A review by owlyenthusiast
The Wise Hours: A Journey into the Wild and Secret World of Owls by Miriam Darlington

informative inspiring relaxing slow-paced

3.0

As a lover of owls, I gravitated towards this book and bought it almost on a whim. The owl knowledge and poetic language of the novel didn't disappoint. Darlington has a wonderful voice when it comes to describing the natural world around her, and her excitement encountering owls in the wild is infectious. However, I do think that Darlington set out to do something quite challenging in making this a personal memoir as well as a scientific one. Individually, both the ornithological explorations and the autobiographical bits surrounding her life at home were interesting, but I don't think they were connected well. This gave the feeling of smash-cutting from Darlington discussing her latest species of owl to discussing the illness of her child. It was often jarring, and I felt like I couldn't fully invest in several parts because of this. 

Additionally, I enjoyed her observations surrounding conservation and the ways that humans have commodified certain species in a way that strips them of their wildness in our minds, but I think there were a few places where her musings were repetitive.