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Reviews
The Seabird's Cry: The Lives and Loves of Puffins, Gannets and Other Ocean Voyagers by Adam Nicolson
bluejay21's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Read my boss's copy at work, enjoyed it so much went out and bought my own copy.
nicolemillo's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
5.0
What an unexpected delight. Beautifully written with relevant cultural and historical stories throughout, which were not only interesting, but also helped to contextualise these birds in our lives. The audiobook was very much like listening to an in-depth documentary series with each chapter looking at a different bird (not unlike James Macdonald Lockhart’s Raptor: A Journey Through Birds but without the walking journey). When I first thought about getting into nature writing, it was this kind of book that I was hoping to encounter. I think I’ll have to pick up a hard copy of this one for my shelves and to revisit in future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
aerinelf's review against another edition
5.0
This book is wonderful. Somehow it manages to be both scientific and poetic.
shelbycat's review
5.0
A fabulous book full of natural hist3, actual history, and science. I lived it! So many bits of this book I had to share with my other half, who listened with interest.
annagroovy's review
5.0
Lovely, lyrical overview of ten seabirds and both what we know about them and their unknowability. Also about the threats their populations are facing thanks to climate change, overfishing, and hunting
amdipper's review
5.0
Bloody hell. I never expected a book about seabirds to make me cry three times. If you have any interest in birds, any interest in nature, ecosystems, the awful things we’re doing to the planet and have done to these creatures - make the time to read this. It also made me laugh - there is beauty and lightness as well as despair. I will never look at a little auk again without imagining it sitting “like a sausage on the water”
kingjason's review
4.0
For me my knowledge of seabirds isn't up to much, unless you put in a large amount of effort then you're not going to see them or even hear the mad cacophony that they produce during their get-togethers. The Puffin has gotta be one of the birds you must see, they've got so much character...one of these days I'll go out amongst people and take a boat trip to check out one of their breeding grounds. Maybe take a few of those pasty-stealing seagulls with be to drop off there.
This book is absolutely crammed full of interesting facts and stories. At first it felt a bit daunting because there is hardly any of the usual life story or anecdotes about how the author fell in love with the birds, this book is all about the birds themselves and how they have influenced people throughout history. Once that first interesting fact comes along the book becomes easy to read.
The experiments that early scientists did are shocking, so inhumane it makes you wonder what the hell was wrong with them, some of the things they did are what serial killers do in their youth. One of the most interesting facts was about plastic and why birds keep eating it, I've always thought it was odd as the plastic doesn't look like fish, turns out smell is an important tool when a bird is hunting and the plastic gives off the same smell as their food. Crazy!
There are lots of photos, illustrations, maps and graphs to accompany the writing and though I didn't understand how to interpret all of the graphs they really add to the reading experience. This an incredibly well reached book and well deserving of the Wainwright prize that it won. Now who's got a boat I can borrow?
Blog review> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/10/12/the-seabirds-cry-the-lives-and-loves-of-puffins-gannets-and-other-ocean-voyagers-by-adam-nicolson/
This book is absolutely crammed full of interesting facts and stories. At first it felt a bit daunting because there is hardly any of the usual life story or anecdotes about how the author fell in love with the birds, this book is all about the birds themselves and how they have influenced people throughout history. Once that first interesting fact comes along the book becomes easy to read.
The experiments that early scientists did are shocking, so inhumane it makes you wonder what the hell was wrong with them, some of the things they did are what serial killers do in their youth. One of the most interesting facts was about plastic and why birds keep eating it, I've always thought it was odd as the plastic doesn't look like fish, turns out smell is an important tool when a bird is hunting and the plastic gives off the same smell as their food. Crazy!
There are lots of photos, illustrations, maps and graphs to accompany the writing and though I didn't understand how to interpret all of the graphs they really add to the reading experience. This an incredibly well reached book and well deserving of the Wainwright prize that it won. Now who's got a boat I can borrow?
Blog review> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/10/12/the-seabirds-cry-the-lives-and-loves-of-puffins-gannets-and-other-ocean-voyagers-by-adam-nicolson/