and receive curated book recommendations, special competitions and exclusive discounts. What about training a bird to do what humans can't/won't, as in the case of pigeons who took messages into enemy territory? The pigeon chapter was especially enjoyable. The author also makes several dubious claims about climate change. For instance, the author claims that the 2021 Australian Wildfires were purely the result of climate change, which is both far too simplistic and easily disproven. The story of China’s Chairman Mao is a salutary one: he took on nature and lost. Mao’s war against the humble tree sparrow for eating grain seed resulted not just in the bird being wiped out, but the deaths of millions of his own people, too, in a terrible famine: the worst human-made disaster in human history. Crops were left vulnerable as the sparrows had controlled the insect population, particularly locusts. Emperor penguinHachette Book Group is a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world. Social Media

Dodo, eagle, sparrow … the 10 birds that changed the world

Moss writes with the scope of a scholar and the confidence of a careful observer, finding fresh and fascinating insights into the lives and legacies of ten iconic birds. A thoughtful, thought-provoking, and thoroughly enjoyable book.” Faber Members have access to live and online events, special editions and book promotions, and articles and quizzes through our weekly e-newsletter.

Save A history of birding in north Norfolk with Moss Taylor to your collection. Share A history of birding in north Norfolk with Moss Taylor with your friends.