Scott Weidensaul

Excellent book that meshes the new information that scientists are discovering about the mysteries of bird migration with the environmental issues that are harming them. In the past 20 years, the study of bird migration has taken off, as technology has enabled scientists to fit birds with extremely light weight geo-locators. Even with the advances in technology there are still so many questions about bird migration. But, there is also a lot of fascinating information coming out that will show more hopefully make humans care about how they are affecting the world these birds inhabit with us.

As I look through my kindle notes, I could write pages about all the things I learned. I was particularly fascinated by the way birds navigate, the way they prepare for migrations that are thousands of miles long, and the various routes they take. Weidensaul makes you really care about each bird he focuses on (probably about a dozen throughout the book). It helped me to also look up some pictures of the birds as I read about them.

And then he starts talking about all the ways the world is changing and making things more difficult for the birds such as the fragmentation of forests, changing weather patterns, farming practices, light pollution, and hunting practices. The good news is that solid information about bird migration, including global hot spots that many different species of birds all rely on, is helping conservationists convince people and governments to make changes to help birds. Of course, this is not always an easy road and is met with resistance in many places, but at least there is now the beginning of the information we need to even know what change needs to happen.

Some of my favorite birds that I learned about in this book were the spoon-billed sandpiper, the red knot, the godwit, frigatebirds, kirtland’s warblers, and swainson’s hawks. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in birds, nature, conservation, and/or environmental issues.

Original publication date: 2021
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 400 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased for kindle
Why I read this: off the shelf show less

The subtitle is awful; ignore it. This is an excellent book of serious history, no fluff or novelistic devices. Weidensaul retells the story of the Plymouth Bay Colony & it's offspring and their relationships with Native Americans from a less heroic side than you may be used to. The acts of English aggression, deception, and genocide he describes are as awful as anything you'll read about in any annals of war. Weidensaul's source-based narrative is gripping and horrifying in equal measure.

(review originally written for Bookslut)

The Ghost with Trembling Wings is easily the most enjoyable science book I have read since The Botany of Desire. Tidbits from this book brought up in conversation have made me sound more intelligent and well-read at parties, and isn't that why we read non-fiction? The main topic of the book, the search for lost species, is something most of us have thought about. Although few people lose any sleep over the thought of an invertebrate species being lost show more to the void, I believe that most, when faced with the irrevocable loss of a more charismatic species, are at least temporarily saddened -- providing their personal property is not determined to be the final natural habitat of the endangered species in question. In this book, Scott Weidensaul wisely confines most of his attention to birds and mammals, straying only for terribly noteworthy amphibians and fish, like a brilliant gold toad, and the Loch Ness monster.

Yes, really, the Loch Ness monster. Along with the majestic ivory-billed woodpecker, and the disappearing and reappearing black-footed ferret, Weidensaul devotes quite a bit of inquiry to species that probably never existed. Like the Loch Ness monster, Yeti, and the Black Beast of Inkberrow. While he never seems to expect to actually locate these creatures, his hypotheses about how these creatures came to exist in our collective unconscious are enlightening.

Despite the attention given to myth, this book is far from frivolous. It covers all the bases. From attempts at reintroducing species that are extinct in the wild to attempts to locate a species that was only seen once, by one man, who didn't record where he saw it. He also documents attempts to recreate species that are completely extinct.

As interesting as all these searches are, it is again the author's speculations on why we go to such lengths to find them that really draw me into the book. Why would anyone want to spend millions of dollars trying to clone the DNA of an extinct marsupial? Why are there so many unconfirmed sightings of species long after they have been declared extinct? Why do so many people report seeing black panthers in places where it is nearly impossible that they should be? Why do so many cultures have myths of an abominable snowman, yeti, large hairy man with claws? What are we really losing when a species finally disappears forever? And what should we do if we suddenly discover ten of them living on some tiny island?

If any of the above questions interest you, I wholeheartedly recommend that you read this book. show less

Weidensaul's prose is elegant and easy to read, and his passion, love, and indeed, as he himself notes in the book, reverence, for his subject shines through throughout.

There is a good balance between narrative anecdotes and info dumping, for lack of a better term. The pacing between the two is likewise well handled, keeping either from becoming monotonous or overwhelming.

I will say that there are long chunks of text without page breaks, though there are paragraph breaks. The large chunks show more between natural stopping points mean that it is not well suited for reading in two to five minute chunks of time clawed out of a busy day. This book demands reading time that is set aside to get the most from it.

The theme of global anthropogenic climate change runs throughout the book. It can be a bit depressing, not to mention frightening, seeing the damage laid out the way that it is in this book. But Weidensaul takes pains to emphasize at every turn that there is hope, and that we still have time and chance to repair the damage. That, and the fact that climate change is a theme but not the main focus, keeps the book from being too depressing or upsetting to read.

Weidensaul is open about his agenda with the book, emphasizing the ways that what is good for birds is also good for humans, and vice versa, and as using all of his rhetorical powers to instill in his readers the same love and thus desire to protect birds as he feels himself. He wants to save the birds, and he wants his readers to want that, too.

That being said, it never feels like an Issue Book, lecture, or Morality Lesson. The agenda is there, and not hidden, but Weidensaul never lets it get in the way of writing a good book.

I really enjoyed A World on the Wing. I don't think it's for everyone - people without at least some interest in birds may find it boring. People who require their nonfiction to be narrative in format will likely have trouble with this as well. But I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in birds. It's a solid four star book, and I'm glad I picked it up off the shelf. show less