Sunday books – more books than pigeons

This week I’m going to talk about three books – all about the extinct Passenger Pigeon.

The first of these is a classic if you are interested in the story of the Passenger Pigeon – AW Schorger’s The Passenger Pigeon: its natural history and extinction. This time last year, I probably consulted Schorger every day – in fact I think I read some of it every day of May, June, July, August and September last year.

If you are interested in Passenger Pigeons (and if you aren’t then I’d leave this post now) then it’s worth getting a copy of Schorger because it is a great compilation of information. Published in 1955, only 41 years after Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon on the planet, died in Cincinnati Zoo, Schorger’s book now seems a bit dated in terms of its biological understanding but then, it is dated, its almost 60 years old and biology, even of extinct species, has moved on since then.

Schorger wrote his book in his retirement from being a chemist, and as a Professor at the University of Wisconsin.  there is a little pen portrait of him in my book because I felt that without his earlier painstaking research I could not possibly have written my book on Passenger Pigeons.

Schorger lived in Madison, Wisconsin, and I remember driving past Madison, supposed to be one of the best places to live in the USA, in May 2011 in torrential rain without a thought in my head about Schorger or Passenger Pigeons.

This year, the centenary of Martha’s death, it wasn’t just me who thought it would be a good time to tell the tale of the Passenger Pigeon. Joel Greenberg has also published a book on the Passenger Pigeon.

I ordered a copy of Joel’s book several weeks ago and it arrived through the post some time ago.  For a while it remained unopened because I didn’t really know whether I wanted to know what was in it. And then I peeked inside, and now I have read bits and pieces of it.

I’d be the last person who should review Joel’s book but I can tell you it is quite different from mine.  If you are interested in Passenger Pigeons then you really ought to buy Joel’s book and my book, and you’d be well advised to get Schorger’s too.

I guess that authors write, to some extent, the books they’d like to read.  And because authors are different then their books are different too.

I’ve found out a few things from Joel’s book already, and I’m sure I’ll find out more as time goes on.  I wonder whether he’ll read mine – maybe he has an unopened copy lying on his desk or maybe he hasn’t noticed its existence at all. That would be perfectly possible as it isn’t published over here until Thursday, and in the US, not until 26 August.

I do think Martha has the best jacket of the three books – and I can say that as it is Carry Akroyd’s work not mine!

To hear (and see!) me talking on the radio last week to Martha Kearney – click here.

To read the first review of Martha, by James Attlee in the Independent yesterday (where it got a full page and was ‘Book of the Week’) click here. Here is a snippet:  In its science, its history and its ecological insights, the book excels .

And to read the second review of Martha, by Andrew Holgate in the Sunday Times click here.  Here is a snippet: Mark Avery is a biologist and the RSPB’s former conservation director, and in his often jaw-dropping book he sets out to tell the story of this remarkable animal, and discover the reasons for its seemingly inexplicable demise. Piecing together the evidence, extrapolating from hazy first-hand accounts and taking his cue from other birds that are still with us, his book reads at times like the most arresting of mystery stories.

To buy A Message from Martha – click here.

 

 

 

 

 

[registration_form]